Last Vegas Roll

We're returning from another long hiatus, but know that, although the nation is moving into neo-temperance, we are not. We just got really busy again. My hopes are that we can get five posts in this year to keep any Lounge Lizards out there still well-informed on what, where, and how to drink.

At the same time, I was reminiscing a bit on the 1990s and the college years (prepare for a Tiki TV post in the future!) and have had the Tupac Shakur murder trial on the boob tube for background noise. Tupac was shot down in Las Vegas 30 (!) years ago and would have been 55 years old if he were still alive today. That got me thinking... What would 'Pac be drinking? I have a guess. Given the amount of mentions of liquor in his tunes, there are three clear favorites: Hennessy, Alizé, and gin.

So, in memory of one of America's greatest rappers, let's create a libation for you to keep ya head up. For it, you'll need rosemary syrup. To make it, mix 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water and dissolve in nearly boiling water. Take off heat and steep a packed 1/4 cup of rosemary leaves for 20-25 minutes. Remove the leaves, strain, and cool.

Last Vegas Roll
Holly's Original

2 ounces gin (I used Old Tom)
1 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
3/4 ounce rosemary syrup
Splash of freshly-squeezed lemon

Shake all ingredients on ice. Strain into a cocktail glass or coupe. Garnish with lemon peel. As a fun variant, replace the Old Tom with Koval cranberry gin for an even more complex drink I call the Koval Stoplight. 

As a chaser, try Tupac's own Thug Passion.

Thug Passion
Classic Pours

1 part Alizé Gold Passion
1 part Champagne (Tupac uses Cristal, most of us can't) or 1 part Hennessy cognac

Chill both bottles well before mixing. Pour equal parts in a glass suitable for a thug (ice optional). Stir lightly to keep your Champagne bubbles alive. 

Parsley Cooler

The end of our garden is here. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we saw our temperatures dip below freezing and our wind chills push us to near zero. That forced us to pick or cover the hardiest of our plants. One of those plants that was still going strong was our parsley. So, if you have something extra lying around the house, do what we do in the Firewater Lounge, drink it!

Since we've been tooling around the U.S. in our Around America series a bunch, and since there's no parsley in any of our most recent trips, we decided to give you a parsley Holly's Original cocktail for what's left of your Thanksgiving. It does have green chartreuse in it, which is increasingly hard to find and expensive, but, given the amount of Millennials and younger not drinking, I suspect the prices will come down in the future. If you have the chartreuse and the parsley, go for it!

Parsley Cooler
Holly's Original

2 1/4 ounces gin (we used Death's Door)
1/2 ounce green chartreuse
1 dash of Hella citrus bitters (you can sub a celery, orange, or lemon bitters)
splash of cold 7up
parsley

Place 10-15 parsley leaves in a double old fashioned glass or similar sized rocks glass. Splash them with a bit of gin (about 1/4 ounce). Muddle gently. Add ice. Add remaining gin, chartreuse, and bitters. Stir gently to combine. Top with 7up, stir with one or two revolutions, careful to keep the effervescence. Garnish with parsley if you like.

Key West, Florida

Time to take the Around America Series as far south as humanly possible and crash Ernest Hemingway's haunts in Key West. Although the author has been dead for more than sixty years, both his home and his cocktails still hold sway over the island. 

Oppenheimer Martini

Given that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is the new cinematic rage (after Barbie, at least), people's interest in the historical scientist is at its peak. Fewer people know that J. Robert Oppenheimer isn't just the father of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer is also the father of a very particular dry martini (it was briefly shown in the film).

When working on the Manhattan Project (the atomic bomb project, not the cocktail), Oppenheimer, who was nearly six feet tall, dropped to a paltry 120 pounds under stress. Those who knew him said he lived on coffee, cigarettes, and very strong martinis at the time. Lucky for us, we have the recipe for that martini.

Pickling Onions for Cocktails

In our most recent post, we challenged the Lounge Lizards with a little neat mezcal accompanied by worm-salted oranges. This time we thought we'd bring onions to the table. Veggies usually don't make the cocktail bar much - the most common are cucumbers and olives in gin, pickles, and celery in Bloody Marys, and hot peppers in Pepper Pots. But in the time-honored cocktail past, the pickled onion was not unknown. In fact, it was essential in a specific classic drink- the Gibson.

If you are new to the Gibson, likely it's in name only...well, mostly. The core of the Gibson is simply a typical recipe for a modern martini- which is a combination of gin and dry (French) vermouth in the ratio you love, for me, it's usually 4-to-1, gin as the greater portion. If I want a dry martini or drinking with a Stoeffler, I go 5-to-1. The garnish is always an olive for me or nothing.

The difference that makes the Gibson is the switch-out of the olive in favor of pickled pearl onion. If you ask a cocktail historian, they'll also note another difference. The Gibson is not a true cocktail; it's never poured with bitters. This isn't true about the classic martini. The classic martini is thought to be spawned from the Martinez, which contains orange bitters; therefore, early martinis also had bitters. Martinis with bitters are fun today as well, not just orange bitters, but citrus, Angostura, and celery are all great.

But not for a Gibson. It's gin, vermouth, and onions. That's it.

So, Lounge Lizards, if you are going to pour a Gibson, you got to get your onions pickled. Here's how:

1/2 pound peeled small or pearl onions (we used French/gray shallots from our garden)

Pickle Spice Blend (makes more than you need for 1 batch)
2 1/2 Tablespoons mustard seeds
2 1/2 Tablespoons coriander seeds
1 Tablespoon allspice berries
1 Tablespoon black peppercorns
2 cloves, broken into pieces
3 dry bay leaves, broken up
2 Tablespoons crushed fennel seeds

Mix and store in an air-tight container.

Brine: 
1 pint white wine vinegar
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/4 Tablespoons salt

Sterilized pint Mason Jar

Make the Pickles:
Stir together the Brine ingredients until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add onions, brine, and 2 Tablespoons of the Spice Blend to a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat immediately. 

Pour onions and liquid into the jar(s). Cover and store at room temperature for two days before using. Refrigerate once open.

Here's our Gibson recipe.

Gibson (Classic Pour Series)

2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
pickled onion(s)

Combine gin and vermouth in an iced mixing vessel. Stir until cold. Strain into a pre-chilled glass. Add 1-3 pickled onions on a cocktail stick or sword. If you would like your Gibson dirty, start with a rinse of the pickling liquid in the glass. If that is not dirty enough, add up to a teaspoon of the pickling liquid to the glass. Do not shake or substitute vodka like James Bond; he asks for vodka martinis, but all Lounge Lizards remember that that drink is a Kangaroo. No one is cool drinking a Kangaroo. Don't Kangaroo your Gibson.

Bigfork, Montana, Part 1

Many of the Lounge Lizards were born and raised in a Great Lake state, so big lakes are not new to us. Big lakes that overlook mountains, though, are somewhat of a novelty. A beautiful example of such a lake is Flathead Lake which is nestled in the Rockies of northern Montana. Flathead Lake, which is just a bit smaller than Lake Winnebago, is dotted with bars, breweries, and distilleries for locals and visitors alike.

When we visited, we found little cabins to rent just outside the city of Bigfork which lies on the north shore of the lake. We got to the cabins too early for the staff and they recommended a casual bar on the lakeshore called The Raven. We suspect the cabins and The Raven have the same owners since they were both decked out in a Caribbean theme.

Cocktails at The Raven may have a tropical name and pedigree, but the northern vibe absolutely showed through. Its baskets of hand-cut fries, its small bar kitchen, and its locals slamming suds read more Wisconsin dive bar than Jamaican tiki bar. And nothing read ‘Montana’ more than the myriad of huckleberry elements in the drinks. See, Montana loves it some huckleberries. They have huckleberry everything- pies, jams, ice creams, and, yes, cocktails. So, when in Rome… here’s the huckleberry drink I had at The Raven.

Drink: The Huckleberry Fizz

Establishment: The Raven

Location: Bigfork, Montana

First Connoisseur: Holly

2 ounces gin (The Raven uses Whistling Andy Pink Peppercorn Gin)

½ ounce huckleberry syrup

7up or club soda

Combine gin and huckleberry in an iced mixing class. Stir to incorporate and cool the drink. Strain. Top with 7up or club soda. Gently stir to keep the carbonation.

Minneapolis, Part 1

We love that cities are revitalizing their old factory areas into art and entertainment districts. From Oklahoma City’s Bricktown, to Old Sugar in Madison, to Red Hook’s Widow Jane, America’s cities far and wide are converting their industrial and shipping areas to cocktail clubs and breweries. One of the best examples of this is the mill and warehouse districts of Minneapolis, where, slowly, abandoned buildings, one-after-another, are trading in their mill status for sophisticated cuisine and smartly-crafted libations.

We scoured the warehouse district for some of these tasty treats and found that our first destination was pretty darn hard to find- Marvel Bar. Despite its huge acclaim in bar circles, Marvel is a true modern speakeasy. If you use Google maps to find it, you still might not find it. It involves going to the Mississippi riverside at the end of the bar’s block under the Bachelor Farmer cafe, going down a flight of stairs on the outside and through two signless doors.

Once in, Marvel is almost as nondescript as the outside. It’s small with a few funky chairs surrounding short tables; its only distinctive feature is their golden maneki-neko forever beckoning cocktail lovers toward their next liquid treat. Marvel’s bar travels the entire length of the room with three barmen working so furiously concocting cocktails or cracking ice that it prevented the smallest of talk. We started with Marvel’s most famous drink, the Oliveto. The Oliveto is a velvety mixture of olive oil, egg, lemon, and liquor that lives up to its reputation. Though its recipe looks challenging (both in pour and in taste) to the novice cocktail drinker, it is not as intimidating as it appears; it only entails a couple of shakes and it tastes like lemon meringue. Yummy! That recipe is below:

Drink: Oliveto 

Establishment: Marvel Bar

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

First Connoisseur: Cindy

2 ounces dry gin

1 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice

¼ ounce rich simple syrup (2:1)

¼ ounce Licor 43

½ ounce full-bodied extra virgin olive oil

1 fresh egg white

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker in preparation for a dry shake. Shake hard, without ice, for about 20-30 seconds to emulsify the egg white and olive oil. Add ice to the shaker and shake again for 20 more seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe.

Of course, we couldn’t leave Marvel without trying a few more cocktails. And although we don’t know the proportions of these, they do make for interesting combinations if you are an amateur mixologist! Strongwater: a mixture of Farigoule (French thyme liqueur), Carpano Antica Formula vermouth, Marvel’s own select Old Scout 8 year bourbon, Maison Rouge, and water. The Oakenshield: salt, Cynar, Toschi Nocello (Italian walnut liqueur), Isle of Skye 8 year scotch whisky.

Life Well-Lived Cocktail

One of the Christmas traditions here in the Firewater Lounge is a showing of Alastair Sim’s version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and, contrary to little Q.’s preferences, we always watch it in black and white. It enhances the atmosphere of the story in film form because, although many people forget it, A Christmas Carol is a ghost story first, a Christmas story second (Of course, this viewing also fits the family horror vibe, given that we have a second Christmas tree- the ‘scary’ tree which is made of bare black wire). I feel that A Christmas Carol can only be a ghost story, since it needs the element of fear as a central theme; without it, there would be no salvation for Scrooge.

So maybe you’re thinking I’m saying that Scrooge is ‘scared-straight,’ an idea borne out most explicitly by the story’s penultimate ‘stave’ when Scrooge is confronted by his own tombstone. While I think this is true on its face, there’s much more fear in the story. But I don’t think it’s genesis is in the four ghosts.

Instead, Scrooge is a mean miser because he’s afraid of everyone, everyday. Afraid to face his own failures in love as a young man. Afraid to face his failure to care for his beloved sister’s child, his only nephew Fred. Afraid to form a close bond to his employee Bob and his family because of those earlier love and family shortcomings. Afraid to part with his own money, because he uses it as a bulwark against social interaction. Money-making is a bloodless, emotionless pursuit and, in Western Civilization, a simultaneously universally-lauded enterprise. A perfect distraction for fearful men.

The ghosts’ job in the tale, then, is to remove Scrooge’s money from the equation and force Scrooge to face the fears he has too long ignored. His salvation is to reclaim his humanness.

The lesson is deep for us all. Don’t use money or anything else as a barrier between you and your family, your friends, your neighbors. The man whose birth we celebrate during this season, says it best- ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

Bob Cratchit’s gin punch, then, will be the
inspiration for our FWL creation this Christmas. We’ll mix it with Amaro Montenegro (whose original name meant ‘long life’ in Italian) and chai (which also means ‘life’ in Hebrew) and garnish it with stars on top.

Let’s toast to love, heath, and long life- the true human treasures. And, of course, a very Merry Christmas from us to you!


A Life Well-Lived Cocktail

1 ½ ounces London dry gin
¾ ounce Amaro Montenegro
¾ ounce chai syrup

If you do not have chai syrup, prepare some 1:1 syrup by boiling 1 cup of chai and 1 cup of white sugar. Cool before using. To prepare the cocktail, mix all ingredients in a stirring vessel with ice. Gently stir 40 revolutions to maintain the drink’s smooth texture and then pour into coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with two pieces of star anise.

Milwaukee, Bay View, Part 2

Needing to return to a place more Milwaukee-like after eating at the Odd Duck, Cindy and I went to drink beer at The Stone, a mere five minute walk off Kinnickinnic Avenue to South Howell Avenue. Opened in 1997, The Stepping Stone, or The Stone for short, is a hidden beer mecca disguised as a local shot and a beer joint. Inside, a patron must decide from 21 draft lines and 120 bottle choices. The Stone also features a crowler machine, which allows you to can up one of their tap beers for the road.

Cindy grabbed a local stout and asked for a Deschutes Black Butte XXVII, but there was an honest mix-up from the cellar and a scotch barrel-aged imperial stout, of which I never knew the name, got mistakenly opened because it was in the Black Butte’s slot. Since there was no special Deschutes left in stock, I simply ordered a Fuller’s, and called it a visit. We had more cocktails to drink, so we moved on.

The main cocktail draw in Bay View at the time we were there was Boone & Cockett. Today, Boone & Crockett has moved a touch north to the Harbor View neighborhood, but the bar’s vibe is still intact. At the Bay View location, there was an Old West atmosphere fueled by a distinct interest in mixology and bartender friendliness. Cindy and I started with a glass of oak-casked bourbon old fashioned sweets, pumped by tap from the ceiling.
We followed with menu cocktails, mine was a fruity tipple called a cherry amelie. Our third and final round featured classic libations with upscale or local spirits. I ordered a Sazerac with Pow Wow whiskey, a botanical rye made by Georgetown Trading Company in Washington, D.C., mixed with Peychaud’s bitters, turbinado simple syrup, and Sirene Absinthe. Cindy settled on a refreshing Milwaukee G&T, Boone & Crockett’s local form of the traditional gin and tonic. If you want one this weekend, here’s how to make one.

Drink: Milwaukee G&T
Establishment: Boone & Crockett
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
First Connoisseur: Cindy

1 part Rehorst gin
1 part Top Note Indian Tonic
Splash soda water

Fill a Collins glass with ice. Build starting with the gin, then tonic, then soda. Stir lightly to reserve carbonation. Garnish with lime wheel or wedge.

Green House Gin

Madison has never been the best place to buy liquor. Wisconsin is a beer-dominated place for so long, domestic and otherwise, that typically, if a Lounge Lizard wanted to get his booze on, he or she would have two main options for variety- Woodman’s or the internet. That has changed with the grand opening of Total Wines at West Towne Mall. Now, this liquor store is not quite on par with the southern Mecca that is Specs, but its selection is still impressive. Madison’s Total Wines shines most in its whiskey offerings, doubling Woodman’s stock of both bourbon and scotch. It’s thinnest at rum, however it is the only place in the area that carries Diplomatico, the Lounge’s favorite mid-priced rum. 

Since we are approaching the warmer months, we are still drinking gin in the Lounge, waiting for the mint to cast its broadest leaves. Our first purchase from Total Wines-West Towne was Green House Artisan Gin from Dallas, Texas. Right out of the bottle, this gin is elegantly perfumed with juniper, rose, and red berries. It makes a great sipper; the flavor is very sweet, with acai and raspberry coming out strong, followed by citrus with cucumber and a late kiss of juniper in the background.

If you would like to try Green House in a cocktail, our recommendation is to amplify its bergamot with a curacao or triple sec. Here is how we did it-

Green House Spiced Cocktail

2 ounces of Green House Gin

Juice of one medium blood orange

½ ounce of dry curacao (we used Pierre Fernand)

1 dropper of Bittercube Jamaican #2 bitters

Place all ingredients in an iced stirring vessel. Stir vigorously until chilled. Strain into a coupe. Garnish with mint if desired.

Herb & Lou's Infused Cubes

Wisconsin’s spring will be dramatically short this season, since we are only a week out from a huge snowfall here and it’s already April 28th. So we quickly hightailed it to the liquor store for gin, our spring go-to. We settled on a new gin to the area, Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin. The gin is beautifully presented in an azure-ribbed squat bottle adorned with a metallic-blue jackalope, the brand’s inspiration. The gin’s name comes from its signature botanicals- gunpowder tea; it’s also infused with a variety of citrus such as lemon, lime, and grapefruit. On the palate, this gin comes out powerfully with juniper, citrus, spice and then warms over with green tea, leaving tea and piney notes on the tongue.


Now the Drumshanbo is completely fine over ice but we modified

our tasting with one of Herb & Lou’s infused cubes. The cube we added was Herb & Lou’s Cecile cube, a frozen combination of cucumber, watermelon, clove, and honey. Adding a Cecile to the Gunpowder gin made an already complex gin impossibly interesting. The bite of the alcohol dimmed and the sours of the gin itself was tamed by the sweetness of the honey, which allowed fuller expression of the tea, cucumber and watermelon. If you are new to gin, a Cecile cube is the way to go. Other recommendations for a Cecile cube would be tequila, chilled vodka, triple sec, or limoncello.

Here’s our recommend pour-

Gunpowder Gin with a Cecile

1 ½ ounce Gunpowder Gin
1 Cecile ice cube from Herb & Lou

Place a Cecile cube in a coupe or Nick and Nora glass. Slowly pour gin over the cube. Sip. If you prefer to garnish, a cucumber rind would be excellent.

Chicago, The Loop, part 2

The Palmer House has a long history. A originally lavish wedding gift of Potter Palmer to his wife Bertha, the Palmer House is so huge that it takes up the larger part of a city block, contains a small mall on its ground floor, and rises 25 floors to house more than 1600 guest rooms. Unfortunately for Potter Palmer, his wedding gift burned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, just 13 days after its grand opening. Palmer was determined to rebuild; his business magnate reputation guaranteed a quick $1.7 million loan to do it. For the next 140 years, the Palmer House became the longest continually operating hotel in the nation. In the late 2000s, the Palmer House went through another $170 million renovation, just completed prior to our visit.

Beyond the open-room bar in the Palmer’s opulent lobby, the hotel also features a swanky Vegas-like cocktail lounge named Potter’s downstairs. Cindy and I dropped in for a quick round. A smartly-vested barkeep served us up a pair of Potter specialties: for me a Manhattan made from Potter’s own select barrel of Woodford and, for Cindy, Potter’s acclaimed Martinez crafted with the classic Old Tom gin that made this 1800s cocktail stand the test of time.

Drink: Martinez
Establishment: Potter’s at the Palmer House
Location: Chicago, Illinois
First Connoisseur: Cindy

1 ounce Old Tom gin
2 ounces sweet vermouth
Small barspoon of Maraschino
Dash orange bitters

The 1880s Martinez was made with Booker’s bitters which has just appeared on the market once again. Likely the Palmer House had long substituted the Booker’s with orange bitters because of its universal availability. In addition, the Martinez is usually stirred and served up in a coupe or Nick and Nora glass. However, Potter’s builds theirs over ice in an old-fashioned glass- no fuss, Midwestern style.

Stone Fence

It’s been a busy year here at the Firewater Lounge, with Cindy and I taking second jobs and having our first high schooler running wildly to and fro, finding time to seriously sit down for cocktail hour with the Lounge Lizards has been pretty tough. But it’s Christmas, and we always find a way to give all the Lounge Lizards something liquid for Christmas. And hopefully, from our glass to yours, you will find a little cheer and love as well.

This year we were showered with gifts from the Jensen family who has been very good to us over the last year. From sharing their tremendously talented and intelligent daughters for more mock trial successes to helping Cindy get her photography into the Wisconsin Artist Showcase to helping with an emergency at one of my crime scenes, the Jensens were there.

The Jensens also sent a holiday basket of goodies to Cindy for some photography that she had shot, so we thought it apropos to share with everyone at the Firewater Lounge because, well, it’s Christmas.

Since the basket contained Martinelli sparkling cider, we choose one of the oldest cider cocktail recipes in American history, the Stone Fence. Tracing its rabble-rousing reputation to the draught which pre-fueled Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys’ victory at Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary War in 1775, the Stone Fence has always been liquid courage in a glass. Potent, yet drinkable, the Stone Fence has always been 1 part whatever liquor you have, 2 parts cider (or hard cider if you are Ethan Allen) and bitters. We most often have them with bourbon; Allen would have used the more available rum.

We’d like to give you two Stone Fence recipes. The first is the classic rum variety; the second is a modern rendition from Black Twig Cider House in Durham, North Carolina. Enjoy. Thank the Jensens for the inspiration if you see them before we do, and, as always, have a Merry Christmas!

Stone Fence (Classic Pours Series)

1 part dark rum (we used Smith and Cross)

2 parts apple cider (we used Martinelli)

1 dash Angostura bitters

Pour rum and cider into a rocks glass filled with ice. Float the bitters on top of the drink to allow the drinker to decide whether they want to stir or drink through the bitters. When Stone Fences are garnished, it is usually with mint or freshly-grated nutmeg; since it’s Christmas time, we chose the nutmeg.

Black Twig Stone Fence

1 part gin (we used Vikre spruce)

2 parts apple cider (we used Martinelli)

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Same routine as a traditional Stone Fence. This time, though, the garnish is a clementine swath.

10 Rules of Martinis

I was a child of the ‘80s. Thank God I was not old enough to drink. For some reason, America completely lost their memory of their traditional cocktail heritage and fell into a dark age of domestic beers and fruit ‘martinis’; essentially anything in a cocktail glass was a ‘martini.’ Ugh. Mercifully, we have returned from that miserable era to a more sophisticated time. However, some bars still have a ‘-tini’ section on their menus- mostly fruity or chocolate undrinkable nightmares. So let the FWL educate you on that most wonderful American invention this side of the light bulb: The Martini.

One - There is no fruit juice, chocolate, coffee, syrup, or even bitters in a martini. Yes, that’s right, the martini may be presented in a cocktail glass, but, unlike its close relative the Martinez (gin, vermouth, maraschino, bitters), the martini itself is not a cocktail. In its true form it only has two ingredients: 5 to 1, gin to French (dry) vermouth. (Classically, the ratio is 6 to 1, however most bartenders prefer to give modern palates a bit of a gin break).

Two - There are only two exceptions to the two ingredient rule. An olive wash in the cocktail glass prior to the alcohol strained into it. This is known as a Dirty Martini due to the briny olive tint to the drink. (For God’s sake, don’t pour olive brine into an already made martini!) A smoky scotch wash (like Laphroaig or Ardbeg) is also a classic touch; this is known as a Burnt Martini.

Rite of Spring

Artichoke. The little edible thistle makes a darn good dip or enchilada, but a cocktail? Well, let’s introduce you to Cynar. First, the pronunciation- it’s closest to ‘chee-nar.’ Two, it doesn’t really taste like artichoke. Cynar is made, allegedly, with 13 separate botanicals including artichoke, which has a prominent enough role to be pictured on its bottle. In actuality, the flavor of Cynar is full of upfront clean sweetness, like drinking double-rich simple syrup, which gives way to a green olively vegetal bitterness. This, trust me, sounds grosser than it is.

Cynar is the youngest of the Big Four Italian digestivos marketed commonly in the United States. The others, Campari (bitter orange), Fernet Branca (bittersweet peppermint oil), and Averna (bittersweet caramel and herbs) all had been introduced almost 100 years before Cynar. What the Big Four’s popularity comes from, though, is that they are all great to help digest a huge meal and they mix tremendously well in cocktails. Given the cocktail revival in the early 2000s, the Big Four, including Cynar, started popping up in drink recipes all over. Like Campari, Cynar blends beautifully with gin; together they scream the spring flavors of refreshing juniper, the greenness of newborn herbs and cold sweetwater. To that, we added the floral wine notes of St-Germain and a splash of lime citrus boldness for punch. Chase away the remnants of winter with the recipe below.

Rite of Spring
Holly’s Original Series

1 ½ ounces barrel-aged gin (we used Smooth Ambler)
1 ounce Cynar
½ ounce St-Germain
Dash fresh-squeezed lime juice

Add all ingredients into a stirring vessel with ice. Stir and strain into a cocktail coupe. Garnish with a lime twist.

Dallas, Part 2

Last time we left you, the boys (Aaron and M.J.) and I were thirsty and looking for a drink. Surprise! We drove back into uptown Dallas in search of the cocktail bar Parliament and found it buried in various townhouse-like apartments and scattered classy eateries, mostly still relatively active given the growing late hour.

Purple Heaven

It was a sad weekend here in the FWL as all the lizards draped in purple, mourning the loss of Prince, assauged our tears in a viewing of the movie Purple Rain. It was a fabulous reminder of what Prince actually stood for beyond the music; the right for everyone to eat, drink, make love, and listen to music without anyone stopping you because they don’t want you to. Censorship is the death of emotion; the authority’s way of making your life vanilla in order to ‘protect’ you from yourself. We like to drink cocktails. Prince didn’t. Prince liked to be ambiguous gender-wise. We don’t. The point is that it doesn’t matter. We loved Prince for not caring what people thought. It was the definition of freedom.

Sadly, it was Prince’s song Darling Nikki that Tipper Gore and her pseudo-Nazi troop of prohibitionists (Parents Music Resource Center) placed at #1 of their ‘Filthy 15’songs of the early ‘80s that began modern-day music censorship. Gore didn’t like that her daughter was listening to a song that included masturbation and promptly decided that it wasn’t good for anyone else’s children either. Gore targeted a Def Leppard and a Black Sabbath song in the Filthy 15 because they ‘glorified the use of alcohol.’ Gore demanded the Senate hold the ‘porn rock’ hearings and soon after the Parental Advisory Sticker was born. Stores quickly refused to sell the Purple Rain album (the album that included Darling Nikki). The result is that Gore communicated that music, alcohol, and sex are repulsive, dirty, and shameful...and at the same time intoxicatingly alluring. This is the worst of all worlds. Thankfully, Prince and his ilk fought it with every fiber of their being.

We know that Prince would never drink the cocktail that we have crafted in his memory, but we know he’d love the idea of it. It’s creative, beautiful, and a cousin of the Aviation, the drink named after the freedom of the blue skies it resembles. Our version, brings the Creme de Violette strong, filling the cocktail flush with the color that Prince loved so much, the color of rock royalty.

Purple Heavens (Holly’s Original Series)

2 ounces gin (we used Hendrick’s)

½ ounce freshly-squeezed lemon juice

½ ounce creme de violette

Dash of cranberry bitters (citrus bitters will sub)

Add all ingredients in an iced mixing glass, stir and strain into the most fabulous coupe you own (or not, be free!). Garnish with lemon peel if you wish. We would suggest that you drink the Purple Heavens to some song or movie that would piss off Tipper...and make Prince smile wherever he is.

Boston, Part 2

At the end of our last post, we had just left Drink, the warehouse cellar of mixology, and was immediately assaulted by the coarse Atlantic air, now a brisk 50-something degrees and whipping. Cindy had a lead on a bar and bartender at the Ritz-Carlton; luckily, the bar is known for its blazing eye-level fireplace, unluckily, it was still a mile walk away! Comforted by the fact that we are Wisconsinites still acclimated to continental old-man-winter, we sauntered down Altantic Avenue and up Essex to the Ritz’s bar, the Avery.

Boston, Part 1

When Cindy was called away to Andover, Massachusetts for work purposes, it became a great excuse to secure the adjoining weekend for cocktail cruise through Boston. With the trip half paid for, I hitched a seat next to her on the plane with visions of Beantown liquid goodies dancing in my head. After Cindy spent two days in meetings, we finally got the ability to drive south, drop off the rental car at the airport and take the subway into downtown Boston. We quickly unpacked at our hotel and traveled two blocks to our first destination: the Black Rose.

Oklahoma City, Part 2

Last time we introduced you to Oklahoma City’s best-kept secret, the Bricktown neighborhood, starting with Bricktown Brewery. Continuing down Sheridan Avenue, you will encounter a myriad of restaurants and tap rooms including the titan-sized Spaghetti Warehouse, the swanky TapWerks Ale House, the tagged-up Crabtown and its watering hole, the down-home Wormy Dog Saloon, and the burlesque lounge Dollhouse.

Already full from our meal, Cindy and I avoided the dance and food vibe of Sheridan and walked down to the southern border of Bricktown, Reno Avenue. There we stumbled upon blaze-red fronted Whiskey Chicks Parlor, fully prepared to quench an Oklahoma summer thirst. Immediately we were greeted by Elizabeth Haden, a tatted spitfire in daisy dukes who guided us to a table and a drink menu. A look around the bar’s decor which alternated between suicide girls’ boudoir and bourbon distillery, which obviously speaks to guys, but the bartender skill and wait staff enthusiasm keeps you coming back to the cocktails. Our first round were Whiskey Chick creations; here are our recreations of both.