Ethan Terry
When he was younger, Ethan watched most of his friends dip their toe into the restaurant industry and swore that would never be for him. Since he only ate pizza and plain cheeseburgers until embarrassingly far into adulthood, he’d resigned himself to a life of working retail until his dream of making movies eventually took off.
Moving to San Francisco changed everything, and it didn’t hurt that the cocktail renaissance was kicking off right at that time. Given a shot as a food runner at Annabelle’s Bar and Bistro, he learned not just about good food, but what made a good cocktail, and the culture that surrounded both. Since those days, he’s had the opportunity to work with the likes of 15 Romolo, Comstock Saloon, The Slanted Door and Hard Water, as well as reunite with Greg Quinn at San Francisco’s celebrated Alembic.
In addition to being behind the stick at these institutions, Ethan has branched out to work with friends on outside-the-bar adventures like co-founding technique-driven Cocktail Lab, curating the cocktails for Outside Lands’ Cocktail Magic, and representing some of the world’s best spirits as an ambassador for Tequila Ocho and Chartreuse.
All of this work earned Ethan a coveted spot on Zagat’s “30 Under 30,” a placement for the Alembic in Thrillist’s “33 Best Cocktail Bars in the Country,” as well as coverage in the New York Times, Huffington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and numerous other blogs and review sites.
In addition to The Halfway Club, Ethan sits behind the wheel of a 1976 Volkswagen Riviera that’s been converted into mobile cocktail bar “Van on the Run” with his friend Eric Quilty.