An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

So somebody (coughcough

harmakhet

coughcough) sent me a link to “The 11 Manliest Cocktails in the World”.  Intrigued, of course, I had to check out that link.

If you want to read the article first, go ahead, or not, whatever.

The first couple of drinks are fine.  They’re not necessarily cocktails, per se – well, I mean, a car bomb is sort of one, and the “Kentucky Tea” is water and whiskey.  I’ve never known anyone to drink moonshine and water, it’s always just straight, and also, moonshine ain’t aged – so it’s not going to look like tea, if that’s where the name came from.  I don’t know if it did or not, but I’ve never heard of it before.

Rusty Nail – sure.  I’ve never had one, but it’s like the world’s most expensive cocktail that my friend Aimee sent me a link to – which was 55 year old Macallen scotch, passion fruit syrup, and dried peach bitters (or something like that).  If you’re drinking good Scotch, why add to it, and if you’re not drinking good scotch – yikes.

On the other hand, I only first tasted Drambuie last week, so I might have to try a Rusty Nail before condemning it.  As for manliness – eh.  I don’t know…sure.  I mean, it’s scotch.

A Snake Bite – Yukon Jack and a dash of Lime.  I’ve seen Yukon Jack a gazillion times in the store, but never tasted it – is it good?  Bad?  Is this some kind of harsh drink?

A Jagerade, which is Jagermeister and Gatorade.  I’ve never heard of anyone drinking that, either, though I’m not pretending to know everything about what everybody drinks.  Now grain alcohol and Gatorade, there’s a manly drink, and heck, if you want something with Jager in it, I’d do Jager and Red Bull myself.  That’s manlyer (manlier?  manly-er?) than vodka and Red Bull.

Gin and juice.  Though they decorate it with a picture of a gin and tonic.  I’m not going to argue with Snoop Dogg.

A Nuclear Waste – supposedly, this is Keith Richards’ drink, and it’s vodka and Sunkist orange soda.  Seriously.  That’s not a manly drink.  I don’t care how many drugs he’s done.

The final three are good, I think – a Sazerac, a martini, and a Manhattan.  It’s number four that got me.

A Tequila Sunrise.

Seriously.

THAT is a manly drink?!

The article claims it’s a breakfast drink, but seriously, whatever, dudes.  You want a manly breakfast drink, stick with bourbon and Coke.  Or hell, make a Bloody Bull – that’s a Bloody Mary with beef bouillon in it.  Make it with tequila, if you want – I can’t remember what’s that called.  Or just have a whiskey sour, or an old fashioned, or a mint julep.

But a tequila sunrise!?

Egads.

Why not a boilermaker at that?

Now where was I . . .

Ah, yes, Saturday.? After waking up and getting ready, we headed out with a buddy Ed for some more drinking and a few places Ed wanted to take us.? Our first stop, Aquavit where Ed plies his humble trade.? After navigating our way to the restaurant, dealing with the road closures and the throngs of people there for the Pope’s visit, we made our way to the bar.

We started off with some flights of Aquavits.? I can’t remember what everyone else had, but I tried the Blueberry, the Fig-Cardamom and the NYC blend (which is white cranberry.)? All of the aquavits had a wonderful nose of them.? The smelled exactly as the flavor imparted.? The taste was much lighter than the nose would have to believe.? Each one I tasted was very good.? My favorite flavor though would come later in the sitting.

As Sean mentioned, we were treated to a varitable smorgsbord (hehehehe, I really wanted to use that word while writing about Aquavit!) of food to taste.? We started with three types of herring – curried, pickled and something called “gentleman’s delight” – all of which were very good.? We then had a hot smoked salmon with squid-ink mustard and some white creamy/cheesy sauce.? Another fantastic plate.? Then the waiter brings out a tasting of lobster rolls.? These were fantastic (probably my favorite thing I ate) – lobster meat inside thinnly sliced pickled apples with salmon roe and small squares of smoked bacon on top with a little sauce on the side.? Delicious!!!? Just when we were thanking everybody for the great food, another plate comes out with a meatball tasting.? Each plate had a mountain of mashed potatoes, four meatballs and gravy, pickles and lingonberries.? Our bartender for the afternoon Alex (a wonderful hostess – friendly, incredibly attractive and fun to talk to!) poured us each a small glass of lingonberry aquavit.? This was my favorite of all the aquavits we tried.

This is the lingonberry aquavit.? Ummmmm . . .

We bid our farewells to the nice folks at Aquavit and decided to head over to the Museum of Modern Art where Ed used to work in the Cafe.? The Cafe at MoMA is part of the Danny Meyer umbrella of restaurants.? Probably the best cafe/museum food in the US.? There we had a charcuterie plate and some coffee.? Then we walked around a bit, had the Meryl Streep siting, saw some weird stuff (guess I’m not into the whole modern art thing) and headed over to The Modern.

Ed had been talking about a cocktail at the Modern for quite some time and I felt that I had to give it a shot.? The drink was called “Coming Up Roses” and contained muddled rose petals, rose water, simple syrup, lemon juice, gin (I think) and topped off with champagne.? After I took my first sip, I noticed two things.? First, it did indeed have a wonderful rose taste and smell.? Second, it was way too sweet for me.? Luckily after about three sips a bartender came by and added more champagne to the drink.? This happened twice and by that time the drink was indeed great.? The smell and taste of rose, the bubbles from the champagne and just enough sweetness to really feel like you were drinking a rose cocktail.? We had a great time talking with the bartenders there too.? They gave us suggestions on places to try for cocktails and Ed talked about several restaurants he worked at.? We were trying decide if we wanted another round and asked if we could split a cocktail called Twlights Clearing which contained boubon, pear puree, basil and lime juice.? It was another fantastic cocktial and better yet when informed it was on the house.? Score!? So far we had had free aquavit, a smorgsbord of scandanavian food and a cocktail at the Modern.? This is the way to see NYC!

After leaving the Modern I wanted to walk over to the new location of Nat Sherman.? I think I’ve been to Nat Sherman every time I’ve visited NYC and certainly wanted to see their new location.? Their new shop is across the street and less than a block over from their old location but all of the charm is still there.? Sean purchased a boxed set of cigars and was dying to have a smoke.? He asked if there was a place there to smoke and George the Greek (yes, that’s how he introduced himself) offered to take us down to the new lounge.? I decided I would buy a cigar to smoke downstairs, but before I could make a purchase, George the Greek grabbed a cigar out of the humidor, handed it to me and bid me to follow.? Wow, free cigar!? Talk about a great day!

In the lounge, the three of us smoked our cigars; Sean and Ed had Manhattans from the bar and I had a sparkling water.? We talked with a nice couple from Boston who was in town visiting and prior to leaving had a nice conversation with the manager.? We all exchanged cards and he welcomed us back whenever we’re in town again.? We certainly will be back!

We left Nat Sherman’s to head over to the next big stop on our cocktail tour, The Pegu Club.

The Pegu Club is named after a British Colonial Officer’s Club located up the Rangoon River in Burma in the late 1800′s.? It is run by the esteemed Audrey Saunders (herself a Goddess of the Libations).? Pegu is on the second floor of a building and you enter much like PX.? After you go through the front door, you ascend some dim stairs until you turn the corner into very welcoming place.

The hostesses are dressed in kimono-esque garb and the bartenders are sharply dressed as well.? We took our seats at the bar and started to look over the menu.? Being at the Pegu Club, I had to order a Pegu Cocktail to begin.? It was delicious as I expected it would be – a sweet and tart mixture of gin, curacao, lime juice and bitters.? We all tried various drinks, I also had a pisco punch using pineapple infused pisco which was fan-fugu-tastic and a Cocktail de la Louisiane.? When I ordered the Cocktail de la Louisiane, the bartender didn’t know the recipe and said he would have to look it up.? I was a bit surprised by this, but no more surprised than he was when I rattled off the recipe.? I think he was a little wary of the ingredients, but before handing it to me, he tasted it and seemed to be happy with the results.? When he handed me the drink, he said that he hoped it met my standards.? I sipped.? It did.? Delicious.? Every time I have this cocktail, I am always taken to a happy place.? But I’ll tell you, that pineapple pisco drink came pretty close to heaven!

We also decided to eat a little food while at Pegu.? I had the chicken satay and Ed and Sean had the salmon deviled eggs.? The three of us split the mushroom raviolis which were very good.

We finished eating and were getting ready to get the check.? I couldn’t leave without at least asking if Audrey was around to say hello.? The bartender went to check and a few minutes later, Audrey came behind the bar to say hello.? We introduced ourselves and gave her a Scofflaw’s Den card and told her of our drinking tour of NYC.? She was a gracious host, asking if we liked the Pegu Club, how the food was and even talked to us of the importance of quality.? To make her point she said that the mushroom raviolis we had enjoyed were probably going to be dropped from the menu because they don’t come out perfectly 100% of the time.? We discussed the bars we had already hit, where we wanted to go next and even Ed got into the act telling her about the milkshakes at Stand (See Below).? We talked about Tales of the Cocktail a bit and she urged us to go.? Damn this job . . . and money . . . and no time . . . Grrrrr.

I loved Pegu!? Everything about it is the kind of place where I like to spend time.? Audrey was awesome and I really can’t wait to go back.

We left Pegu and decided to hit another place Ed wanted to take us to for dinner – Stand Burger.? Stand is a neighborhood burger joint that really specializes in milkshakes.? Ed had been telling us about the toasted marshmallow milkshake and I knew I had to get one.? So I ordered a house buger and a toasted marshmallow milkshake.? The burger was okay, I’ve had better, and honestly, 5 Guys would have put the burger to shame.? But the milkshake.? Good God this is what a milkshake should be.? It came with two toasted marshmallows on top and tasted just what you would think a toasted marshmallow milkshake would taste like.? Note to self: Try and make a toasted marshmallow milkshake at home . . .

After Stand we headed to our next stop, Sam Tailor’s new restuarant Tailor.? Tailor is known for his moleculor gastronomy which he learned from Wylie Dufresne at wd-50.? With Tailor and Dufresne at wd-50 was a mad-scientist bartender/mixologist who used the same techniques used on the food on his cocktails.? That bartender is Eben Freeman.? Eben’s cocktails are certainly avant garde and really pushes the evelope on flavor profiles, textures and delivery systems.? Having read about what was going on at Tailor, I knew I wanted to give it a try.

We walked through the front door and the first thing I saw was Eben, in his crows-nest type roost above the main dining room mixing drinks for the diners.? We told the host we were just there for drinks and followed him down a set of stairs to the bar.? After a few minutes of hovering over one barstool, the three of us could all sit at the bar.? Troy was our bartender and the first “drink” I got was called the “Solids.”? It was three small tastings on a plate that consisted of a Cuba Libre in Jello form, a Ramos Gin Fizz marshmallow and a White Russian bowl of rice krispies.? It was really neat to try cocktails in solid form.? Each piece tasted like the liquid form of the cocktail, with the slight caveat that the Ramos Fizz marshmallow seemed less tart than I expected.? Ed drank the mushroom margarita and Sean had the Violet Fizz.? (Note: for ingredients in these drinks, check Sean’s recap as he twittered each drink we all had with ingredients.)

Our next round of drinks was much more interesting.? I had a Blood and Sand that, instead of the orange juice found within the cocktail, the drink was topped with a thick orange foam.? As you drank the scotch/vermouth/cherry ale mixture below, it mixed with the orange foam on top to make a Blood and Sand.? It was a very good drink, but I think I prefer the more traditional Blood and Sand.? Ed got the Waylon, which was bourbon and smoked coke.? It was very good.? It even elicited a debate on the cab ride back to Ed’s on how the Coke was smoked.? Sean on the other hand was not so lucky.

Now Sean loves spicy stuff and has never been one to shy away from anything that is spicy.? His drink, the Aqua Verde, contained tequila, tomatillo, cilantro and habenero.? All things that we knew he liked.? He took one sip and almost fell off his stool.? Ed took a drink with the same reaction.? Me . . . I’m smarter than that and just enjoyed my Blood and Sand.? For the first time in his life, Sean returned a drink.? The bartender told us that the drink should be spicy, but graciously took the drink and replaced it with one of Seans’ choosing.

At this point, dear readers, I want to step aside from my recap.? I want to point out that everyone we met on our cocktail jaunt was kind, gracious and enthusiastic.? Troy was a little defensive about Sean returning his drink, but all evening he was nice, helpful and really fun to talk to.? After returning to DC, Sean beat me with his recap.? As I sit at work yesterday I get a text message with “I’m such a girl.? Eben responded.? “? So I check the comments of his recap and sure enough, Mr. Freeman himself had responded to the post.? You can Eben’s post here.? Seriously, he did not have to take time out of his day to respond, much less read, our little blog.? This just underscores the attitude of us cocktail geeks.?

Alright, where was I, oh yeah . . . So for Sean’s backup he chose the Bazooka.? A bright pick cocktail made with bubble gum cordial, vodka and lemon juice.? Troy laughed when Sean asked for this and said, “That was NOT what I expected your back-up drink to be!”? We all got a good laugh out of that.? I tasted the Bazooka (the bubble gum cordial is apparently made by mascerating double-bouble chewing gum in vodka . . . two pounds of gum!) and it really tasted like Bazooka gum.? We joked that you wanted to chew the cocktail!? My final drink at Tailor was a Mate Sour, which was a pisco sour made with yerba mate.? It was earth and sour, a real nice finish to our cocktails at Tailor.? So we thanked Troy, settled up and hit the road to our final stop.

That final stop was PDT.? PDT, short for Please Don’t Tell, is a modern day speakeasy attached to Crif Dogs (a hot dog place) fairly close to Death and Company.? You walk down the steps into Crif Dogs and enter into an old wooden phonebooth.? You pick up the phone, push the talk button and the back wall slides open where the hostess greets you.? The place is very small, probably less that 30 max occupancy, but I’m guessing here.? The hostess asked if we had reservations – D’oh!? We were told that there was only 13 spots at the bar and the place was full.? But she took my cell phone number and said she would call if space opens up.? We turned around and went topside, slightly defeated that the last place on our list for this weekend would be denied.

At this point it was fairly late and we were stuffed with food and drink.? We thought about going back to Death & Co. or hitting another place like the Flatiron Lounge.? In the end, we decided to make it a night and head back to Ed’s for some drinks and hanging out around the house.

Sunday, after breakfast, we bid our farewell’s to Ed, hung around his place a bit and then headed down to Penn Station.? Our train was late from DC, but luckily we got on an earlier train and got back to DC without much hassle.

Endnotes

The trip was simply fantastic.? Everyone we met, talked to and had the privilege of drinking their wonderful potions were friendly, professional and gracious.? I can see spending long hours at Death & Co. and Pegu Club.? I’m looking forward to going back to Tailor and saying hello to Eben and trying more of his cocktails.? The food and drink at Ellataria were both fantastic and Lynnette was awesome behind the stick.

PDT, Flatiron Lounge, Little Branch, (maybe trying for Milk & Honey) you three are on notice!? The Scofflaw’s will be back and we will be on your doorsteps.

I can’t wait.

Cheers!

Unfortunately, I’m going to break my recap down into two posts.? Post one will cover Friday.? Post B will cover Saturday and Sunday.

Wow.? That pretty much sums up our trip to the Big Apple.? Before I get to my recap for you folks, I would like to send a hearty THANK YOU to our friend Ed and his gorgeous fiance Francois.? Thanks to their hospitality, the Scofflaw’s trip was much more financially feasible.? Now if we can just get them some drinking glasses . . .

Anyway, our trip started on Friday.? We had an early morning Amtrak train from DC to Penn Station.? As Sean has mentioned, we splurged for business class . . . definitely the way to travel!? I had to have a cocktail for the trip and deciding on what was a bit difficult.? I really didn’t want to do the Irish coffee route nor did I want to simple take a bottle of booze.? What I decided on was a bottled cocktail.? I found the instructions here.? It is a really interesting read because it shows the importance of ice.? In short, if you are making bottled cocktails, you need to figure in a certain amount of water because the water from the melted ice when you shake or stir will not be present in the bottled cocktail.? Anyway, I realized that I had way too much applejack and quite honestly, it was taking up valuable liquor cabinet space.? After searching for an appropriate drink, I settled on one found from CocktailDB – an A.J. Cocktail.? The drink is comprised of 1.5 oz each of applejack and grapefruit juice and .50 oz of grenadine.? Using the formula Bar Mix Master’s site, I had a great bottled cocktail.

Sean has already wrote about Brother Jimmy’s and my chopped brisket sandwich was very good (basically the burnt tips of the brisket!)? After lunch, we headed to the West side and dropped our stuff off at Ed’s.? We rested a bit and then decided hit our first stop.? DEATH & COMPANY!!!!

Now I’ve read a lot about this bar and was chomping at the bit to have a drink – or three – there.? I knew they opened at 6pm so we left Ed’s with plenty of time to find the place.? One of the interesting aspects of D&C is that they are very low key.? The bar is in a residential neighborhood and they don’t have a ton of signage advertising they are there.? The plaque on the door and the front mat is all they need.

We walked in to the dark interior and took our seats at the bar.? Philip Ward, the head bartender, was our bartender for the evening.? I ordered a Cocktail de la Louisiane first which was fantastic.? Now here is where Sean’s and my recap will differ.? He was smart enough to at least twitter what drinks we had when we had them.? When it came to my next drink, I told Phil that it was bartenders choice, but that I would like to try the Cynar – an herbal liqueur with a base of artichoke.? He asked some guiding questions, such as whether I wanted sweet or sour and what spirit was my favorite (bourbon or rye).? He exclaimed that it was an easy choice and handed me a Cynartown.? Quite frankly it was delicious, sweet and herby with a bit of a licorice-y undertone.? I then ordered a China Fizz and a Buffalo Soldier.? The Buffalo Soldier used a candied pecan Buffalo Trace bourbon and came with a side of candied pecans.? WOW!

Our conversations with Phil were great.? He seemed generally interested in our little website and what we are writing about.? We talked about various cocktail related minutia and he even poured me a gratis hefty ounce the Anchor Distilling Genever Gin.? Very nice of him and completely unwarranted, but that’s the way these guys do business.? Sean mentioned how we missed our opportunity to get on the list of Milk and Honey but we just didn’t know who the guy was at the time.? Maybe before one of our next trips we can try and reach out to some of the cocktail folks work out an invitation.? Who knows until you try, right?!?!? I could have stayed at Death and Company all night.? I really wanted to.? But alas, food and another stop had to be made.? As Sean said earlier, on the next trip, I can see myself planted at the bar at Death & Co. for an entire evening.

We bid our farewells and headed to Elattaria for some grub and some good cocktails.? Phil had suggested Elattaria and I had read about them, and they had been suggested by folks on eGullet, and had them on the preliminary list of places to go.? It was a great surprise to be able to hit one of the spots that were not in the top four and for reasons that became evident on Saturday night, it turned out fortune was truly shining on us.

We sat at the bar in Elattaria and our server was Lynnette.? The bar was a pretty busy place Friday night, but Lynnette was kind, attentive and during her slower periods would come over and chat us up.

One of the hallmarks of the Elattaria bar is their focus on fresh tiki drinks.? And you know how I love me some tiki!? We’ll Lynnette and I had some really good discussions on tiki drinks.? It was awesome.? While there I drank a Mai Tai, an 8th Wonder and an Aviation.? We needed to eat and Philip suggested the lamb sausage.? So of course we ordered some lamb sausage.? We also ate stuffed pigs feet and the fried veal sweet breads.? Now if you don’t know what sweet breads are – go google it.? I’ll wait.? Are you back?? Yes, we had fried veal sweet breads.

Not only was Lynnette very personable, so was many of the drinkers.? We talked to a nice gentleman who was planning an elaborate dinner/bounty hunt for his girlfriend/fiance and some very attractive Asian women.? All seemed really interested in our website and the fact that we wrote about cocktails.? Maybe it was the booze talking, but I really felt like this little site of ours was of interest to a lot of these strangers.? Seriously, if we met you during our trip to NYC, leave us a comment and an email, we would love to buy you a drink if you’re ever in DC!!!

Anyway, back to Elattaria.? I felt like the evening was coming to a close so I excused myself to hit the head.? When I arrived back at my bar stool, I had this huge glass sitting there.? Turns out, Lynnette had poured me a Navy Grog (using the 1941 recipe) on the house.? WOW!? It was delicious and just the right tone for me to end the night.? And after that, we paid our tab and decided to head back to Ed’s.

We tried to get a cab, which turns out to be impossibly in that part of Manhattan, so we ended up taking the subway back to Ed’s.? We stayed up talking to Ed and Franny for a bit, then I had had enough.? Time to pass out and dream about the next day . . . .

(Tomorrow’s episode – Aquavit, Modern, MoMA, Pegu Club, Tailor and attempting PDT)

An article I missed from last week in the Washington Post was about Tuaca.

I can’t remember who turned me on to Tuaca but it’s pretty good – though I agree with Jason Wilson in his column, I do prefer Licor 43 over it.

But I bought a bottle recently, and will sometimes sip it while smoking a cigar.  He mentioned a drink he calls the Plaid Matador (because he’s as bad at naming things as I am) which sounds good to me: Glenfiddich scotch, Tuaca or Licor 43, topped with tonic and a dash of lime.

Hmmmm – I think I might have to try one of those on a temperate spring night!