PORT TOWNSEND — The In Between will get a much-needed boost as one of its team members participates in a livestream today to discuss the bar and teach the audience how to make the bar’s “Bad Mamajama.”
Co-manager and bartender Sophia Elan will represent the team on an Instagram livestream starting at 2 p.m. today.
It is sponsored by PUNCH, an online publication based in New York that has been hosting different bartenders through livestreams five days a week since March.
Each bar that has been selected to participate receives $1,000 from PUNCH, and Bacardi will match each dollar in tips that the audience sends the bar team, said Talia Baiocchi, editor in chief of PUNCH.
The livestream can be watched on PUNCH’s Instagram @Punch_drink and will be available to watch for 24 hours afterward.
Tips for that 24-hour period must be sent to Elan’s Venmo account at @Sophia-Elan-1 and will be distributed to the entire team, Elan said.
The In Between Cocktail Bar, at 823 Water St. in Port Townsend, has been closed along with all other lounges since Gov. Jay Inslee ordered restaurants and bars closed to inside seating in March.
One of the team members found PUNCH’s “Tip Your Bartender” program, and the team decided to apply, Elan said.
“I wasn’t expecting to get selected,” she said.
PUNCH, which started the program in March, will have featured 40 different bars by Friday, Baiocchi said.
The PUNCH team created the program while thinking, “How can we do something and raise money for the community?” Baiocchi said. “There was just an everyday heartbreak.
“For all of us, every day at (2) p.m. has been a bright spot for us. It’s been this community moment every day. … We look forward to it.”
Bacardi partnered with PUNCH, and the matching funds come from the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation, which was established before COVID-19, Baiocchi said.
The drink that Elan will make is a seasonal special at The In Between. “The Bad Mamajama” is a gin-based cocktail that uses ingredients such as citrus, jam and rosemary.
Elan will be make the drink in her home kitchen, using ingredients that can be found in most family kitchens or can be obtained easily, she said.
The recipe will be posted on PUNCH’s website after the livestream, Baiocchi said.
Elan is grateful for the opportunity that PUNCH has given to support The In Between team, which includes John Coltharp, Alexander Moats, Mia Reade Baylor, Chris Rehn and Jonathon Connell.
“It’s an awesome thing that PUNCH is doing, creating a program that supports out-of-work bar teams,” Elan said.
“It’s really directed at bar-backs, bartenders that abruptly lost their jobs, and there’s so much uncertainty in the world right now that it’s an awesome thing that helps out not just an individual.”
Elan is both excited and nervous about the livestream, as she doesn’t do them regularly and the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic has been weighing on her.
“I’m going through waves of, ‘Oh, it will be totally fine, it’s really not that big of a deal, it’s just a livestream,’ but because I’m not necessarily feeling at my best, it’s easy to become anxious about, ‘Oh, what if I make a fool of myself? What if I spill this simple syrup all over my counter?’
“It’s kind of these super-silly things that, when I’m feeling good, I don’t really worry about,” she said.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to represent and raise money for people I really care about and love,” Elan said.
“My co-workers are dear friends, and I miss the community of seeing them at work.”
She appreciates being able to represent Port Townsend on a national stage with PUNCH.
“We’re small, so it’s cool to be able to have the opportunity to be a part of that and shine a little light on Port Townsend,” Elan said.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
