Newish San Antonio nightspot Snake Hill Social Club shifting focus for cocktails, ‘loungey’ vibes

Government Hill nightspot Snake Hill Social Club opened quietly late last year, and quickly became known for a robust lineup of rock, metal and punk shows.

Now, the owners are working to bring it a more “loungey” vibe, featuring specialty cocktails from its experienced bar staff.

“We’ve done the live music thing a lot, sometimes even three shows in one week,” co-owner Jess Garcia told the Current. “It’s good for the community, because not a lot of people put on those shows for the hardcore community, but we just want the vibe to be more friendly, more like a cocktail lounge.”

To that end, the spot at 1522 E. Grayson will book fewer shows and focus more on allowing the masters behind the bar to create the vibes with specialty cocktails. Garcia told the Current that his bartenders bring experience from nightspots ranging from the St. Mary’s Strip to Boerne.

On the other hand, Garcia and his partner Jasmine Valdez opened the spot last fall with zero bar experience. What they did have, Valdez said, was a vision and determination to make every day count.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, and that’s what pushed me to want to do something different,” she added. “I’ve been in full remission for the last year or so … so hopefully everything will be good. But that was the big push, for me at least, because at that point, I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I was just like, ‘Whatever, fuck it. I’ll quit my job and we’ll just gamble and see what happens.’”

Snake Hill will still host rock and hip-hop gigs and it even recently branched out into drag performances, Garcia noted.

Snake Hill Social Club is open 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday. It’s located in Government Hill between newly-opened Breakaway Brewing and soon-to-be-shuttered Betty’s Battalion.

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This article appears in Apr 19 – May 2, 2023.