The Magic of the Unexpected

Yesterday evening I was sitting home on the couch, minding my own business and watching an old movie to pass a couple hours. My partner was out with her two sons having dinner and catching up. As they were wrapping up she sent me a message - “Do you want to meet somewhere for a nightcap?”

Of course! Let’s do it.

I met her at a place not far from my pad. A cool joint called The Revelry in the Neighborhood of the Arts. It’s what I would consider to be a classic cocktail bar. Kinda dark with a u-shaped bar that buts up against a wall with shelving carrying more bottles. Cool light fixtures (at least I think so), comfy stools and bartenders who clearly know what they are about.

We got there early enough that the place wasn't really hopping yet. I was the second to arrive and my partner had already ordered herself a Negroni. The bartender noticed that I looked thirsty and came right over. I went for a sazerac.

I very much enjoy the complex simplicity of whiskey-based cocktails such as the old fashioned and the sazerac. While they seem like they should be easy to make, each with only a few ingredients, so much can go wrong during the process. The fact that there are only a few ingredients makes the proper application of each one all that much more important. A little too much sweetener, a sightly undersized dash of bitters, a base spirit with the wrong flavor profile or not using enough ice to properly chill the concoction and you end up with a cocktail that’s just meh, instead of spectacular.

I shifted on my barstool so I could watch the bartender build my drink. The house spec for this cocktail at this particular joint was a blend of cognac and rye whisky, with simple syrup as the sweetener and Peychaud’s bitters with an absinthe rinse. The rocks glass in which it was served was properly filled with ice to chill while the rest of the drink was constructed. The bartender used a nice jigger to properly measure the ingredients, and plenty of ice in a glass mixing vessel so that the 30 second stir he applied got the mixture nice and cold. He even asked me if I wanted the lemon twist in the drink, or expressed and discarded. Nice. Finally he served me a sidecar of the leftover absinthe rinse in a small, chilled coupe glass. Very cool presentation.

When the drink was presented and I took the first sip it was a really nice cocktail, well balanced. Maybe just a tiny bit too sweet, but overall it was very, very enjoyable. I normally make my sazerac using only rye as the base spirit and foregoing the cognac. I found that the cognac really softens the drink, taking the edge off the spiciness of the rye. My significant other also tried a sip. Normally she is not a fan of my spirits-forward whiskey cocktails, but for a moment, I didn’t think I’d get this one back. I’ll have to investigate this further…

As we worked our way through our drinks the joint started to fill up, the volume of the music was starting to creep up and it was getting a little hard to converse, so we decided to tap out. The evening was both unexpected and magical, and we will definitely be back!