A Jigger of Blog

My second stop in Portland was the Teardrop Cocktail Lounge in the Pearl District. I realized I had a lot of choices for a second cocktail bar visit while in Portland — Laurelhurst Market, Ten01, Acadia, Secret Society Lounge, and others — but from the looks of things, Teardrop Lounge seemed like it would be best for my tastes. Actually, what really sold me was that in their menu online I saw that they had a cocktail containing a house-made Kina Lillet.

Lillet used to be more of a quinquina – a type of fortified wine that had a bitter quinine taste to it. Unfortunately, the recipe was changed and it became a sweeter, more citrus, less bitter aperitif in the 1980s. As such, many recipes that were crafted to have a bitter Kina Lillet just aren’t the same with today’s Lillet Blanc. You can’t get Kina Lillet any more, though many people have tried to make substitutes (Erik Ellestad being foremost in the spirit archaelogists). Naturally when I saw that Teardrop had their own version, I was curious to try it. After all, there are only so many bars where I can try lost ingredients at and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

Teardrop Cocktail Lounge’s appearance and decor is unlike any I’ve ever been to. It has a glass front and cement walls, with modern art hanging on them. It feels more like the kind of design you’d find in an Asian fusion restaurant in some regards. The bar is round and in the center of the room. In its center there is a teardrop shaped island with shelving and, suspended above it, a teardrop shaped glass platform shelf. The white spirits were stored on the glass high shelf, while the dark spirits were stored on the island itself. The bar’s counter is a marbled blue stone and, all in all, it comes across as clean and simple.

When I arrived, it was on the early side of the night. There was one small table near the window occupied and otherwise empty but for staff. I ordered the drink I’d came there for, the African Swallow, made with Martin Miller’s Westbourne Strength Gin, house Kina Lillet, blood orange shrubb, chartreuse elixir, and a lemon peel. It was served in a tall, fluted cocktail glass. The 90.4 proof Westbourne gave the cocktail a very strong gin start, with a bitter orange background from the Kina Lillet and shrub. It finished with a subtle chartreuse profile. It was definitely a boozy cocktail (right up my alley) and in some ways reminded me of Bronx cocktail in terms of the level of citrus imparted on the cocktail on whole.

Shortly after I’d begun to enjoy the African Swallow, the bartender, David Shenaut, asked me how I was enjoying it. I said I thought it was great and that I’d decided to come into the bar on the basis of this cocktail to try their Kina Lillet. Without saying a word, David turned around at poured me a small glass of the house made Kina Lillet. It had a much lighter quinine flavor than I’d expected and instead came across more sweet and punchy. And so it began… David next cracked open a new bottle of their homemade tonic, which was in no way shy in the amount of quinine it contained. Then he poured a small shot of the blood orange shrubb, which was barrel aged and made with less vinegar than one would normally see in a creole shrubb, giving it a more mellow orange and spice taste. This was followed by a small glass of their decanter bitters. Yes, a small glass of bitters. Though the decanter bitters were very pepper and had a strong lavender flavor, they were just about quaffable (perhaps good with some of the aforementioned tonic?).  David wasn’t done yet, bringing out a bottle of creme de cacao, which had an intense chocolate flavor. I didn’t have any cocktails with it, but I would have loved to play around and pair it with one of the house orange spirits. Then, in a move that could only be described as being driven from a desire to make me move to Portland, David poured me a sample of their house Amer Picon, a spirit that is not sold in the US, but is still available in Europe. It was quite subtle and smooth, something that David said was a goal for most of their house spirits and bitters. They want to keep their homemade products accessible and handy to work with. To my pallet, they succeed quite well.

By this time, as one should expect, David and I were geeking out over cocktails. He was telling me about his experiences guest bartending at PDT and working as a cocktail apprentice bartending at Tales of the Cocktail. I was telling him about my favorite bars, cocktails and spirits. It was a blast, with none of my subsequent cocktails coming from the menu.

He followed up my wide-ranging sample with a cocktail that was right up my alley. The Ephemeral is made with Ransom Old Tom Gin, a delicious product made in Oregon with a heavy cardamon flavor, Dolin Blanc, a quarter ounce of St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, and celery bitters, garnished with a lemon peel. As I said, this is the sort of cocktail that I always say does it for me — spirit based, boozy, slightly bitter sweet. It was light, sweet, and smooth, as well as incredibly well balanced. It retained a savory flavor, something that is often challenging when St. Germain is involved.

Next up was a Burrough Punch, which was a real adventure in mixing differing spirits: Amaro Nardini, El Tesoro Reposado tequila, Batavia Arrack, and Carpano Antica vermouth. The cocktail was served in a glass whose walls were lined with thin orange slices. It was simultaneously strong, creamy, bitter and had a really interesting layer of tequila flavor. There was real heat and spice from the combination of the Batavia Arrack and the tequila. This drink just overflowed with flavor and was by no means a shy cocktail.

After the donkey came Apres Les Chat (After the Cat), made with 100 proof Rittenhouse Rye, Fernet Branca, Cynar, Carpano Antica, and house grenadine. It was strong and sweet, like a much, much, much more complex Manhattan. It was boozy, but balanced and despite the combination of Fernet and Cynar, was not too bitter.

Staying in the classic, boozy, and savory family, next up was a Brooklyn. A real classic cocktail that, like the Liberal, has largely been made extinct due to the unavailability of Amer Picon, the David’s Brooklyn was made with both bourbon, rye, house Amer Picon, maraschino, dry vermouth, and garnished with an orange peel. I love cocktails that have a strong spirit and orange profile and this had it in spades. Interestingly, the intense orange flavors, paired with dark American spirits, gave me an almost chocolate flavor.

I finished with a drink whose name I don’t have written down, but was made with mescal, Aperol, maraschino, and lime juice. I imagined this as the landing place for a cocktail that may have started life as a mescal-based Papa Doble variation. It was served with a fair bit of ice chips floating in the drink and had a nice bitter taste from the maraschino, while retaining some sweetness and tart from the lime.

While at Teardrop Cocktail Lounge, I enjoyed their Tuna Tartare, served with avocado and grapefruit, as well as potato gnocchi with rabbit ragu and pecorino cheese. Both dishes were fantastic — great compliments to the quality of cocktail they were serving.

As you can probably tell, I loved my visit to Teardrop Cocktail Lounge. David was a phenomenal bartender and I had a great time talking with him about cocktails and spirits throughout the night. The drinks he served me were inventive, to be sure, but they were also cocktails that really were in the range that I like the most. He charted me through a range of base spirits and bitter spirits, but each drink was something I liked a lot. If pressed, I’d probably say that either the Ephemeral or the Apres Les Chat were my favorites, but who’s keeping score?

I said it yesterday but it bears repeating. Portland is a phenomenal cocktail town and one that I’d be more than happy to visit again soon.

I was in Portland, Oregon for work last weekend. I took the opportunity to check out two cocktail bars that I’d heard good things about. I’ll just spit it out. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year putting forward the contention that Washington, DC is, per capita, probably the best craft cocktail town in the US. After this weekend, I’d say that Portland more than gives DC a run for our money.

My first visit was to Beaker & Flask, which was conveniently located a short walk from the hotel where I was staying. Situated on the corner of a larger building, the single room bar and restaurant had high ceilings and an airey feel. On the street side corner, floor to ceiling windows gave customers a view of the downtown Portland skyline (be that as it may). I got to Beaker & Flask around 6:30pm on a Friday, during their happy hour. The happy hour menu included four cocktails that were only $5 prior to 6pm and $7 afterwards. The going rate for the rest of the menu? $8, making this the most affordable, hardcore craft cocktail bar I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Beaker & Flask is really shaped by the long, swooping bar that runs almost the full length of the space. To the right of the entrance is a series of rectangular booths for parties of four or so. To the left of the entrance, a series of larger round booths for bigger parties. In the space between the bar and the round booths there are a handful of standing round tables. Along the wall, there are a number of small libraries of bar and cocktail books.

The bar has a pretty great door policy. Reservations and the waiting list determine who get seats, but you can wait at one of the round standing tables and still receive waitress service, space permitting. When I arrived, the bar was full, so I had to wait at a standing table for a seat.

The Cold Shoulder

I was promptly given a menu and after some deliberation ordered The Cold Shoulder, made with gin, fresh grapefruit juice, Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur, and grapefruit bitters. Pictured left, it had the most delightful pink froth of tiny bubbles in an up cocktail glass. The Cold Shoulder was lighter and more refreshing than I’d expected. It was sweet, though the pine liqueur touch to it was lighter than I’d expected. The pink grapefruit is very clean and almost creamy. The gin isn’t dominant, leading me to think this is a pretty good cocktail to serve people who think they don’t like gin.

Shortly after The Cold Shoulder was delivered, a space opened for me at the bar and I was seated. The bar itself was a dark, slate colored slab of stone, thick and wide. The back bar was clean and packed with a great array of spirits and liqueurs, some hard to get, some (like Maraska Pelinkovac) completely unfamiliar to me.

In addition to being a great craft cocktail bar, I’d heard Beaker & Flask had a phenomenal menu. I started off with an order of Chanterelle Mushrooms, Parsley, Garlic, and Smoked Bone Marrow, which I topped with a squeeze of fresh lemon. I followed it with an order of Grilled Alaskan Spot Prawns, Millas, and Fall Vegetables. Both dishes were rich, fresh, and full of flavor. They didn’t overpower the cocktails, but instead drew out the range of my pallet, tantalizing me with more flavor than I had expected. One thing was clear in my visit to Portland, they get a lot more fresh produce than we do in urban Washington and it came out both in the food and in the cocktail.

My next drink was also from the menu and was most definitely not the sort of cocktail I’m in the habit of ordering. I was drawn to it, though, because of the inclusion of pears as an ingredient. With fall clearly moving forward in Oregon, I thought it could be fun. The Country Touch is made with Pisco, Pears, Yellow Chartruese, and fresh lime juice. The pear flavor in question comes from cooking pears with demarara sugar and then bottling them in a pear brandy. [NB: Due to a small water spill, I can’t read my notes on the precise process used to treat the pear or what spirit they mascerate in…] The result is a rich, poached pear flavor that plays a big role in the Country Touch. The cocktail starts with a heavy lime taste, but swiftly moves to pears and honey. The pear flavor is so like a poached pear that it has an almost carbonated taste. The Chartreuse is subtle and fades ahead of the pear. Likewise, the lime flavor steps back over time. I’m not sure that I’d say this is a well balanced cocktail, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

The last original cocktail prepared for me by the barman Tim was a Negroni variation called a Viking Quest. It was made with Aquavit, Campari, and Marcarini Barolo Chinato, finished with a lemon peel. This was a great cocktail, right in line with the flavor profile I’ve lately liked the most. It’s similar to a Negroni, but has a lot more going on in the bitter/savory department. It also takes on a brilliant ruby color from the combination of Campari and chinato. It has a very bitter front taste and I got some taste of wormwood, though I think it’s more likely to be the quinine from China Calisaya bark in the chinato. What was most interesting to me, though, was that the chinato paired with the bitter orange Campari implied a rich chocolate taste, something chinato is often paired with.

I was really impressed with both the food and drinks at Beaker & Flask. The cocktails were quite well made. The menu was interesting. And the bartenders were professional and precise. I will definitely plan on returning the next time I’m in Portland and I’d certainly encourage any readers in the Portland area to check it out if you haven’t already.

Mayahuel, Phil Ward’s mescal and tequila project a block away from Death & Company in New York’s East Village, has been open for about six months. This past weekend I was able to visit it for the first time. I wasn’t taking notes, so this isn’t going to be much of a formal review, but it was one of the best experiences at a cocktail bar I’ve ever had, so I thought it deserved at least a brief write-up.

Taking a page from my experience of how hard it is to get into Death&Co., we got to Mayahuel shortly after it’s 6pm opening. It was a rainy night and the place was mostly empty. Coming into the bar, there is a foyer on the left that is used for a number of tables. Then you go down a few steps and come to the bar, which also has a few small booths.We were initially seated upstairs. There’s a small staircase in the back of the first floor that leads up to a square seating area. In the center of the upstairs, there was hole cut in the floor (guarded by wrought iron railings), giving you a partial view of the downstairs bar. The opening also created a real southwestern feel of a building with a plaza in the center. The nicest part of this was that it also allowed guests upstairs to hear the crack of ice in shakers downstairs.

Since it was dinner time, we ordered some snacks to accompany our drinks. We began with chips and guacamole (while not the most exciting appetizer, it was a very large portion), followed by Camaron y Vieras con Chorizo – sausage and ham wrapped scallops and shrimp. They came on four skewers and were actually really big for an appetizer. Most importantly they were flavorful and delicious. We closed out with a simple $5 plate of sweet plantains. Each dish was fairly cheap, very generous, and exceptionally tasty.

As readers know, I’m on a Campari kick. Americanos and Negronis are two of my big staples right now. But I’ve also always longed for Picon, something I’ve only had a couple times at The Gibson and homemade versions at Bourbon. Picon is not imported in the US, but it is a delicious potable orange bitter. Mayahuel has a house picon on the menu in a number of drinks, so I naturally gravitated that way.

I began with a Mexicano, made with reposado tequila, carpano antica, and Mayur’s Homemade Picon, along with a splash of club soda. It was sublime, with interesting depth and an added savoriness than the usual Americano and less force than a Negroni. I was instantly ecstatic about our decision to go to Mayahuel over another NYC cocktail bar.

I stayed with the Picon for my second cocktail, ordering a Sunset Park, which is made with Reposado Tequila, Dry vermouth, Mayur’s Homemade Picon & Maraschino. This was right in my wheelhouse for cocktails that I love. It’s strong, savory, and complex, yet incredibly smooth. It was a nice step up from the Mexicano.

Another cocktail that was a big hit was the Lil’ Jig, which my girlfriend ordered later in the night. It is made with Blanco Tequila with Thai Basil, Lime & Yellow Chartreuse. It’s tart, but not overpowering. The Chartreuse gives it both sweetness and complexity, with its spices playing well with the citrus and basil. It was her favorite and certainly a drink that I enjoyed stealing a couple of sips from.

After our second round, we moved downstairs to sit at the bar. Phil Ward, the man himself, was working behind the stick. Despite many visits to Death & Company, I’d never had the chance to sit at the bar when he was working. When we moved downstairs the bar still wasn’t very busy, so it was no problem to quickly strike up a conversation about cocktails, Mayahuel, and the process of making new cocktails. Phil made me a number of new recipes that had yet to make it onto Mayahuel’s menu. He took me through a number of other cocktails with potable bitters as a base, as well as other cool experiments. I really wish I had kept some notes, because I can’t do justice to these drinks from memory alone.

Some cool tidbits from my talk with Phil. He built the original 20 drink menu for Mayahuel in about three days of hardcore recipe creation, a feat that is damned impressive. He says the most important ingredient in any cocktail recipe is balance. I don’t know if truer words have ever been spoken by a bartender. Ward’s understanding of balancing ingredients in cocktails is superior to any bartender I’ve ever had make me drinks. Every single cocktail at Mayahuel (let alone every cocktail I’ve had by him at Death & Company or The Bourgoisie Pig) has been perfectly balanced. Even the new recipes that hadn’t yet been introduced were just as well balanced as the ones that have been on the menu since opening. The degree to which Phil’s cocktails are balanced make me think that he’s likely a supertaster and has a natural gift to help make his cocktails work right.

One thing I haven’t even mentioned is that despite having a menu consisting almost entirely of tequila and mescal based drinks. You’d think that would have been the lede. I was incredibly impressed by the range of drinks on the menu. In many ways, it looked a lot like any other cocktail menu built around gin, rum, and whiskey recipes. The diversity of the menu was impressive, with about 40 drinks or so on it. There were sweet drinks, sour drinks, savory drinks, drinks with eggs, drinks with salt and so on. It really had every sort of drink you would want, with something for every guest. Again, very impressive considering the drinks were all made with tequila or mescal, two spirits that are much maligned in most Americans’ minds.

I loved Mayahuel. From the food to the drinks to getting to chat with one of America’s best bartenders, it was a great night. I look forward to going back as soon as I can…

Photo by Hannah Whitaker of Grub Street New York

Earlier this year, while taking part in a special tasting dinner put on by Plymouth Gin at PS7s, I had an interesting conversation with Plymouth’s brand ambassador Simon Ford. Simon and I were talking about the trajectory of the craft cocktail movement and cocktail bars. Craft cocktails really started to their resurgence around a number of high end, speak easy style bars and clubs. Places like PDT, Milk & Honey, and Bourbon & Branch come to mind. There was an allure that came with the speak easy style that added to the sensation of finely made cocktails. From their, the craft cocktail movement expanded to bars that while preserving the production of precious, antique, and unique cocktails, didn’t put up such a fuss about being hidden to grow their demand. In this category I’d add bars like Death & Company or Pegu Club. They continued to make incredible cocktails, but were still, for lack of a better term, still scene spots that were hard to get into. Simon and I agreed that there needed to be another evolution in the craft cocktail movement, away from pricey, hidden, bars that regardless of how friendly and amiable the staff were, still conveyed an air of elitism in their craft simply by the nature of their location and business model.

What Simon and I wanted to see was a resurgence of casual, neighborhood bars that were low key enough to be a good spot to have a bite to eat, maybe have a shot of something stiff or a pint of good beer, but nonetheless be able to dispense well made cocktails. We wanted to see bartenders that knew how to make a decent Old Fashioned, which bitters should be used for a Martini or a Manhattan, and made sour drinks with freshly squeezed fruit juice. For craft cocktails to really take the next step out of the niche markets of the bars where they currently reside, there would need to be an embrace of craft cocktail techniques at more low key bars. To put it another way, as the cocktail world stands now, it is gauche to go to the top bars and order a beer or a high ball or a glass of wine. A more casual drinking environment would remove that stigma – drink whatever you feel like – but if you wanted a nice cocktail, you’d still be able to get it.

Here in Washington, DC I saw Bar Pilar and Bourbon as the sorts of places that come closest to this. But since Adam Bernbach left BP, I’ve only been back a couple times and obviously the quality of the cocktails aren’t the same as they were with him there. Bourbon can certainly be a great spot for cocktails, but it’s a bit more incidental to the experience than I’m looking for in the casual cocktail bar (though I’m clearly being nit-picky).

On Friday night, after my failed attempt to get a reservation at PDT, I was invited out by my friends Franz and Mike, who writes Whisky Party, to a new bar in Brooklyn: Henry Public. This was actually the first night that Henry Public was open as part of their soft launch (which included private events earlier in the week). And, quite simply, Henry Public is the closest thing to what Simon Ford and I were talking about as the next area for growth in the craft cocktail movement.

Sitting mid-block in an old tenement style building, Henry Public is decorated like a bar that has been around for about one hundred years. Old light fixtures, a period back bar, and antique, well-worn furniture and bathroom fixtures show a very detailed sense of style. The music is mostly old jazz and blues, played at a comfortably low volume to facilitate easy conversation. The saloon-style bar is owned by the same folks who own Brooklyn Social Club, a more trendy cocktail spot. Talking to some of the staff and owners on Friday night, it was clear that they were looking for a Walt Whitman-style bar in honor of Brooklyn from years past (though in New York Mag partner Matt Dawson notes that Whitman didn’t drink, though they have egg creams on the menu as an option for his ilk). All in all, the decor and ambiance are just awesome – conducive to hanging out and enjoying the company of the people you’re with, along with some tasty drinks.

Henry Public has a very simple food and cocktail menu. The food includes burgers, a turkey sandwich, a delicious grilled cheese, bone marrow, oysters, a few snack items, and fried dough balls called Wilkinsons (I believe). I had the grilled cheese and folks I was there with had the burgers. We heard people at neighboring tables rave about the turkey sandwich and bone marrow. The dough balls were pretty extravagant too — a great dessert to share as a table. In short, the menu was perfect for hanging out over drinks, while not being so big as to become a destination spot for dining.

The one page drink menu similarly included a nice range of cocktails without being overwhelming. Eight of the drinks were $10 and the last four are $11 — priced substantially below many of the high-end craft cocktail bars both in Brooklyn and across the East River in Manhattan. Beers were cheap, too – with a number of fine draft options for $6. The cocktails were all originals, though most were variations of classic recipes. This allows, in my view, Henry Public to have their own identity while bringing novice cocktail drinkers in the door with interesting drinks that included bitters, egg, and absinthe. We were a party of five, so we got to try many of the cocktails, and with one exception everything I had was pretty fantastic.

The most popular drink was the Wide Awake Cocktail, which every one at my table had at one point except me. It’s a variation of the Corpse Reviver #2, made with gin, lemon, fresh ginger, ginger liqueur, and Islay scotch. It was a pretty great drink. The scotch really performed similarly to absinthe in a Corpse Reviver, giving the Wide Awake Cocktail a bright smokiness that complimented the bracing tart of the lemon and ginger. What was particularly interesting to me was how popular this drink was; Mike and another one of his bloggers at Whisky Party were naturally receptive to the use of scotch, but everyone else, myself included, found it really compelling too.

I actually began with the Oddfellow, a variation on a Papa Doble, made with rum, lime, grapefruit, maraschino, and a house bark and root syrup. While otherwise similar to a Papa Doble, which most readers will know is one of my favorite cocktails, the bark and root syrup gave it a nice spice that added greater depth and complimented the maraschino’s bitter sweetness well.

Henry’s Martini is an interesting type of Perfect Manhattan, made with Old Tom Gin, “two vermouths” and orange bitters. I found out the two bitters were Dolin Dry and Carpano Antica Formula — a pairing that I haven’t seen used before. What made it work so well, and with the strong Old Tom, was that it was about three-quarters of an ounce of Dolin Dry to about a bar spoon of Carpano Antica. The Carpano didn’t overpower the drink at all, something that I would have expected from the use of the light Dolin.

I think the most interesting cocktail of the night for me was the Brooklyn Ferry, made with rye, Carpano Antica, maraschino, and absinthe. This is a really cool variation on a Remember the Maine, with the maraschino liqueur substituting for Cherry Heering. It also played into the rule that cocktails made with most sweet vermouths are cocktails of that base spirit, while a cocktail made with Carpano Antica is really a Carpano Antica cocktail. The fabled vermouth played very strongly in this drink, even up against notably bold ingredients like rye, maraschino, and absinthe. That said, while the Carpano was strong it was nonetheless a well-balanced and complex cocktail.

The only cocktail of the night that didn’t really seem to work yet was the Ward Six, a variation of the Ward Eight, made with applejack, orange juice, lemon juice, and pomegranate molasses. While the apple flavor of the applejack maintained a solid presence despite the heavy citrus, it just wasn’t in balance. The drink was overly sour, though I spoke to to one of the bartenders, Mark, about it and he said they had cut down the lemon juice to only about a quarter ounce. He said they were struggling with the recipe and hadn’t found the right spot yet. I’m not quite sure that my drink had that little lemon; either it was too heavy in the lemon department or the oranges were too sour themselves. Additionally the grenadine was a bit strong too. Hopefully they’ll find a good balance for this cocktail, as having an applejack cocktail on the menu during fail makes great sense.

I won’t go into them, but my friends had a number of other cocktails on the menu. The Kings County Sour, made with rye, lemon, sugar, egg white, and a port float, was reminiscent of The Gibson’s Brunswick Sour, though substantially more frothy and creamy. The Eagle’s Dream was a beautiful drink made with gin, lemon juice, sugar, egg white, and creme de violette. It might be one of the few drinks on the menu that isn’t an original. Cocktail Database has a recipe for the Eagle’s Dream Cocktail that includes creme yvette; the substitution of creme de violette is the only visible difference. The Public Smash was pretty similar to many other bourbon smashes, this one made with bourbon, mint, maple syrup, and aromatic bitters. It’s a nice classic cocktail, but not one of my favorites (hence my decision to, you know, not order it for myself).

One thing to note is that the selection of spirits at the bar was far more limited than what you’d see at most craft cocktail bars. While there was a fairly decent range of gins, the selection of rums, tequilas, bourbon and rye seemed very small. Generally the ingredients available weren’t as precious as most other cocktail joints, something that likely is a duel product of how new the bar is and how casual the owners want it to be. Nonetheless the fruit juices were freshly squeezed, the array of bitters and syrups was large, and the bartenders knew what they were doing. While I wouldn’t say there was the 100% commitment to perfection that you see at bars like Death & Co. or Bourbon & Branch, it was still great stuff…and exactly the sort of cocktail bar that I think we need to see more of popping up, hopefully in a neighborhood near me.

Towards the end of the night we moved to sit at the bar and spent some time talking to Marty, who had previously worked at Brooklyn Social Club. He conveyed the similar attitude about having good cocktails without the craziness of other high-end bars. The other bartender, Mark, noted that while there were plenty of people ordering beers and high balls, most guests seemed either knowledgeable or curious about cocktails. They want the bar to be a neighborhood joint and it seems in its early going, they’re doing well. I rarely go out to Brooklyn when I am in NYC, but I can definitely see myself making the trip to spend another long evening at Henry Public. If you’re in the city, check it out at 329 Henry St. (near Pacific St.), Cobble Hill, Brooklyn — a short walk from the Borough Hall subway stop.

Despite it being one of New York’s premier cocktail bars and despite the fact that it’s been around quite a while, I’ve actually never been to PDT before this past weekend. I’d tried a number of times to get in on the wait list, but either never got a call or got a call long after I was interested in starting at the bar. I’d tried to make reservations on a couple occasions, but the call on the day you want to go policy had been hit or miss for me.

I was in New York this past weekend and figured it might be nice to try for a reservation at PDT again. The phone lines open at 3pm and I set an alarm to ensure I was calling as early as possible. Despite that, it took exactly 10 calls to get past the busy signal. Fortunately, I was able to get a table and had my plans for after dinner drinks set at what was recently voted the best cocktail bar in the world.

Prior to drinks I went out to dinner with my girlfriend and my parents.  As we were headed to dinner, I started to have a an upset stomach. By the time dinner was ending, I wasn’t sure I would make it through the evening without throwing up, let alone to PDT to have cocktails. This was not a welcomed turn of events.

I don’t know what I had, but I drank a lot of water, chewed a handful of Tums, and committed to go to PDT for at least one drink. Worst case scenario was that I would leave after that. After all, I couldn’t see myself skipping my reservation at PDT after all that time and effort.

By the time we made it to PDT, I was starting to feel human. Dicey, but human. The entrance to PDT is located inside one of my favorite NYC hot dog joints, Crif Dogs. In what is surely one of the entrances that most plays into the misconceptions of those who hate “speakeasies” — slang for any nice cocktail bar from their detractors — PDT’s entrance is accessed through a phone booth. You enter the booth, close the door, pick up the phone and check in with the hostess. When your seats are ready, you are escorted through the booth into a cozy bar space on the other side.

PDT is a beautiful bar. It’s small, with only a few booths and small tables, along with a decent sized bar staffed by two bartenders (at least on a Saturday night). The entire seated section was staffed by one server, a young woman whose name I failed to ask, but who provided some of the best table service I have had at a high end cocktail bar.

After flipping through the menu and getting really excited, my better angels won out and I realized I couldn’t do any sort of aggressive cocktail. I asked the waitress to have the bartender make me anything with a potable bitter base, explaining that I had an upset stomach and wanted to try to calm it down first. She offered to bring me a glass of seltzer with bitters to start, but I decided that since I might not make it past one drink, I might as well try to have a cocktail from the get-go.

Now, perhaps it’s because I wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t have any good suggestions for what I was specifically looking for. Well, beyond an amaro or Campari and tonic…but I didn’t really want to ask for a highball at PDT. The waitress returned with an Americano, something that immediately struck me as perfect for my situation. It’s a classic cocktail, made with equal parts Campari and Italian vermouth and topped with seltzer. The waitress said there were also bitters in the cocktail. It’s a delicious drink and one that I often forget about when I’m out and looking for a light drink. What’s even better, it did succeed in being the sort of potion I was looking for. The bitter orange helped settle my stomach and the low alcohol content made it easy to take on my decreasingly upset stomach.

After my Americano, I figured I’d pull ahead and have a more regular strength cocktail. But I wanted to stay in the family of potable bitters. What better step-up from an Americano than a Negroni? A Negroni has equal parts of gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari — the one at PDT was made with Plymouth Gin and Dolin Rouge. The Negroni has recently become one of my favorite cocktails and while it’s certainly not that adventurous, it was exactly what I wanted.  Moreover, the Negroni I had at PDT was far and away the best Negroni I’ve ever had. I have no clue why – the freshness of the vermouth? the physics of the stir? – but it was just superb. It had a perfectly flamed orange peel and a cube of ice that was almost as clear as glass.

We left after two drinks, but I’m glad I was able to stick it out and enjoy a couple of very well made cocktails. Now that I know how great PDT is from personal experience, I’m looking forward to going back, having a seat at the bar, and really exploring their original menu and bartenders’ range of abilities.