Drink makers bond over new ideas and a.bar patrons sip the benefits

WHO the hell wants to go into work on their day off?

Most of us, even those who love what we do for a living, tend to maximize the physical distance separating us and the office when we're off the clock. Better for the brain, is what they say. So, what, exactly, motivates the drink-making staff of Rittenhouse's a.bar to pack into their sleek, narrow quarters on a sunny Sunday - the only day the bar is closed outright?

Somebody's gotta write the drink list. And by somebody, we mean everybody.

The Rittenhouse bar, on the ground floor of the AKA hotel, at 18th and Walnut, opened in the summer of 2013 with a capable staff of total strangers. Skip to a little more than a year later, and the bartenders have blossomed into good friends and a well-lubricated cocktail-creating machine - one that operates entirely by committee.

Unlike many modern cocktail bars, which piece together drink selections at the behest of a single omnipotent manager or head barkeep, a.bar hands this responsibility over to its staff, which conceives, tests, tweaks and approves drinks from front to back. The spirit of democracy is alive with this group, and, unlike more abstract political machinations, it's trickle-down you can taste.

"A lot of places, the bar manager would make the menu, or the head bartender would call the shots," said bartender Amy Hartranft. "Here, there's no one person in charge. We don't put a drink on the menu unless everyone agrees on it."

If it seems like a tricky proposition, you haven't witnessed one of the a.bar staff's collaborative R&D sessions (a.sessions?), which take place on Sundays, since everyone's available and everyone's game. Like many creative processes, the raw material begins on random pieces of scrap paper.

If an a.bartender has an idea, he or she notes it down and adds it to a pile stashed in a hidden nook. When it comes time to write a new menu - they overhaul the list quarterly, augmented by plenty of one-off additions and subtractions - the pile o' inspiration comes out and serves as a starting point.

From here, drinks get mixed and feedback gets offered - it's encouraging but constructive, and each employee is not afraid to pipe up about things they like and dislike. "Conflicts do happen," said Hartranft. "We're like a little family, and we do bicker like a little family."

To settle disagreements over ingredients, technique or taste, the staff typically defers to thoughts of their clientele - what would they like? If this strategy doesn't get results, it's majority rules, plain and simple.

"We bring a recipe to the bar and know that it's not complete until all of us agree that it's where it needs to be," said bartender Michael Haggerty. "The cocktail's not going to go on the menu unless everybody approves of it."

"We feel like we're being trusted - like we can try some things that aren't on the beaten path," said bartender Matt Polzin. He describes the staff as a "loose confederation of independent states" - wildly varying opinions, starting points and knowledge bases, but everyone's working toward a common goal.

Haggerty credits management with encouraging the staff to execute this way, something he hadn't experienced at previous jobs. Once everyone settled in, he said, "the leashes came off, and they told us to run wild."

The freedom manifests itself in a multisection menu that captures the pursuit of "the balance between crazy and approachable," according to bartender Alison Hangen.

Haggerty is particularly interested in housemade ingredients, like tinctures, bitters, liqueurs or the scotch-flavored whipped cream he came up with for his bourbon-based Sweet Plum.

Variations on the timeless Manhattan, such as the Seek & Destroy, are Polzin's specialty. Blood & Soil, a variation on the scotch drink the Blood & Sand, features a homemade beet and orange shrub. If there's a vegetal element, there's a good chance Hartranft is involved.

Though a perusal of the a.bar menu by an everyday patron doesn't automatically reveal as much, the bartenders can still lay personal claim to the individual options - even if in most cases those drinks have been improved, and fully realized, by the feedback of their peers. This commingling of individual and collective pride is what keeps this staff invested - and keeps them coming in on their day off.

"The drinks have identities," said bartender Patrick Jennings, whose Rookie of the Year is a new favorite on the new list. "But the menu as a whole? That is ours."