We went to all four of SF’s Halloween bars. Here’s the best one

Spooky season is upon us, and San Francisco’s bars are meeting the moment. While a few spots long known for over-the-top Halloween-themed drinks and decor have opted out this year, there are some blood-curdling newcomers on the scene. We checked out four of them, all worth haunting.

Here is the freakiest of them all.

If you’re going to one spot on this list, make it this one. In terms of visuals and cocktails, Rye Bar has outdone itself with this love letter to “The Shining.” The bar nails every detail, right down to laser-etching ice cubes with the Overlook Hotel’s eerie, hexagonal carpet pattern. (The cubes are then re-sealed, so the laser beams don’t melt or vaporize them.) “We spent money and hired an ice guy to do that,” co-owner Jason Jia says. It’s a well-considered investment, as this pop-up will last through Thanksgiving, when Rye will flip to a “metal Krampus” theme.

Jia regards Stanley Kubrick’s film as the scariest movie ever, and the whole joint is full of doors labeled Room 237 and creepy twins in party dresses. Horror fans can enjoy complex drinks like the peppery, tequila-based Hedge Maze or the foamy Elevator of Blood (bourbon, coffee liqueur, toasted sesame, red-bean orgeat, cream, soda, and tonic water). The bar is lit with lurid red bulbs, so it’s hard to tell that the drink isn’t blood-colored; in actuality, it’s a riff on a bourbon lift (opens in new tab), punning on the word “elevator.” “A lot of the drinks at Rye Bar are dad jokes,” Jia admits.

The standout is the Red Rum Punch, made with Charanda, a Mexican rum cultivated from sugar cane that grows in red volcanic soil. It also contains gin, yellow Chartreuse, gentian liqueur, a mix of 10 alpine herbs, sarsaparilla, vanilla, and clarified goat milk. The result is a unique and highly drinkable combination that tastes like root beer crossed with Ricola. As for the goat milk, it’s not just there for the satanic connotation. It’s an alternative because many people are allergic to cow’s milk, Jia says, adding, “This is honestly the weirdest drink I’ve ever made.”

Devil-worshipping drag legend Peaches Christ is back with another version of “Terror Vault (opens in new tab),” the immersive haunted house at the Old Mint. Its brick-walled rooms make the perfect setting for “Hexed,” an hour-long frightfest that pits participants against an evil coven hellbent on destroying the universe. 

This year, instead of one bar, there are two: the subterranean Fang Bang Bar and a VIP area tricked out like a psychic’s parlor by way of a cabaret. They serve the same drinks, including an old-fashioned called “Hex on the Beach” and a Sangria Blood Bag served in a medical pouch. While the VIP experience offers live entertainment and creepier decor — haunted dolls, metallic mannequins, a horrifyingly realistic papier-mache Peaches Christ mask — admission to the Fang Bang Bar is open to the public, no “Terror Vault” ticket required.

Lower Nob Hill dive The Summer Place (opens in new tab) loves a seasonal motif — the owners also operate the magic-themed Wizards & Wands and the nearby Simpsons-obsessed Moe’z Tavern — so it’s decked out like Halloweentown from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” While there aren’t any specialty drinks paying tribute to Tim Burton’s 1993 stop-motion classic, there are inflatable Jack Skellingtons and Oogie Boogies, assorted ghoulies, and fan art covering every wall (and hanging from the ceiling). Here, “Every Day Is Halloween” is less a vibe than a mantra.

While some bars go for jump scares, this pop-up is all about black light. Two doors down from Moe’z Tavern is Ghostlight, a side project that looks like an insane asylum threw an after-party. The floor and walls are covered in day-glo messages reading “HA!,” and the bartenders pour concoctions like the Eternal Midnight (Smirnoff vodka, Mr. Black coffee liqueur, cacao nib, amber honey, and pumpkin spice) and the Bay of Shadows (Casamigos blanco, agave, habanero tincture, and lime). Frightening? Not so much. Weird as hell? You bet.