As for our annual trip to hang with Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys we had a crazy routing.  We chose cities based on proximity to family, friends and great bars along with ease of travel.  For the most part, ease of travel was ignored.  We started in Dallas, then Austin, San Antonio and New Orleans with Dropkick Murphys.  Shifted to the cold weather and did Rochester, Toronto, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Detroit with Flogging Molly.  Then to Knoxville and Richmond with Dropkicks.  A lot of great shows and great friends.  Plus we got to hang out with both daughters.  Of course, the bars on the trip were a highlight.  I want to cover in some detail six bars along the way.

Esquire Tavern – San Antonio

This bar is located in central San Antonio along the River Walk.  It has a great atmosphere and the “longest bar in Texas”.  Its notable for me as its the home of one of my favorite cocktails to make and to drink.  The Capone’s Revolver.  Its Rye Whiskey, Trader Vic’s Kona Coffee Liqueur and Bad Dog Fire and Damnation bitters.  Its a stirred cocktail served on the rocks with an orange twist.  Obviously an Old Fashioned style drink, but the sweetness of the coffee liqueur and the spicy bitters give it a real bite.  I’ve made this drink at a number of parties and get togethers and its always a hit.  Its a very simple drink…4 parts whiskey to 1 part Coffee Liqueur with 4-6 dashes of the bitters.  I try to stay with the same bitters for any drink that uses a pepper based bitter.  The relative strength of the bitter can be disaster.  Six dashes of Fire and Damnation yields a good bite but not overpowering. Six dashes of Scrappy’s Firewater Tincture is possibly lethal.  We each had one cocktail and called it a night since New Orleans and one of America’s great bars was the next day

Cure – New Orleans

Cure is the 2018 James Beard Foundation winner for Best Bar Program.  This was my second trip and my expectations were very high as the previous visit with Matt Nasir of the Sleeping Souls had been outstanding.  The bar is located a few miles from the Quarter and central city in a revitalizing area.  You have to want to come here.  That’s a purposeful decision as they don’t want some drunken idiots stumbling in looking for 3 foot high hurricanes or some other disaster.  The service experience is outstanding.  When you walk in, a host greets you and gets you seated immediately.  Both times I’ve been here it wasn’t crowded, so I’m not sure how they handle that.  We grabbed seats at the bar.  We immediately got a glass of water and a menu and a greeting from one of the bartenders.  The menu contains both house originals and some classics with their twist.  There is also a simple bar menu with some very nice choices.  We ate dinner there and were very pleased.  We arrived in the late afternoon and stayed for about 4 hours.  I mostly went with bartenders choice and really had a great time discussing cocktail theory with these experts.  It was fascinating to hear how much the Beard Award had impacted them as they were in great demand for pop up bars and guest bar tending spots all over the country.  I’m interested to see the judging criteria now that I’ve been to a number of winners.  Even though Cure is a special destination for me, the feeling while I’m there is one of a local bar, maybe thats what they do best. 

Civil Liberties – Toronto

I’d not heard of this bar before, but a very knowledgeable friend from Toronto recommended it and came with us after dinner.  It was a very unassuming looking place outside the central business district.  The immediate distinction came when we sat down at the bar.  As is proper, an immediate glass of water and…no menu.  For me, this is a great situation because it means I’m going to be engaging with the bartenders all night.  A couple of the ideas didn’t pan out and I didn’t get charged for the drink, which I thought was a very nice gesture.  My wife had a Pisco drink with Apricot that was excellent and I captured the recipe for later experimentation.  Again, the bar wasn’t crowded, so the level of attention from the staff was great…I’m not sure if the no menu approach works if the place gets really slammed.  As we were at the bar, I didn’t get a feel for what the wait staff brought to the table in terms of cocktail knowledge.  All in all, an excellent experience if you have a few hours to spend and it isn’t busy.

I had some further thoughts on the no-menu approach and how to deal with that.  While people that spend hours reading cocktail books generally love the idea of working every cocktail out with the bartender, I do wonder if that approach can be intimidating to some people. I’ve used a couple of cocktails that are pretty simple to make, but still allow you to get a feel for the bar.  The first is the Negroni.  Very simple, three ingredients, gin, sweet vermouth and Campari all of which are widely available in any decent cocktail bar.  It offers a couple of check points on technique that will tell you something.  Do they mix the drink in a separate mixing glass and stir, then transfer to the serving glass with fresh ice?  Did the vermouth come chilled or is it room temperature.  Since its a fortified wine, it will sour if left out for long.  Did they use a quality vermouth like Carpano or Cocchi?  Anyways, its a nice looking drink that’s easy to make.  The other drink I use a lot in these situations is the Daiquiri.  Its a very misunderstood drink, but such a great cocktail when well made.  If the bartender’s first reaction upon hearing that order is to state that they don’t have blender, you should just get up and leave because you will soon be headed down a dark road.  The classic Daiquiri is simply rum, lime juice and sugar (usually simple syrup)  Shaken and then served up in a coupe glass.  Blenders, tropical fruit, umbrellas and other such horrors have no part in the Daiquiri.  A special bonus if the bar has it (and Civil Liberties did) is to use Plantation Pineapple Rum.  This makes a truly great drink and also signals to the bartender that you are at least familiar with the craft cocktail.  Upon hearing my order, the bartender simply stated, “Fuck yes” and off we went.

The Sugar House – Detroit

I found this bar looking at reviews in Detroit.  Its in a revitalizing part of the city.  We went with a couple of friends and got there in the late afternoon.  We got a table with 4 of us instead of the bar.  Again, service was excellent with immediate water and menu and a greeting from the host.  I loved the menu as it was quite extensive.  They had a few pages of house specialties and then a section with 101 classic cocktails.  I thought this was a very good idea for people who don’t pore over cocktail recipes in their spare time.  It listed all the ingredients so it was a great way for people to get into a couple of classics without being intimidated.  The server that we interacted with was very knowledgeable and worked with his bartenders well to get the right drinks.  I was very impressed with the bar and would absolutely return as I found no flaws in the experience.

Standby – Detroit

After the Flogging Molly gig, we headed over to Standby.  This bar has been a James Beard semi-finalist several times, so my expectations were quite high.  Sadly, the place did not live up to those.  The bar was overcrowded and the hosts were ineffective at getting people seated.  Thus, people were just crowding the bar.  The music was overly loud, which inhibited conversation below yelling and made ordering a challenge.  The menu looked pretty good, but our first round was pretty slow.  We actually found spots at the bar which turned the experience around somewhat.  Both bartenders were very skilled, their precision and flair clearly showed their talent.  I’d be interested to try this bar when its less busy, but of the two Detroit stops, the Sugar House was far superior despite the bigger reputation of Standby.

The Peter Kern Library – Knoxville

The Peter Kern Library is one of America’s hidden gems.  Its a single room bar behind a plain door in a boutique hotel in downtown Knoxville.  Its primarily there for the hotel guests, but if you are patient, you can get a spot.  I’d been there a few years ago and had one of the more memorable bar experiences of my life.  Since then, I had been eager to return, so when the Dropkicks booked a show here, it was immediately in the trip.  This time we stayed at the Hotel Oliver, so as to have access to the bar.  We stopped in before dinner for a few rounds and then returned after the show for a few more hours.  I ended up being the last person in the bar at 2:30.  The bartender remembered our group from before and in fact had a picture of the rather ludicrous bar tab. 

The bar experience is simple perfect.  There is no standing, if you don’t have a seat you don’t get in.  The room is quiet and the decor is that of a private study or library.  The host at the door does a great job of keeping the place at proper capacity.  The menu is pretty esoteric with a few cocktails that probably don’t work, but points for effort.  I almost immediately went off menu as they ran through a variety of twists on Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, but the highlight of the night was a New York Sour, which was so artfully made with the Malbec swirl that I was in awe.

I was fascinated, however, by the number of people that would wait to get in to the bar then order a Jameson shot or a Miller Highlife or both.  For the life of me, I couldn’t understand being in this high quality bar and not letting the bartenders do their thing for you.  As best as I could determine, the idea of the hidden bar was enough attraction to get some people in who don’t care about craft cocktails, but just like the place.  To their credit, the bartenders served everyone with a great attitude, but I did notice they were a bit careful in checking the intoxication level of some of the guests.