Come on Down to Cutler’s Public House

Santa Barbara’s Veteran Distiller Ian Cutler Opens Bar and Restaurant on Salsipuedes Street

Smoked pork ribs at Cutler's Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Ian Cutler, proud proprietor of Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

“I always wanted a bigger, comfortable place where people can hang out, have good food and drink, and be a part of the Cutler’s family,” says Ian Cutler, who became Santa Barbara’s first legal distiller back in 2013 upon launching Cutler’s Artisan Spirits inside of a tiny Funk Zone building. “That’s what led me to create the new facility and call it Cutler’s Public House.”

The UCSB grad’s dedication to strong drink and hospitality runs in his blood. After bootlegging in Gold Country during Prohibition, Cutler’s great-grandfather opened a bar called Duke’s up in Oakdale, the original “Cowboy Capital of the World.” Duke’s evolved into a liquor store that subsequent generations of Cutlers ran until Ian’s dad shut down operations in the 1980s.

Upon returning his family name to the liquor business a dozen years ago, Cutler’s Artisan Spirits was an immediate hit, collaborating with numerous restaurants, bars, and companies and producing lines for other brands and even celebrities such as Kate Hudson. Cutler soon outgrew the compact production space on East Yanonali Street, and was eventually shuffling barrels, bottles, boxes, and more between the distillery, warehouses, and accounts.

“We needed a facility where we could do all of that together,” said Cutler, who double-majored in chemistry and geology and ran a research facility for a decade before starting his company. “It was just not efficient to continue producing that way.”

In 2021, he moved most of the liquor-making into the former Telegraph Brewing Quonset hut on Salsipuedes Street. (The original tasting room remains in the Funk Zone, with no plans to leave.) His dream of turning the front of the Salsipuedes building into a full bar and restaurant took much longer than expected. “We ran into just about every hurdle and hiccup and piece of shit we could step in along the way,” said Cutler.

Cutler’s Public House finally opened with all of the required permits last month. “The term ‘pub’ harkens back to ‘public house’ originally, which was a gathering place for the townspeople to get together and have a drink and socialize,” said Cutler. “They didn’t have the Internets and the TikToks and the Facebooks to communicate with. The public house was a means of in-person communication. I thought it was a great way to describe the vibe we wanted to create.”

All are invited. “We really don’t care about your background,” said Cutler. “Everybody is welcome, as long as you’re not an asshole and ruin someone else’s good time.”

The exterior of Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
A cozy booth inside Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Onion rings are a mix of stout beer battered and whiskey battered at Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Cocktails are essential ingredients at Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Some of the food and beverage offerings at Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

To foster an elevated sense of comfort, Cutler combined the warm, woody elements of Western saloons with the more ornate nature of a gin palace, which was the most popular type of drinking establishment during London’s Victorian era. Aside from the elaborate, floor-to-high ceiling bar that he bought from Tennessee, Cutler designed and constructed the rest of the interior himself, with dark wood wrapping the entire restaurant. “My grandad taught us woodwork when we were young, so I have the basic skills to build things,” said Cutler.

A wide variety of cocktails are on the menu at Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Behind that bar is, of course, all of the Cutler’s Artisan Spirits selections, and a great view of the working distillery behind the glass. But there’s also a wide range of alcohol brands, from familiar wells to high-end, hard-to-find rarities. There’s a little bit of beer and a couple of wines from Carr Winery (which is right next door), but the focus is on cocktails and straight spirits. Many are being poured by Santa Barbara’s familiar faces, such as guest bartenders Tony Ferdyn and Jerry Saccardi, and now regular employee Jersey Dave from The Pickle Room. There’s also live music almost every Thursday.

The newest component for Cutler is the cuisine. “It’s pub comfort food,” said Cutler of the mix of handheld bites, like beef and pork sliders; bar snacks like street corn esquites, fries, chips, onion rings, and loaded tater tots; a growing group of salads and charred veggies (like burnt-end broccoli); and then “real hardwood, smoked, proper-style barbecue.”

Cutler is in charge of the latter, using whiskey barrel staves to power up his Southern Pride smoker. He serves his meats dry, but provides ample whiskey BBQ sauce and chipotle aioli for those seeking more of a juicy kick.

Also in the kitchen is longtime Santa Barbara restaurateur Alvaro Rojas of Alcazar and milk & honey fame. “He’s helping me figure out how to run a kitchen,” said Cutler. “I’ve never done that before.”

With lunch kicking off soon, he sees Cutler’s Public House filling a niche that doesn’t quite exist in this corner of Santa Barbara’s Eastside. “Milpas has all the taquerias and fast food, but there’s not much on this end of town to sit down and have a nice lunch or dinner,” said Cutler. “Arnoldi’s, and Third Window, and that’s about it.”

The beef sliders at Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Burnt end broccoli at Cutler’s Distillery & Public House | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
An espresso martini | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Real hardwood is used to make smoked, proper-style barbecue. | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Real hardwood is used to make smoked, proper-style barbecue. | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Ian Cutler shows off some of his distillery equipment | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Future plans include tours, workshops, and a speakeasy in the back of the building, which will be for members and available to be rented out for poker nights and so forth. Cutler wants to elevate the education vibe as much as possible moving into the future.

“In the wine and beer industries, customers can get a lot of information on how beer and wine is made,” he said. “But there are so few distilleries around that can inform what spirits are and how they’re produced. I want to work to change that.”

Cutler’s Public House is currently open 5-10 p.m., seven days a week, with lunch coming soon. 418 N. Salsipuedes St.; (805) 845-4040; cutlersartisan.com.