beverage news

Where to drink in Austin: Roosevelt Room's 'facelift,' and 8 more tips

Dive into summer with a delicious cocktail in hand.

Austin is constantly buzzing with news about its many fun cocktail bars, breweries, and distilleries, which can make it hard keep up with the city's lively nightlife scene.

When the weather gets as hot as it does in our beloved city in the summer, it's less about the atmosphere of a bar, and more about the refreshing taste of the drinks. Lucky for those in search of some cooling, we've rounded up the nine most refreshing happy hours, new cocktail menus, and other announcements to help Austinites find their next favorite hidden gem.

Openings and relocations

Austin-favorite cocktail bar the Roosevelt Room is getting a "much needed facelift," and is temporarily moving everyday operations to its adjoining event spaceThe Eleanor until Sunday, July 14. But not to worry, The Eleanor's brand new, 30-drink menu brings the same level of innovation and creativity that has come to be expected from the highly awarded cocktail space. Once the Roosevelt Room reopens on Friday, July 12, The Eleanor will be open weekly from Thursday through Sunday around its event schedule.

ICYMI: Progress Coffee owners are dipping into a casual new poolside bar in East Austin, dubbed The Cabana Club. The "comprehensive community club" is set to open later this summer, and Austinites will find it tucked back at 5012 E. Seventh St., next to Holiday, Wanderlust Wine Co., and Hi Sign Brewing — a laid-back trifecta that bodes well for forthcoming staycation vibes.

New happy hours, cocktail menus, and drink specials

The recently openedBOA Steakhouse has launched its new happy hour on weekdays from 4-6 pm in the bar and lounge areas. Select red, white, and sparkling wines are $9 each, and $10 happy hour cocktails include the "Gloria's Margarita" (tequila blanco, lime, lemon, orange liqueur, agave); the "Summertime Key Lime" (vanilla vodka, key lime, almond liqueur); the "BOA Smash" (bourbon, mixed berry, mint, lemon); and more.

If you're on the lookout for the most refreshing frozen drink in Austin, LeRoy and Lewis' frozen Big Red sangria is hard to beat. This boozy frozen cocktail is described as a "new school twist" of a quintessential barbecue beverage. Thirsty Austinites can get a large frozen Big Red sangria in a commemorative cup for $9 during the restaurant's happy hour on Wednesday or Thursday from 3-6 pm.

American-Italian restaurant Casa Bianca's is putting a spin on happy hour with its new reverse happy hour from 9-10 pm Wednesdays through Sundays. The late night happy hour menu features discounted dishes as well as $10 Aperol spritzes and gin martinis, $9 wines by the glass, and specialty cocktails like the "Rum Punch" (Plantation 3 Stars Artisanal Rum, seasonal fruit, soda), the "Techno Viking" (vodka, house yerba mate soda), and more.

It takes a great deal of time and effort to perfect a clarified cocktail, and underground lounge Devil May Care is kicking things up a notch with the addition of three new clarified cocktails and one clarified mocktail to its summer menu. Gin lovers will appreciate the "Strawberry Soda" made with Roku Japanese Gin, while the pisco-based "Club Maté" and the rum-based "Café Express" are sophisticated tropical libations. The nonalcoholic gin gimlet brings a classic crisp taste with a bold dash of grapefruit to make it the perfect thirst quencher.

Most Austinites have thought about absconding to a faraway island paradise at this point of the summer. But in-the-know locals are instead coasting over to rooftop terrace Zanzibar to enjoy fresh specialty cocktails for Tiki Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, bartenders will be creating new unique tropical-inspired cocktails, rotating from sweet and fruity to spicy and bold every month to keep patrons guessing and coming back for more.

Other notes and events

Still Austin Whiskey Co. has developed its most exclusive spirit yet for its Distillery Reserve Series: The Madeira Cask Finished Rye Whiskey. This 107.6 proof rye was aged for 2.5 years and finished in ex-Madeira barrels for 11 months to give the finished spirit distinct notes of orange, roasted nuts, and walnut oil. New for this release, all purchases of the Madeira Rye Whiskey will need to be completed online, and can picked up in-person at the distillery starting Friday, July 12. Bottles ($100) will be limited to one per customer, and will be available for purchase at 1 pm on Monday, July 8.

Get ready for a Mezcal Monday takeover at Suerte on July 15, where Sotol Parejo founders Jorge Caldera and Alberto Varela will be curating half-off sotol flights for guests from 5-10 pm. The flights will be paired with a special Suerte botana consisting of cantaloupe, peach chamoy, and chili salt. The Austin-based cofounders will guide guests during the experience, educating about the three sotol expressions. Reserve online at suerteatx.com.

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Movie Review

Gladiator II doesn't fight to distinguish its story from the original

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Paul Mescal in Gladiator II.

There are some films for which making a sequel is natural, and others where a follow-up is wholly unnecessary. Gladiator, which both made tons of money and was named Best Picture at the Oscars, told an impactful stand-alone story that ended with the protagonist dead and no real loose ends. And yet because there’s always more money to be made, here we are 24 years later with Gladiator II.

The lead character this time around is Lucius (Paul Mescal), a general in a North African army who becomes a prisoner of war when the Roman army led by Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) bests him and his troops in battle. Taken back to Rome, he is put in the pool of captured men forced to fight at the Colosseum for the amusement of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracella (Fred Hechinger).

Lucius is controlled by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), an ambitious schemer who bets liberally on his prized fighter and always has an eye to move up in the world. Meanwhile, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the sister of Emperor Commodus from the first film, is now married to Marcus Acacius and has a unique connection with Lucius that is fairly obvious from the get-go.

Directed once again by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa, the film commits a number of sins throughout its 150-minute running time, the most blatant of which is that, aside from a few embellishments, it essentially tells the same story as the first film. Lucius, like Maximus, is a deposed military leader who’s out for revenge on the person who killed his family. Instead of one obnoxious emperor, there are now two. And the only way for Lucius to earn his freedom is to fight his way out.

Stories told in the same world can echo each other and, if done well, overcome those similarities. But Gladiator II is shockingly boring for a purported sword-and-sandals epic. Scott and his team try to introduce new elements to the fights, like a gladiator riding a rhinoceros or a ship battle inside the Colosseum (with sharks!), but most of the sequences are inert with no propulsion to them.

The action fails because none of the relationships in the film amount to much. There are stand-out characters like Macrinus and the twin emperors, but instead of creating antipathy or strong feelings of triumph or defeat, the story just kind of happens without any sense of excitement or importance. Much of that issue lies at the feet of Lucius, who simply doesn’t inspire in the same way that Russell Crowe’s Maximus did.

Mescal is a fine actor who’s done good work in more intimate roles, but he’s not up to the task of being an action star, at least not in this film. Any bombast he shows with the character feels forced, and the story doesn’t give him enough opportunities to counteract that lack. Washington, however, fills up the screen with his charisma, and it’s during his scenes that the film comes closest to being rousing. Quinn and Hechinger are a lot of fun as the twin emperors, but in the end they feel like retreads of Joaquin Phoenix from the original.

Any sequel should have a purpose that sets it apart from what came before, but Scott, Scarpa, and the rest of their team fail in that respect in Gladiator II. It’s a mostly lifeless film that delivers scenes that would be exciting if they had any kind of good story to back them up.

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Gladiator II opened in theaters on November 22.

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