Author: Thirsty South

Dedicated to all things drinking well in the South.
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UPDATED: Thirsty Guide to Atlanta

Pray for ATL

The Thirsty South “Thirsty Guide to Atlanta” (<- click to go straight to it) gets a minor re-build today – with a bunch of new additions, a few knockdowns, and a brand spankin’ new map plotting your path to potent potable nirvana. (Thank you, Jeopardy, for bringing “potent potables” into the popular vocabulary).

The most significant additions were in the cocktail bar category, where Atlanta continues to blossom thanks to a great bartender community and owner/operators who understand the importance of the bar to the restaurant. New to the list cocktail/whiskey bars include: 4th & Swift, Eleanor’s, Empire State South, The Lawrence, Local Three, Miller Union, Octane Grant Park, Octopus Bar, and Proof & Provision. There are a handful of others who are on the cusp of that list, but the intent is to keep it short and sweet.

Also added… The Spence for their very fun wine list, The Wrecking Bar for its unique brewpub atmosphere, and Empire State South for their coffee (they also make the cut for cocktails and wine list).

Be sure to click over to the Thirsty Guide to see the map and the full list of favorite spots around town for beer, cocktails, wine, and coffee. And please let me know who else you think deserves a spot on the list – or who should be taken down!

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From Nana’s Bar

You may recall Nana and her Battle Between Bourbon and Scotch (if not, do be sure to watch the short video in that post for a small peek into the Southern past). She was a spirited soul, to say the least. And she kept a well stocked bar, with some beautiful accessories, some silly accessories, some just plain awesome accessories.

In the beautiful category, there’s this silver julep cup (pictured above and below, be sure to scroll down through all the photos). I’ll admit I’ve never owned one myself (despite drinking my good share of mint juleps); it seems like a superbly Southern extravagance, like ice piled high when ice was a precious item itself. The silver in this julep cup beautifully reflects everything around it, pulling in the light, taking on and enhancing the character of its surroundings.

A beautiful bar can also be silly sometimes… after the julep cup, there’s something to keep the mood light – a vintage bartender’s glass jigger, labeled “Ladies” for 3/4 oz, “Gents” for 1 1/2 oz and, well, a picture of a very happy pig for 3 oz. It’s delightfully old fashioned, not to be taken seriously.

And on to the “just plain awesome” category, two sets… vintage silver jiggers by Napier (a renowned American silver company), with silver hands emerging from the cups, one finger or two (I prefer two, myself).  Then an old leather carrying case with two glass flasks, one of which is conveniently labeled in scrawled lettering on masking tape – “Bourbon.” There’s no arguing with that.

I honestly have no idea how old these items are. They could have been found at a flea market in 1992 or a fine silver shop in 1929 (well, one was likely the former, the others more likely latter). What’s most important, though, is that they are, and forever will be, from Nana’s bar. Memories come in many forms.

Cheers.

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The Terroir Martinez Cocktail

I’ve been enjoying St. George’s Terroir Gin for some time now. It was actually a year ago at a trade show that I first tasted it, walking away after a sip feeling like I had taken “a hike in Northern California” due to the local California botanicals used in making the gin. Just today, I was at this year’s edition of that same trade show, and came across the folks from St. George again. This time, they had some mysterious looking bottles with hangtags marked “Manhattan Project” and “Barrel Aged Martinez.” Of course, I had to try them.

The “Manhattan Project” was a nice barrel-aged cocktail in a bottle, rich and balanced, but really nothing too out of the ordinary. You dig Manhattans? You’ll dig their Manhattan. The Martinez, on the other hand, was like a hiking boot kick in the dusty pants. That Terroir Gin was put to marvelous use in this lightly aged (two weeks) cocktail, mixed with Carpano Antica plus Dolin rouge vermouth, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, and a bit of bitters. I tasted many things at the show, but this little sip of a new spin on a classic cocktail was what blew me away.

Now, I know you probably don’t have a barrel sitting around at home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tackle this Terroir Martinez cocktail. The Martinez is a classic cocktail whose typical components are Old Tom gin, Maraschino liqueur, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Of course, there are many variations on this, in the ratio of gin to vermouth, and in the types of gin or vermouth or bitters employed. The key for this iteration is the Terroir Gin, no substitutions allowed. It lends an herbal evergreen entry that segues seamlessly into the sweet dark cherry and vermouth. While St. George uses two different vermouths in their house recipe, I’ll simplify it a bit and just use one vermouth for this home version. Without the barrel aging, this is a bit sharper than the intended version, less mellowed by time, but it still packs the invigorating buzz of a good, vigorous hike.

Terroir Martinez Cocktail Recipe

2 oz St. George Terroir Gin
3/4 oz Dolin rouge vermouth (or other sweet vermouth)
1/4 oz Luxardo Marachino liqueur
Dash Angostura bitters

Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice. Add ingredients and stir very well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add whatever garnish floats your boat.

* Thanks to Quality Wine and Spirits for hosting another great trade show.

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The Ponce City Goats

Ponce City Goats. Sounds like the name of a rural AA baseball farm team. But, no, it’s actually the twitter handle of the brand-dripping-new The Dancing Goats Coffee Bar @ Ponce City Market. 

This guy knows coffee. Jason brewing some Collabrewation special beans.

Now, there are two types of people in the world – those that care about the fact that a new coffee bar is opening (you perchance?), and those that care about the fact that a new coffee bar is opening and want to go out and snap photos of it on its opening day (me). Yeah, maybe there are a few other folks out there who don’t give a spit, but they’re probably not here reading this anyway, so we can ignore them.

The truly exciting thing about this new coffee bar in Atlanta (the second location for Dancing Goats after their shop in Decatur), though, is not just the fact that it’s excellent in concept, design and execution; it’s the fact that this is the real kickoff for the massive Ponce City Market project that may someday (2014!) make for a really interesting new hub of community activity in this city. Seriously, this is a fascinating development, and having a first rate coffee bar drawing in crowds in the early stages of the development is a brilliant way to raise awareness and get people (literally) buzzing about what’s to come. As my wife and I sipped our coffee this morning, we even got a quick tour of the wonderfully detailed model of the Ponce City Market by one of the people working on the development – their office is right next door to the coffee bar and the model is basically IN the coffee bar. A stop at Ponce City Goats is worth it for that alone.

Enough words, here are some images to get you thirsty for Dancing Goats and the Ponce City Market future.

Collabrewation:

Inside, appropriately old school lighting fixtures:

No Tilt-Shift needed (the Ponce City Market model):

Mmmm, donuts. Baked for Dancing Goats by Duck’s Cosmic Kitchen:

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High West Campfire Whiskey: Review as Fan Fiction

Every other ghatblammed whiskey writer seems to have waxed poetically on the jackelope-like qualities of High West Distillery’s new Campfire whiskey – a blend of straight rye, straight bourbon and blended malt Scotch that ends up anything but straight. Its like a crooked trail through the dry, magnificent deserts of Utah that ends up in the rain-drenched peat bogs of Scotland, via the rye and corn fields of the great American plains. Actually, that’s exactly what it is.

I’ll dispense with the formal tasting notes, the whiffs of this and the hints of that, and get right into the story. Fan fiction, if you will. A fiction so unbelievable that it just might be true. Here’s the first chapter – grab a glass and take a seat:

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It all started with a sip. Not just any sip, mind you. Perk had spent the day chopping up the big oak tree that came down in the lightning storm the week before. You know, that oak tree that used to stand sentinel over his rows of corn down on Lawrenceburg Road. The tree was old but sturdy, not the kind to be felled easily, but lightning has a way of turning tree to toast.

The smell after the storm lingered for days all around, and Perk’s work on the wood just brought it out even stronger: the buzzsaw scent of fresh-cut oak combined with the charred remains of singed bark, a bit of tree sap burnt like sugar in a skillet sticking it all together. Perk liked the chopping, if only for the memories racing through his mind as he axed his way through the downed tree. It was the scent more than the act itself that triggered those memories of a simpler time. A simpler time that was anything but simple.

As he took his first sip of rye that same night, the spice and bite were like a kick in the dusty pants, and those same memories that the oak brought out earlier in the day began to crystallize into something entirely different in his mind. Memories merged with dreams and came out, somehow, as an ambitious but highly suspect plan. A plan that would take him far away from Lawrenceburg Road.

When Perk woke up, his head seemed to drag a few feet behind his body. Those sips of rye had accumulated to something more like a deluge. But through the deluge, the plan he had hatched managed to hold its form. It took a few coffees, amped up on that hazelnut vanilla crap he had grown accustomed to thanks to his last girlfriend, for all the details to come into focus. But that very same morning, memories and plans and dreams actually turned into actions. He picked up the old circular dial phone, the one his dad once used, and called up the airline for a one way flight to Edinburgh. He would take the train out to Aberdeen, and from there… well, his plans hadn’t gotten that far. But he knew, despite the distance, he would find a home where the spray of the sea mingles with the deep funk of burning peat.

Perk wasn’t wishing to wash away the past. On the contrary, he hoped, he knew, that the scents he could only seek in Scotland would stir up memories that even the oak and the lightning couldn’t. He knew there was a key, hidden in the Scots mist, to unlock the same mystery that his father before him couldn’t solve. He knew he had to go.

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High West Campfire Whiskey, Batch No. 1, Bottle No. 646
A Blend of Straight Rye, Straight Bourbon, & Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
92 Proof
Approx. $54 Retail

Verdict? Excellent. Inspiring and unique stuff, enough so to inspire fan fiction. You’ll find here an intriguing story of bourbon sweetness, rye spice, and Scotch smoke happily playing tug of war.

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* Thirsty South Rating Scale:

Wow – among the very best: knock-your-socks-off, profound, complex liquid gold!
Excellent – exceptional in quality and character, worth seeking out, highly recommended
Good Stuff – solid expression of its type/varietal, enjoyable and recommended
Fair – fairly standard or exhibiting obvious though minor flaws
Avoid – move away folks, nothing to see here, a trainwreck

Full Disclosure: Bottle received as a tasting sample from High West.