Sauced

A Bellevue Bar Crawl, Tequila Tasting at Coa, and Early Morning Wine at Local 360

Plus: a chance to sample “2012’s hottest cocktails.”

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 06, 2012 at 11:39AM 2 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Wine Month at Local 360 gets underway January 12.

Usually we’d post this type of thing at the beginning of the week, but saucy news is thin this morn. Onward.

Local 360 inaugurates a series of Thursday wine tastings on January 12. The first one features pours from Ash Hollow Winery and a $30 chef’s menu is available for grubbing. They happen from 9 (am) to 3 5 to 10pm.

Agave mecca Coa hosts Kent Johnson of Aha Toro and quote-unquote tequila evangelist Clayton Szczech on January 19. Tickets for the sipping session are $35. Noshes are included.

Also that night: An impressive lineup of local bars (Tavern Law, Bathtub Gin, The Saint, Little Water, to name a few) are partaking in an event named New Year Libation: 2012’s Hottest Cocktails. The bash takes place at Pravda Studios and costs $25.

And for further down the road: Three sisters have organized what they’re calling the Totally Teal Toast, an 80’s-themed bar crawl benefiting the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research. On February 18 saddle up at 12:30 at Lot No. 3 before grogging at Pearl Bar and Dining, Paddy Coynes, Lucky Strike, and Earls. Register at totallytealtoast.com.

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Tags: Drinking Events

Rob Roy’s Alcohol-Fueled Advent Calendar

Count down to Christmas with 24 days of holiday drinks…and a little bit of fire.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Nov 30, 2011 at 12:25PM 0 Comments

The blue blazer, being poured by legendary bar man Jerry Thomas.

Some advent calendars contain chocolate or Bible verses; others involve cups of flaming whiskey. You’ll find the latter at Rob Roy, where bartenders have organized a spirited advent calendar that starts tomorrow. Look for a different seasonal drink each day in December, leading up to Christmas Eve.

This decidedly adult advent countdown was the inspiration of Andrew Bohrer, who will be posting each day’s drink recipe on his Caskstrength blog (if you haven’t read his barman’s holiday gift guide yet, go check that out too). Rob Roy’s Bryn Lumsden set up the calendar and got everyone organized.

What’s the point of all this? Per Bohrer, it’s a chance to redeem all those holiday drinks that nobody orders because they are often poorly executed, or achingly sweet. “I wanted to give everybody a free pass for a day to order something they couldn’t ever get or order in a bar,” he says. The drinks will be a surprise each day, but Bohrer predicts a mix of holiday classics and wintry originals from him, Lumsden and Anu Apte. About a quarter of the drinks will be hot, including the Tom and Jerry, recently resurrected over at Vito’s, and a “Spanish coffee amnesty day.”

On December 24, the alcoholic equivalent of that really giant culminating piece of advent-calendar chocolate is the blue blazer, a beverage that involves flaming cups of whiskey and a high probability of setting one’s self on fire. It’s a favorite feat for Bohrer, who says the process requires only a steady hand and a tolerance for, you know, being set on fire.

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Tags: Drinking Events, Drinking Events, Rob Roy, Holiday Drinking, Holiday 2011

DIY Spirits, Spring Hill’s Updated Happy Hour, and Beaujolais

Here’s where you should be drinking (and learning about drinking) in and around Seattle.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Nov 15, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Take a seat at the upstairs bar at Madison Park Conservatory and you’ll notice the banks of bottles containing all manner of house-made elixirs. They’re the work of Maggie Savarino, MPC’s manager, all-around spirits maven and now author of her own season-by-season guide to DIY cocktail projects. The delightfully feisty Savarino is teaching a class of the holiday spirits persuasion at Book Larder December 5. Be advised: grab your tickets now. The class costs just $15, and given Savarino’s local following it’s likely to fill up fast.

In addition to bringing back its Monday night fried chicken dinners, Spring Hill has changed up its happy hour. The discounted beer, wine and food action happens Tuesday through Saturday, from 5 to 6:30 in both bar and dining room. Draft beers (the classics from Georgetown Brewing) are $3.50, some wines by the glass are $6 and a selection of “tumbler drinks” go for $4. A nine-item happy hour food menu runs a tasty gamut from a $5 plate of beets with apples and bacon to a grilled bavette steak with blue cheese for $8. Also of interest: chef Mark Fuller’s chicken-fried veal sweetbreads and chicken liver pate with a whole wheat waffle.

Lest you forget, Thursday November 17 is the Fete de Beaujolais Nouveau, though “Beaujolais Day” also has a nice, rhyming ring to it. Here are a few spots where you can partake in the celebrating. And over on Nosh Pit we’ve listed a host of other delightful events, many of them similarly awash in booze.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Wine, Drinking Events, Spring Hill, Maggie Savarino

Where to Drink on Beaujolais Day

Sure, there’s Thanksgiving to think about. But there’s also wine to be had—fruity, tannin-light red wine from France.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 14, 2011 at 09:23AM 2 Comments

The Fete de Beaujolais Nouveau happens November 17.

Across the pond the third Thursday in November marks the Fete du Beaujolais Nouveau, a drinky celebration of the latest harvest of Gamay grapes. Here, local spots uncorking bottles of Beauj.

Beaujolais staple Cafe Campagne is touting five-buck pours, sure to go swimmingly with the noshes, saucisson en brioche. Starting at 3pm a five-spot also will get you a glass at downtown happy hour hotspot RN74. There 10 varietals will flow through the end of November.

Not far away at Le Pichet, Eli Rosenblatt takes the mic at 7 followed by the Djangomatics at 10. In between snack on a street food–inspired menu and house sausages. No cover and no reservations needed.

You’ll also find live music at Maximilien from 6 to 9. The band Rouge will perform on the restaurant’s splendid (and heated) patio, where the happy hour menu is available all night. Tickets are $5 ($19 if you add the wine sampler) and can be purchased on Brown Paper Tickets. Inside, a three-course dinner is on offer for $39, with seatings at 5:30 and 8:30.

At the charming Voila! Bistrot choose an appetizer, entree, and dessert as part of a special $39 menu, then sample the trio of Beaujolais wines.

Across the street Luc is planning a $30, three-course feast. Order a bottle of the Gamay juice for $40; by the glass it’s $12.

From 4:30 till 10, Bastille in Ballard is pouring a variety of vinos from producers the Gang of Four. A taste will cost you $3, a glass is $6. Or go big with the $20 carafe and wash it down with pig head terrine or chicken liver or rabbit pate.

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Tags: Drinking Events

David Nelson Behind the Stick at Tommy Gun

The Il Bistro barman makes an appearance there November 11. Are more to come?

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 08, 2011 at 09:58AM 0 Comments

Catch David Nelson at Tommy Gun this Friday.

David Nelson is currently running the show at Il Bistro in Pike Place Market, but before that he was mixing drinks at two Hill haunts: Still Liquor and Tavern Law. This Friday he’s hopping I-5 once again to get behind the stick at Tommy Gun.

The preternatural barman will guest at the Olive Way watering hole between 5 and 9. Will you be seeing his face there more often? “Gosh, I hope he’ll be back but we have don’t have anything formalized at this juncture,” says owner Erin Nestor. But she did add, “Frankly, we’d be delighted to host a guest bartender monthly.”

In other boozy Hill happenings, Cure is uncorking $12 bottles of cava on Sundays from 4 to 2am. Also for your sabbath consideration: two buck Tecates and half-price tequila shots at the aforementioned Tommy Gun starting at 5.

Oh, and fans of suds will want to block off November 12 for the Phinney Neighborhood Association Winter Beer Taste. It’s on Saturday, not Sunday.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Drinking Events, Tommy Gun

Seattle Cocktail Week: It’s Here!

The first-ever toast to our cocktail culture takes place October 27–30.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Oct 26, 2011 at 09:08AM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Finally! Seattle Cocktail Week occurs October 27–30.

The long overdue, four-day booze fest we’re calling Seattle Cocktail Week is finally upon us. It isn’t a seminar-and-demo–driven turbine like the one in Portland so much as a rallying of 80-some bars promising discounts, special menus, and booze-soaked shenanigans Thursday, October 27 through Sunday evening.

Anyone wanting to get in on the action should pick up a “passport” listing the participating bars, the specials they have planned, and sponsors, says Andrew Friedman, president of the Washington State Bartenders Guild. Establishments across town will have the 100-page booklet; the Guild, which organized Cocktail Week, is asking for a $2 donation. (Liberty on Capitol Hill—Friedman is a co-owner—is sure to have them.) [UPDATE 10/27: Here’s a list of bars stocking the guide.]

“What started off as a small ‘passport’ has turned into this book,” says Friedman, noting how enthusiasm for Cocktail Week has totally ballooned.

What kind of specials are we looking at? Liberty, for instance, will mix drinks with local brands on Thursday; the next night it hosts Portland barman Tommy Klus on behalf of Del Maguey Mezcal. You might consider hitting up Rob Roy on Thursday for Boobs, Booze, and Beignets. LUPEC Seattle organized the fundraiser for breast cancer research, and Where Ya At Matt is providing the eats.

Also, this sounds fun: Tan Vinh of The Seattle Times reports neighborhood bar crawls will take place Thursday–Saturday, with a closing night party at the Capitol Hill Barrio.

We’ll update you as we hear of more noteworthy events, but you can keep tabs on things via the Seattle Cocktail Week facebook page.

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Tags: Drinking Events, Seattle Cocktail Week

Cocktail Throwdown at Vito’s

Seattle slingers will go up against notables from across the state.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Oct 19, 2011 at 10:16AM 0 Comments

Photo: Andrew Waits

The throwdown goes down at Vito’s.

October 31 is, of course, Halloween, but it’s also shaping up to be a night of epic cocktailness.

Starting at 7:30 at Vito’s, several of Seattle’s finest drink slingers will face off against notable barmen from other parts of the state. The event: Bartenders on Fire!

Repping Seattle is Jay Kuehner of Sambar, Vessel’s Jim Romdall, and Keith Waldbauer of Liberty. They’ll take on Chris Kell of 1022 South in Tacoma, Gabe Pimental of Waitsburg’s Jimgermanbar, and Dave Shenaut—he tends at the Rum Club in Portland but lives in that hamlet across the Columbia (Vancouver). It’s a team challenge, and entrants will mix with Novo Fogo Cachaca as well as “secret ingredients” then present the results to a panel of judges.

Reservations are recommended, call 206-397-4053. Costumes are optional.

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Tags: Drinking Events

Upcoming Drinking Events: Ginger Bliss release party; Mezcaleria Oaxaca Opens

Plus: Boozing it up at Pike Place Market, oyster HH returns to Whole Foods.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Oct 03, 2011 at 09:23AM 0 Comments

This Saturday, celebrate the release of a new collection of cocktail recipes from Seattle author A.J. Rathbun.

Bargain oysters = happy times. On Tuesday, October 4, Whole Foods Westlake reintroduces oyster happy hour; from 6 to 8pm the slippery suckers are just 69 cents a piece. (Oh and lookie here, on Wednesdays it’s 50 cent wings.)

Thursday: Long-awaited Capitol Hill distillery and tasting room Oola throws itself an opening party, your chance to check out its vodka and gin and get a look at the Graham Baba-designed tasting room.

Pike Place Market hosts Arcade Nights on Friday the 7th. The $25 admission is purchasable at Brown Paper Tickets. For that you receive 10 tokens, each good for a beverage or snack. It’s 21 and over, drinks on offer include wine, beer, and hard cider.

A mezcal collection AND food from the Carta de Oaxaca folks? That’s more than a little exciting. Saturday, October 8 is opening night at Mezcaleria Oaxaca at 2123 Queen Anne Avenue N. You never know what Seattleites are going to show up for, but if the consistently clusterfucky crowd situation at Carta is any indication, you’ll want to arrive early.

Also on Saturday: Rob Roy celebrates the release of Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, the new cocktail book from local writer A.J. Rathbun. Meet the author, buy a book, and sample some of the cocktail recipes between 2 and 4pm at the Belltown bar.

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Tags: Cocktails, Seattle Bars, Books & Authors, Whole Foods, Mezcal, Oysters, Drinking Events, Queen Anne, Cocktail Recipes, Belltown, Books About Drinking

Upcoming Drinking Events: PBR Art Mobile, Oktoberfest on Whidbey Island

Also: October 8 is the date to celebrate a new cocktail book from prolific local A. J. Rathbun.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 26, 2011 at 02:24PM 0 Comments

The town of Langley celebrates Oktoberfest on the first.

Photo: Gonorthwest.com

To begin, a save the date. Local cocktail writer A. J. Rathbun has a new coming book out called Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz: A Cocktail Lover’s Guide to Mixing Drinks Using New and Classic Liqueurs, the release date is October 4. On Saturday, October 8 from 2 to 4pm, Rob Roy will host a celebratory event featuring cocktails from the book. Rob Roy’s Andrew Bohrer will mix drinks.

On to the week at hand:

Wednesday is the Craft Beer and Wine wingding over at the Yacht Club on Fairview Avenue, but that event appears to have sold out. Instead, you could go to Full Throttle Bottles to taste Yoho Beers from Japan. Yeah, not quite the same. Sorry about that. But still, Yoho!

The Pabst Blue Ribbon Art Mobile, a promotion on wheels that aims to take advantage of the beer brand’s self-consciously lowbrow hipster customer base, rolls into town this Thursday, September 29. There’s more information on this website.

Saturday, October 1 head to Whidbey Island for Langley’s Otoberfest, featuring beer, brats, games, and pretty views of water. Oh and hey, here are some more out-of-town Oktoberfests from the Tripster blog.

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Tags: Drinking Events, Outdoor Drinking, Oktoberfest

Upcoming Drinking Events: Oktoberfests; Liquor Law Happy Hour with Steve Scher; Two Beers, Traffic, and a Pretzel for $10.

Lots of booze-enhanced events over the next seven days.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 16, 2011 at 01:54PM 0 Comments

Watch badass Benicio whilst drinking beer at Lot No 3 tonight, beginning at 10pm.

Hey Bellevue, how many beers can you drink in 122 minutes? That’s the running time of Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, the film on the docket this week at Lot No 3 in Bellevue. The whiskey-and-beer bar offers up a film along with a late-night snacking menu each Monday. Two beers and a soft pretzel will run you $10. One beer and a slider is $6.

Wednesday the 21st brings us a Think and Drink happy hour at Naked City in Greenwood. The topic is liquor laws—upon which we will once again be voting this November. His Abruptness Steve Scher, host of KUOW’s Weekday, moderates; William Rorabaugh, UW prof and author of The Alcoholic Republic will also be weighing in, as will bowtie-donning Pike Brewing founder Charles Finkel. This event is free.

Friday, October 23 through Sunday the 25th, catch a beer buzz in the center of the universe at Fremont’s always-sloshy Oktoberfest. Speaking of Ocktoberfest, Beveridge Place Pub. is making like Munich by serving Spaten, Paulaner, and Hofbrau in one liter mugs through October 3.

Also on the 23rd: the bar at Ponti Seafood Grill will be mixing up the hot-and-boozy variety of beverage at a $2 discount. The deal is available only in the lounge.

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Tags: Bellevue, West Seattle, Drinking Events, Drinking Events, Liquor Laws, Oktoberfest

Seattle’s “Good Bootlegger” Featured in Prohibition.

Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick became fascinated with a local outlaw.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 03, 2011 at 08:05AM 0 Comments

The baby lieutenant

Roy Olmstead was a Seattle policeman turned hooch smuggler who was known locally as “the good bootlegger.” Lynn Novick—Ken Burns’s collaborator on the upcoming PBS doc Prohibition—has a thing for Olmstead.

“I found his story fascinating, partly because it goes so much against the grain of what we think of when we think of bootleggers,” said Novick on Tuesday afternoon. “He went about this unsavory business with a great deal of honor.”

Novick and Burns were in town with their third collaborator on the project, Daniel Okrent, author of 2010’s already-definitive history of the era, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. They had just come from an indepth talk at MOHAI; later that evening they would screen clips of the film at Intiman Theatre.

Olmstead was a precocious cop, promoted to lieutenant at an early age. (“The baby lieutenant” was his other nickname.) When Washington started enforcing the dry laws in 1916, the police were charged with cracking down on illicit sales. The bootleggers tended to be disorganized and sloppy, and this did not escape Olmstead’s attention. When the 18th Amendment went into effect in 1920, he went into the bootlegging business for himself, smuggling booze from Canada into King County. Much of the police force and local government was on the take, and Olmstead made a fortune.

Olmstead was arrested several times during his bootlegging career, but he was a well-loved figure in Seattle. Historylink has a great essay detailing his story, but it really comes alive when you watch Prohibition, which includes fascinating interviews with a local man whose father worked for Olmstead.

Burns and Novick spent time in Seattle during production, shooting water scenes and poring through the local archives. Both said they developed a crush not just on the Olmstead story, but on Seattle itself. When they visit, said Burns, “We think: why don’t we live here?” Part of their affection comes from the fact that Seattleites treat documentary filmmakers the way other cities do pop stars—last night’s event at Intiman, which included a reception with a jazz band and vintage cocktails, was sold out, and a not-small portion of the crowd came dressed in 1920s garb—flapper dresses, feather boas, suspenders—in homage to the film.

Prohibition airs October 2,3, and 4 on PBS.

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Tags: Drinking Events, Drinking Culture, Seattle Drinking Scene, Seattle History

Upcoming Drinking Events: Outdoor movies with Booze, New Belgium in Georgetown, Wines Under $10

Plus: An outdoor concert and a biochemistry lesson in a pub.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 25, 2011 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

This is your wake up call: King’s Hardware screens the great Point Break.

Photo: IMDB

“That’s Bodhi. They call him the Bodhisattva.”

“You’re sayin’ the FBI’s gonna pay me to learn to surf?”

“Found one of your passports to Sumatra, I missed you by about a week in Fiji. But, I knew you wouldn’t miss the fifty year storm, Bodhi.”

Kathryn Bigelow’s eternally quotable Point Break will be screened tonight, Monday, July 25, on the deck at King’s Hardware. Free popcorn, cheap wings, and drink specials are part of the package. Get there around nine.

Also tonight, nerd alert: Science on Tap (drink beer, talk about science) has invited UW biochemist Dana L. Miller to discuss genes and the environment. That starts at 7pm at the Pub at Third Place in Ravenna.

Wednesday, Full Throttle Bottles is tasting through New Belgium Brewing’s delectable brewskies. The tasting costs $3 ($2 if you bring your own reusable container). That’s from 5 to 7pm.

Outdoor film fans who always enjoy a beer should head to the South Lake Union Discovery Center this Friday, July 29 to watch Kick-Ass. The Brave Horse Tavern will set up a beer garden with brews and food. See the event website for details.

From 1 to 4pm on Saturday, July 30, the Whiskey Gaels Celtic Band will perform on the lawn at Soft Tail Spirits’ new tasting room in Woodinville. Wines from Challenger Ridge and Patit Creek will be on offer, as will Soft Tail products. Bring your own lawn chair, picnic blanket, etc.

Also on Saturday: Esquin is doing a tasting of suggested wines under $10; it lasts from 2 to 5pm. If you can’t make it, check out Sauced’s own list of under $10 recs from Esquin’s Jameson Fink.

Bonus: Here’s a full list of outdoor movies in Seattle this summer. Fair warning: they don’t all serve beer.

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Tags: Beer, Drinking Events, Ballard, Outdoor Drinking, Drinking Culture, Outdoor Movies