We’ve got great news for those who like to drink and know things: Game of Thrones is back for its final season this Sunday, and to celebrate, Los Feliz’s Big Bar is planning a bigger blowout than the explosion of the Great Sept of Baelor. It all kicks off with a party this Friday, April 12, when you’ll be able to sip wine in Cersei’s cellar and take cocktail shots from a dragon ice luge—but that’s only the beginning. You’ll have six weeks of a themed drink menu after that, and a massive, meaty feast, too.
“I’ve convinced the bosses to let us turn our annual spring party into a Game of Thrones party, which is perfect because George R.R. Martin’s last book [planned in the A Song of Ice and Fire series] is called A Dream of Spring,” says Eugene Lee, the bar's digital director, “so that’s the name.”
Big Bar’s never been a business to skimp on enthusiasm—the team recently dumped an entire five tons of snow onto their patio for a ski-lodge–themed party, trapping Lee’s car out back—and often transforms the space, setting up different beverage stations throughout the bar, the adjacent restaurant Alcove, and the patios. But for their A Song of Spring party, as you travel from station to station, you’ll be wandering through the different realms of Westeros to find cocktails tailored to plot lines—and the corresponding characters pouring them for you.
“I want this party to be an homage for people who love Game of Thrones, but also for people who don’t know the show but want to take part in the escapism of the thing,” Lee says. “But for the deep cuts, for the nerds, I want there to be references that they’ll get and be excited about.”
At Friday’s party—a party has no cover charge, by the way—you’ll be able to wander through the House of Black and White and its eerie Hall of Faces for an Arya-inspired drink called A Punch is No One, plus head to war for a tasting at “the general’s table,” where you’ll be able to sample the official Game of Thrones-branded single malt scotches. At Bar Island, a nod to Bear Island, you’ll be able to purchase drinks such as the Ser Davos-inspired Onion Knight (made with gin, dry vermouth, onion-infused bitters and pickled onion) or the Night’s Watch-themed Take the Black (with Hennessy Black cognac, Mr. Black coffee liqueur, rye, Averna, walnut bitters, angostura bitters and cherry).
Of course, there are a few surprises, as well, and let’s just say you’ll want to show up close to the party’s 7pm start time, when winter will most definitely be coming and you most definitely will not want to miss it.
And because you’ll need to gather some strength for your trek through the Seven Kingdoms and beyond this Friday, there’ll be à la carte food on hand as well: dire-wolf–shaped cornmeal biscuits with honey butter and orange zest; Iron Island skewers of grilled gulf prawns with garlic-and-herb butter; and Three Fookin’ Chickens, a dish of crispy chicken drumsticks with a tomato-chili glaze.
If you like to keep the festivities going, you’ll be pleased to hear that the bar’s special Game of Thrones-themed cocktail menu runs from April 15 to May 22, the entire run of the show’s final season.
“The vast majority of our staff is really into the show, and every season we’ve done a Game of Thrones brunch cocktail to reference the episode [from the week before], so this time, we wanted to keep them very episode-specific,” Lee says. “We all gather together and watch the episodes, and then like everybody else, we rage and rage and rage about what we just saw. Then we try to pull the subject matter or character that could be turned into a cocktail or have a cocktail represent them.”
It will be the only cocktail menu available at Big Bar through the run (though of course you can always order the classics here, too), and it includes drinks such as the romantic and feather-bound R+L=J (we’d explain the name, but we’d hate to spoil last season for you); the mezcal- and pineapple-tinged Night King, where a handmade piece of “dragon glass” floats inside a coconut ice cube; and the ginny Queen of Thorns made with honeydew, lemon, cream and egg white, all topped by a meme of the baller Lady Olenna in “Tell Cersei it was me” form.
Then, for those who love a good feast, on May 8 Big Bar and Alcove will throw a spirited dinner with all the trappings of a Game of Thrones-style banquet. (No Red Wedding maneuvers allowed.) Each course will be paired with official Game of Thrones wines, beers and scotches, with dishes inspired by the realm’s various houses.
The menu’s still being finalized, but as it stands, you might feast on a Braavos-like amuse-bouche of fried oysters and clams with remoulade sauce; a Baratheon Board, in a nod to the deceased lord and hunter Robert Baratheon, featuring “cured meats and cheese of the finest game and fauna in Westeros”; Chicken Two Fookin’ Ways, a mushroom-stuffed roulade of chicken breast, and crispy leg, served with English peas, bacon and pearl onions; a grilled beast tomahawk in red wine shallot butter with potato gratin and grilled asparagus; and a Highgarden lemon delight of lemon cake.
We bet even Hot Pie couldn’t cook up a feast like this.
Big Bar is located at 1927 Hillhurst Ave. A Song of Spring party will be held on Friday, April 12, beginning at 7pm; admission is free, with food and beverage available for purchase. Big Bar’s Game of Thrones-inspired cocktail menu runs April 15 to May 22, and the feast will be held on May 8.
This story incorrectly originally named Eugene Lee as a co-owner; the piece has been updated to reflect Lee's title.