Milwaukee, Bay View, Part I

Five years ago, we guided the Lounge Lizards around the Downtown, Walker’s Point, and Historic Mitchell Street neighborhoods of Milwaukee. This time we’d like to take you just a touch south of that tour for a second drinking excursion of Brew City. The focus this time is on the reinvigorated Bay View neighborhood, whose classic buildings line Kinnickinnic Avenue, running its length north and south like a real-life picturesque electric railroad set. Bay View’s leisurely atmosphere is leagues apart from the hustle and bustle of Milwaukee’s downtown. If it’s turning summer, the denizens of Bay View are on the street sides, imbibing cold ones in the sun and sipping coffee in the cool evenings.

Our drinking starts at the Odd Duck, a eclectic, small-plate restaurant that specializes using local ingredients in its very tasty dishes. Bring your money, though, because it will take several plates for you to fill your belly and the small plates command large prices (average about $12 a plate). The cocktails will cost you $10 a piece and are named sparingly by number.



Cindy ordered up an #81, an exotic blend of Pimm's No. 1, earl grey tincture, Xtabentún, Atxa Pacharan, fresh basil. Most Wisconsinites would be completely lost to explain what is in this drink, which is why you have us here in the Firewater Lounge. In fact, two of the #81’s ingredients are very popular in the Lounge. Pimm’s, an English gin-based fruit liqueur, is Cindy’s go-to spring libation and the mysterious Aztecan Xtabentún, a honey-anise liqueur, that replaces honey syrup in a number of our drinks is a favorite of the Stoefflers. Earl grey tea steeped in alcohol and concentrated down forms the tincture in the drink. Atxa Pacharan has never yet made an appearance in the Lounge, but just know that the Basque liqueur tastes like sloe berry and anise. And basil, don’t forget the basil.

At this point, the Odd Duck might seem like a pinky-in-the-air-affair. But you’re in Milwaukee, so even a restaurant that is interested in particulars doesn’t read as pretentious as it could.
I was served cocktail #34 whose laundry list of ingredients include Appleton Estate rum, Clément rhum agricole, black strap rum, smoked pineapple shrub, Campari, and fresh-squeezed lime juice. The unfamiliar ingredient here is probably rhum agricole, but don’t be too mystified. Rhum agricole is simply rum distilled from freshly-pressed sugar cane juice rather than from fermented molasses, imparting more of a plant greenness to the spirit. The most labor-intensive part of this drink is the smoked pineapple shrub, which we have already taught you how to make last summer. Here’s how to make the rest of the drink with well-balanced proportions re-created not to be too cloying, too sour, or too bitter.

Drink: Odd Duck #34 

Establishment: Odd Duck Restaurant 

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

First Connoisseur: Holly

1 ½ ounce dark Jamaican rum (Odd Duck uses Appleton)

½ ounce rhum agricole (Odd Duck uses Clément)

½ ounce black strap rum (we used Cruzan)

½ ounce of smoked pineapple shrub

¼ ounce of Campari

Splash of fresh-squeezed lime juice

Build in an iced old-fashioned glass. Stir gently to combine. Garnish with lime peel.