Years before he was a mixologist, the first cocktail that Tanner Doyle ever tried was in downtown Sacramento’s Ten Ten Room. Back in 2018, Doyle was a busboy at Grange restaurant next door, and he’d slip over after a shift sometimes to toss a shot back or unwind with a glass of Modelo. Eventually, Doyle noticed the intricate care that a bartender named Ryan Fiola was putting into his mixed drinks. The busboy asked Fiola to make him something. What got slid back was a special riff on a Manhattan. 

“It just really opened my mind up in so many ways,” Doyle recalls of that moment. In time, he’d learn the basics of bartending, then work his way up to journeyman skills — then be given true creative encouragement by one of the main bartenders at Saigon Alley. He loved the progression. 

But a year ago, Doyle was tapped to make a return to Ten Ten Room, this time as the head of a high-caliber team tasked with elevating its drink program into something memorable. Doyle’s marching orders were to do that without sacrificing the homey, welcoming  ambiance that downtowners have always loved about the place. 

“It’s just funny to have been sitting on the other side of the bar seven years ago, and now, to be on this side in a whole different capacity,” Doyle reflects. “I want this bar to be a perfect interaction of world-class cocktail craft and no barrier of pretension to get in. We want to serve drinks at the highest level every night, but also provide comfort and fun. Here, you can enjoy a New York steak with an amazing Manhattan, or you can order dino nuggets and a hard Mountain Dew.”  

A whiskey wizard buys The Ten Ten Room

In Sacramento, if you ask a rabid fan of bourbon, rye or American single malts where they drink, there is more than a chance they’ll say Locked Barrel on 11th Street. The restaurant, nestled at the base of the historic Elk’s Tower, features over 800 different whiskeys. It was opened in 2019 by veteran chef-owner Jason Lockard, who’d already established himself as a force in downtown, first by running the kitchen at Brew It Up and then by owning and operating Blue Prynt. 

When the Elk’s Tower offered Lockard a chance to take over its Art Deco ballroom and part of its ground floor, he jumped at the opportunity. Designed by architect Leonard Stark, many consider the tower one of the most visually beautiful buildings near the state Capitol. Lockard was also given access to its underground swimming pool from the 1920s, which meant he had enough storage space to start collecting distilled spirits from every famed whiskey trail from Texas to Japan. 

Related: Luscious Libations: Distilleries use local, natural flavors to enhance their creations

As Locked Barrel started prospering, Lockard began looking for his next project. He took his time. He wanted the new spot to still be within the same tight quarters of central downtown where he’s worked for the last 20 years. Finally, he got word that Ten Ten Room was for sale. 

“Ten Ten Room was always kind of a go-to spot for me,” Lockard explains. “I have a thing where I try not to drink in my own bars. It can be a bad look for employees and customers. But sometimes you want to just get away, and Ten Ten Room was one of those spots where I’d just go to have a beer and relax sometimes.”

Ten Ten Room reportedly struggled during the pandemic, and Lockard knew it had seen better days. He also understood that, for years, locals have appreciated its welcoming neighborhood atmosphere. Lockard believed that vibe could be maintained while pairing the hundred-year-old bones of the place with top-tier cocktails that are fitting of a Prohibition-era building. 

In late 2024, Lockard bought Ten Ten Room. He spent a couple months deep-cleaning the historic structure, simultaneously sanding its floors, reworking its bar top, changing its seats and benches and throwing up new paint and lights. Lockard was sure he could nail part of his vision through a new kitchen menu, focusing on tasty but approachable dishes that include pulled pork or parmesan chicken sliders, cheddar mac and cheese and charcuterie boards. To keep things playful, he added dinosaur nuggets. 

Now he needed the right bar manager. Various friends in the restaurant industry started mentioning Doyle’s name. 

“I didn’t want another whiskey bar,” Lockard stresses. “Whatever Tanner wants to do, I’m letting him do. At the end of the day, a nice cocktail bar is really about the minds that are making the drinks. On the whiskey side, sure I’ve been able to get a lot of good and rare products, but you have someone who really knows what to do with those products, otherwise it doesn’t matter what you’ve stocked behind the bar.”

A new team gets innovative  

Doyle had just stepped away from Saigon Alley on good terms when Lockard came calling. 

“It was amazing timing on both of our parts,” Doyle says. “I really like taking classic cocktails and turning them on their head, so they’re still somewhat familiar to the source material but still totally different. Jason’s given me the freedom to do that here.”

Exactly one year after Ten Ten Room reopened, Doyle is excited to talk about what he and his bartenders are up to. That includes Doyle’s spin on the Espresso Martini. To make it, he went to The Allspicery, a Sacramento herb shop, to grab some cocoa powder and a pumpkin spice kit. He used those items to whip up his own pumpkin spice chocolate espresso liquor. His own espresso martini builds on that by adding mezcal and reposado, tequila aged in oak barrels, before being finished with cold brew coffee and a topping of orange vanilla foam. The result is something that tastes like a drinkable German chocolate cake with a pleasant marshmallow pillow.   

Related: 100 Years Since Peak Prohibition, Revelers Still Seek Speakeasies in Sacramento

Another standout drink that Doyle’s engineered at Ten Ten Room is The Forager, which is part of an evolving series of sour cocktails that rely on mezcal and various herbal and vegetal ingredients. At the moment, the bar is serving its Forager 4. This evolution of the drink pairs a guava rind-infused mezcal with yellow chartreuse, fresh blackberries, lemon peel, black cardamon, cinnamon bark, black peppercorn and a little bit of clove. It hits the pallet as a multi-layered mix of roasted stone fruit off the barbecue crossed with hints of charred agave and some light, sweet and savory inflections.

“I wanted it to be fruity, spicy, herbal, smoky — and a refined version of the first drink I ever made,” Doyle says. “I grew up in Loomis, picking blackberries, and my mom would always make a spiced honey tea, so that’s kind of the inspiration for the cordial. Then, it’s about matching that with my tastes as an adult now, my love of mezcal and herbal spirits like chartreuse. The rinds of the guava get a little bit more bitterness into the mezcal.”   
 
For those who don’t drink alcohol, Doyle and his team have put some TLC into their mocktail menu. One of their big hits so far is the Jumba Soda, a concoction of house-made guava cream and Sprite. With its distinct vanilla textures, the Jumba Soda is reminiscent of a refreshing but indulgent milkshake. 

Doyle hasn’t dreamt up all these special touches by himself. His lead bartender, Hadley Giebeler, says she loves working at Ten Ten Room because she and her coworkers are urged to get in on the drink-making magic.   

“I love that we’re constantly creating,” Giebeler mentions. “We change the menu three or four times a year now; and that’s not counting little menu pop-ups here and there. And Tanner is really good about letting his staff contribute to the creativity, and taking their ideas into account. So it’s been a really inventive outlet for me.”

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