Rising Star Mixologist Alicia Walton of The Sea Star - Biography

Alicia Walton exudes the very spirit of hospitality. She’s been immersed in the industry since age 16, when she worked as a hostess in Moundsville, West Virginia. Walton began serving and, as she admits, bartending before she should have been. Behind the stick at the tiny Italian restaurant, she mixed an avalanche of Martinis and Manhattans, a practice that instilled in Walton a love for the classics. After working for several years at Miller’s Downtown in Charlottesville, Virginia, Walton moved to San Francisco in 2002.   

For six years she tended bar at Martuni’s and, in 2008, joined the crew at Elixir, learning the ropes of bar ownership from mentor H. Joseph Ehrmann, while also developing her own cocktails. In 2010, Walton was part of the opening team at Comstock Saloon, working alongside Rising Stars alum Jonny Raglin, honing her creativity and philosophy—you can make a knockout cocktail with just three or four bottles. From Spain to Peru, Walton also made time to travel and consult. While mixing at Momo’s as a side gig in 2011, The Bloodhound in 2012, and Brass Tacks in 2013, Walton was developing a business plan of her own. The Sea Star opened in June 2015 in the Dogpatch. There, Walton mixes her own new classics while also crackin’ cans of Bud Light. In 2016, Walton won the title of Ms. Speed Rack San Francisco and competed in the national finals in New York.