A Jigger of Blog

I was in lovely (but cold!) Boulder, Colorado for only a few hours the other day but I was happy my meetings were downtown, and very near a couple of fine drinking establishments. I took advantage.

At lunch, my companion and I went in search of some food and wandered down Pearl Street, where we got some decent coffee that morning. We were hungry and impatient and stepped into the first place whose menu looked appealing. We were seated by a friendly young woman in a big, comfy booth. The menu said “West End Tavern.”

I had a decent veggie burger and a beer, and my friend, who had been a bit under the weather ordered a ‘Tom’s Hot Toddy’, nicely made with Bulleit bourbon, honey, lemon, hot water, cinnamon and star anise (I enjoyed a quaff). We had work to do over lunch but I was distracted by the expansive bourbon list– some 62 varieties, plus 4 single-barrel bourbons selected and bottled only for West End. I vowed to come back and enjoy one after work that eve.

After the afternoon meeting, a conference call, and a brief appearance at a nearby 25th anniversary benefit house party for Rainforest Action Network, I made my way through the snow (yeah, did I mention that?) back to Pearl St., and pulled up a seat at the bar. Since the menu began with a list of bourbon cocktails, I decided to wait on a tumbler of special bourbon and start with one of the joint’s specialty concoctions, a ‘Blueberry Lace’.

Blueberry Lace Cocktail at West End Tavern

The cheery (and pretty) bartender returned with a drink made with fresh blueberries and basil muddled with agave nectar and fine-strained into a rocks glass filled up with the West End’s single barrel Eagle Rare 10-year bourbon, and topped with a splash of soda. It was refreshing and interesting, with the fruit and herb and sugar all rather subtle notes to the bourbon– not what I was expecting, but glad for it.

After a bit, I went back to the first drink I noticed, at the top of the list, ‘The Ron Burgundy’. The description says, ‘”kick the vermouth in the side with a pair of steel toe boots” and that is what we do!’ I love a Manhattan and this was made – according to the menu – with their single barrel Elmer T. Lee bourbon, Leopold’s cherry liqueur, Angostura bitters and a house-made bourbon-soaked cherry. I ordered one and began my appraisal.

It was smooth and delicious and a little boring. As I sipped it, the bartender, perhaps sensing my cocktail geekiness, brought the bottles of the whiskey and cherry liqueur for my sampling. I had never tasted Michigan’s Leopold Brothers cherry liquor but, damn! Lovely balance of tart and sweet– not the kind of thing I would normally sip but a delicious dessert drink and my mom would love it poured over some ice cream. And Buffalo Trace’s Elmer T. Lee single barrel was lovely. I just finished a bottle that my friend Kevin brought to a cocktail party and this was an interesting variation– a smooth, subtle, easy-drinking whiskey, with classic vanilla and caramel and a hint of spiciness tempered by oak and and a long warm finish.

I thanked the bartender and told her I found The Ron Burgundy very tasty but slightly unsatisfying. I don’t have the kind of intelligent palate to be sure what would make the difference without experimenting, but I thought it could use a flamed orange or lemon twist instead of the cherry, as enjoyable as that was at the end of the drink. Or maybe some Fee Bothers whiskey barrel-aged bitters with the pronounced cinnamon notes to highlight the cherry liqueur. As-is, it fell a little flat.

The bartender listened graciously, if a bit impatiently, and I had the impression it wasn’t her recipe. Nonetheless, it turned out she was the bar manager with the awesome name of Sage Swink. By then, I had realized that this place was one of the handful of ‘Big Red F‘ restaurants in Boulder, a small restaurant group known for artistry and care in the kitchen as well as behind the bar. Another of the places is the Happy Noodle House, around the corner, and its Bitter Bar.

I told Sage I had heard great things about the Bitter Bar (well, read them on the interwebs) and I’d been meaning to check it out. She told me “those guys over there are awesome” and encouraged me to go. I had less than two hours before I had to begin my journey to the Denver airport and home so I paid my tab and headed out to the Bitter Bar, home of acclaimed mixologist James Lee, as well as Mark Stoddard, one-third of the Team USA who brought home the Gold last month from the 42Below Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand.

Coming (very) soon– a peek at Boulder’s Bitter Bar. Cheers.

Last night I made my long-overdue first visit to The Columbia Room, Derek Brown’s omikase-style cocktail room in the back of The Passenger. I’ve had a number of friends go and, naturally, only heard positive things. One coworker described it as “the best service I’ve ever received at a bar or restaurant.” I’d say that was about right and pretty much what you need to know going in. You will be pampered from the moment you enter the ante room to the moment you pay your check at the end of the night.

When I was at The Passenger’s media opening last year, Derek showed me the space that would eventually become The Columbia Room. It was full of construction detritus and was completely raw. I believe a bar could be there, but had no clue what a polished space would emerge. From the back Pullman car room in The Passenger, you enter a Victorian Age ante room. Up a step and behind another door is The Columbia Room. It has an eight seat bar, with the back bar area a couple steps lower from the bar itself, allowing guests to sit in regular chairs and not high stools. On the wall opposite the bar there is a row of plush benches with integrated small tables. While no one was seated there last night, I imagine these seats are useful for the classes The Columbia Room hosts a few times a month on various cocktail and bartending skills (I’m taking one on bitters next month).

After we were seated at the bar, we were offered hot, magnificent smelling towels to wash our hands. We were promptly provided water (flavored lightly with cucumber slices) and a glass of champagne. The Columbia Room is only open three nights a week (Thursday through Saturday) and obviously seats are very limited.

It probably is a bit of different experience for me than other customers of The Columbia Room, as Derek has known me and my drink preferences for about a year and a half. He had created a cocktail with my palate in mind for our first round, which was made with three potable bitters as base spirits — Fernet Branca, Campari,  and Cynar. While I was excited by the idea, I think my face showed some skepticism about how such a mix might work out. Derek quickly jumped in with a reassuring, “And it’s balanced!” And it was. In addition to the amaros, the cocktail included orange juice and sweetened lemon juice (the oranges were a special variety and I may be leaving out a bitters). It was garnished with a grilled orange slice and a sprig of fresh mint. It was a remarkable cocktail, with incredibly soft and creamy tones that belied the bitter base. It was as complex as you would expect but not overly bitter at all. My girlfriend usually isn’t a big Campari fan, but she liked this a lot, which was a testament to how well-crafted this drink was.

The second cocktail was a Martini variation. It contained equally parts of Plymouth Gin and Dolin Dry vermouth, both stored chilled. The Plymouth was kept at 20 degrees and the Dolin at refrigerator temperatures. The ingredient that made the drink was Elixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse, a concentrated version of Chartreuse that is 71% alcohol and used by Derek in a similar fashion to bitters. I’ve seen Elixir Végétal in recipes of drinks at bars outside of DC, but I’d never had a drink with it before last night. The Elixir Végétal really made this drink, transforming what would have been a sweet and light 1:1 Martini into a complex and intricate cocktail. Lori said it may be the best cocktail she’s ever had in a bar and I could see it. It’s a simple evolution of a Martini, but it takes the historic cocktail in such a different direction that it really deserves to be tried by all. The challenge with this drink was that I didn’t want to finish it, for fear I might not have it again.

At this point in the night the guests down the bar from us started talking to Derek about his inspiration for the bar. Derek told stories of his travels in Japan and the level of service he received from some of Japan’s elite bartenders. The Columbia Room certainly pulls in some practices from Japanese bartending, but this is unquestionably an American bar. Or more specifically, Derek Brown’s bar.

Ice Diamond & Whiskey

Naturally with all this talk of Japanese bars, I asked Derek how his ice diamond carving skills are (I know, I’m kind of a dick). But about two minutes later, I was staring at a truly dazzling diamond that looked like it was ready to be fitted into a (very over sized) ring fitting. The ice diamond was marveled at by all, then promptly dropped in a double rocks glass and garnished with Hibiki 12 Year Old Whisky, a Japanese blended whisky that I’d never had before, but was pretty fantastic.

Things started to get fun from here. Derek decided, against his stated better judgment, that he would make a party of four at the bar a round of Ramos Gin Fizzes. This famous New Orleans cocktail is supposed to be shaken for about 12 minutes to get the right consistency. The Ramos Gin Fizz is made with old tom gin, simple syrup, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, orange flower water, and cream. When all the shaking is done, club soda is added too. It’s a great drink and the biggest reason I don’t make it at home is, well, I usually have something better to do for twelve minutes than freeze my hands onto a metal tin. In the future, though, I think I’ll have to reevaluate that assessment. This is an incredible cocktail and fortunately Derek made enough for the whole bar to try. I would never ask a bartender to make me a Ramos Gin Fizz unless I was getting along greatly and there weren’t many other customers at the bar, but in this setting it was a good fit and really the sort of drink that shows the genius of The Columbia Room’s model.

The last drink of the night was a Fancy-Free Cocktail. I’d never heard of this one before, but it is surely on the classic side of the spectrum. Recipes seem to vary slightly, but it looks like it is:

Fancy-Free Cocktail

2 oz Bourbon
0.5 oz Maraschino
1 dash Orange Bitters
1 dash Aromatic Bitters

Stir over ice & strain into a chilled cocktail glass

File this under cocktails that anyone who knows me knows I will like. Rich, savory-sweet, and intense, it features maraschino more than most other cocktails dare. But trust me, it works. And for those cognoscenti out there who are already in love with maraschino, well, this drink is for you.

So far unmentioned in this write-up is the food at The Columbia Room. For the first cocktail course, there was a small plate of artichoke hearts and swiss chard with a filo dough wedge that went very well with the three bitter cocktail. Later, we were given bowls of truffle oil-covered popcorn: Truly luxurious.

The Columbia Room is a pretty special bar and I would say a requisite stop for anyone coming to DC to explore our cocktail scene. There’s not much more to say about the visit, other than this is just a fantastic place for Derek Brown to showcase his creativity, his attentiveness to his craft and to his customers. Undoubtedly one of my most memorable nights at a cocktail bar and hopefully just the first of many visits.