drink well

Austin mixologists compete in Manhattan Cocktail Classic (and share theirrecipes with us)

Tacy Rowland
Photo by Matt McGinnis
Espirita de Vida
Photo by Matt McGinnis
Jessica Sanders
Photo by Matt McGinnis
Civetta in Islay
Photo by Matt McGinnis

It’s not exactly a completely male-dominated profession like NFL football or Chippendales dancing, but if you look at the most celebrated mixologists in town you’ll note that most are men. The tide is turning in Austin.

Two talented classic cocktail creators, drink.well owner Jessica Sanders and bartender Tacy Rowland, competed in the third annual Manhattan Cocktail Classic this weekend in New York. I guess we are maturing from a town with only tied t-shirt and Daisy Duke wearin’ bartenders slinging a shot and a beer to a town that embraces both genders making creative craft drinks.

To get a spot behind the bar in the national competition, both Jessica and Tacy won preliminary regional challenges. Contestants in in 29 local chapters of the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild (USBG) battled for a spot in the Manhattan Cocktail Classic mixing drinks with specific main ingredients. Participants are judge not only on the quality of their cocktails, but on service and elegant presentation as well.

Contestants in in 29 local chapters of the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild (USBG) battled for a spot in the Manhattan Cocktail Classic mixing drinks with specific main ingredients.

Jessica competed in the search for the best aperitivo cocktail hosted Campari. The test was to create a before-dinner drink that contains at least one ounce of Campari and to use spirits from the company’s brand portfolio.

To add to the challenge, USBG guidelines forbid the use of house-made ingredients or anything that isn’t replicable. That removed several creative twists from the contestants’ bag of tricks and made them rely on other methods to make the spirits play well together.

Jessica relished the challenge of working with a bitter and sometimes intimidating spirit like Campari and upped the ante by choosing Scotch as the base spirit for her drink called the Civetta in Islay.

She said, “Both Campari and Scotch have overwhelming flavor profiles, so I added sherry to restrain the peatiness of Scotch and bitterness of Campari while allowing the integrity of the spirit to come across. My preference for cocktails is to have it so balanced that you can’t tell what’s in there. I think of this one as a twist on the classic pre-dinner drink, the Negroni. This is a sexy and alluring cocktail that will impress your date on a romantic night out.”

Did she succeed? Hell yes! This is no pre-dinner drink. It’s a pre-danger drink. I took one sip of the Civetta in Islay and muttered, “I have dirty thoughts,” when Jessica asked me what I thought. I could only give her a mischievous smile as I savored the smooth bitter sweetness. The Burlesque Bitters has a pepperiness that wakes up the palate and plays well with the orange sherry. I needed a moment. The drink isn’t on the menu, but drink.well offers it as a special for $12. Order it just to see Jessica in action — oh and to get that feeling you shouldn’t have in polite company.

I took one sip of the Civetta in Islay and muttered, “I have dirty thoughts,” when Jessica asked me what I thought.

Tacy tested her skills in Don Q Rum competition challenging USBG members to mix an island cocktail that embodies the spirit of Puerto Rico. About 20 bartenders competed locally to go on to the national competition in Manhattan and the top five finals winners will go to Puerto Rico to tour the distillery.

Tacy was eager to gauge her bartending skills in the Don Q 2012 Mix It Up Ultimate Mixology Challenge. She said, “I like to compete. It’s a great way to learn more about the cocktail scene and grow my skills.”

With strong competition, Tacy wanted to create a grown-up variation on a classic tiki drink with plenty of spice, which she called Espirita de Vida. She said, “The easiest way to make an island rum drink is put fruit and juice in a glass and call it fun. I wanted more depth and flavor, so I start with a Don Q Gran Anejo base. I then add two more types of rum and simple ingredients. The result is a balanced drink with an earthy tone from aged rum that you can enjoy outside on a summer day.”

Tacy’s drink is no sugar bomb with fruit flavors that boost the rum rather than obscuring it. It’s both elegant and clean and with the smoky caramel gusto that will appeal to whiskey drinkers. Tacy whipped the mint, ground the cinnamon and sprayed the Absinth for absolute freshness of flavors. The drink is served over crushed ice in frosted glass that brings the refreshing and clean cocktail to life. I was immediately transported to a beach, listening to the surf and feeling the sea spray. Can you put a little lotion on my back?

While Jessica and Tacy won the regional shows, neither placed in the national competition. Despite that, they showed that there are top-notch female bartenders in Austin worthy of the national stage. They also learned a lot about the importance of “Bring It On” style at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic and can’t wait to bring it next year.

Here are the recipes so for you to try your hand at making the regional winning cocktails.

Civetta in Islay: Jessica Sanders, Winner of Campari regional competition

1 oz. Bowmore 12 Year Single Malt Scotch
1 oz Campari
1 oz Duque de Carmona Orange Sherry
2 drops/dashes Bittermen's Burlesque Bitters

Espirita de Vida: Tacy Rowland, Winner of Don Q Rum regional competition

1 oz Don Q Gran Anejo
1/2 oz Don Q Anejo
1/2 oz Don Q Cristal
1/2 oz Maraschino Liquour
1 oz grapefruit juice
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
Fresh grated cinnamon
2 dashes Bitterman's Tiki bitters
Spray of Tenneyson Absinthe Royale

unspecified

Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

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