Purgatory is said to be a place where the soul is cleansed of all impurities which, if you drink enough whiskey at Purgatory Whiskey Bar and Craft Beers in downtown Tracy, it may help one easily forget about all their sins. 

A true whiskey bar with over 180 varieties, they also offer a full bar with vodka, tequila, rum, gin and eight draft beers on tap. There really is something for everyone at Purgatory.

Owner Kevin Cox did research prior to opening the bar in Tracy, spending time at other establishments in the big cities within the surrounding area including San Francisco, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz. After getting through all the red tape they were finally opened in July 2018. For almost two years now, they have perfected their impressive whiskey list, craft cocktails and food menu. With a passion for whiskey and craft cocktails, Bar Manager Danny Sogar spent quite some time creating the cocktail menu.

Guest favorites include the Blackberry Bliss, made with gin, Worth a Chai made with tequila, Boots with the Fur made with rye whiskey and the Last Laugh made with gin.

The bar has five shelves of whiskeys from around the world like Japanese, French, Indian, Irish, American and many more. The top seller at Purgatory for the whiskey drinkers is the old fashioned Up in Smoke. It is made with a little more effort than most old fashioned drinks, as it is made like the standard and then in another glass topped with a mesh strainer and hickory chips burnt with a torch with the smoke being collected in the glass and the chips turned into embers as the drink is poured through the burning chips, dousing the flames and truly smoking the drink. 

Sogar’s personal favorite is the Unfernetable, made with Fernet Branca amaro.

“Fernet Branca is kind of an insiders, bartenders’ type of drink,” he said. “It is very bold and very bitter and most people if they tried it, they say ‘… this is like toothpaste and gasoline’ but the application with this liquor is so vast so you can basically do anything with it. It is a fun and unique cocktail.”