Maven Gets New Bar Manager as Kate Bolton Moves On

Maven, which has one of San Francisco’s most important cocktail bars, is about to get a major switch-up in the form of a new bar manager. Taking over is Tim Hagney, who has worked under former bar manager Kate Bolton for the past two years and doesn’t plan to change things around too much. Bolton is moving on to travel and potentially move cities, though she’ll remain a partner at Maven. “I came out here to work for Kate because I really liked what she was doing,” Hagney told Eater. “There’s no reason to totally trash a really good program. I want to build on it rather than hit the reset button.” Some of Hagney’s drinks are already on the menu, like the Unwritten Law, a mix of white rum, Asian pear, cinnamon, Belgian white beer reduction and hopped whipped cream.

Moving forward, Hagney’s looking forward to playing around in the kitchen. He’s already created an orgeat syrup using sesame seeds instead of almond, which is in the vein of what he wants to explore. “You have a limited number of options when you're looking at a backbar, but when you include the kitchen those options explode exponentially,” he said. “I want to push ourselves in a culinary direction and try to incorporate new and interesting spirits into what we’re doing.”