Sauced Blog

Imbibing Agenda

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 Speech Bubble 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

Behind the Bar

Five Questions for the Bartender: Ricardo Hoffman at Zig Zag

A rising star behind the bar who likes mezcal, Old Fashioneds, and customers who don’t dismantle toilets.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 14, 2011 at 09:13AM Speech Bubble 2 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Ricardo Hoffman at the Zig Zag Cafe. Click on the slideshow to watch him make a Dry Bitter Tequila: Reposado tequila, Cynar, chocolate bitters, and dry vermouth.

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Ricardo Hoffman worked his way up. He was a busboy at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar when the restaurant’s parent company, Heavy Restaurant Group, opened Barrio, the cocktail-driven Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill. He started there as a barback.

“After six months of hard work and relentless harassment of the bar staff and managers, they gave me the opportunity to prove myself as a bartender,” says Hoffman. He quickly became a known entity in the neighborhood, then moved on to Sun Liquor (the first one, on Summit Avenue) about a year ago. There, he became an even better-known entity.

A particularly prescient person once described an experience with Hoffman at Sun this way: “He could be the next Murray.” Prescient, because in May Hoffman was hired on at Zig Zag—he came aboard after Murray Stenson left. Hoffman currently works the service well at our city’s most storied cocktail bar.

Here, five questions for Ricardo Hoffman.

What is the most underrated spirit?

Mezcal, for mixing or just sipping on its own. It’s much more refined than most people give it credit for.

What’s your favorite Seattle bar (other than Zig Zag)?

Hands down, my favorite bar is Sun Liquor. Any drink you order—a beer, a shot, a fancy cocktail—is well made and served with genuine service. It’s a quintessential neighborhood bar.

What drink do you order at the bar?

I usually order the bartender’s choice variation on an Old Fashioned. It’s interesting to see how it varies in style with each bartender.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen someone do in a bar?

The weirdest thing I’ve experienced was dealing with an adult who had a temper-tantrum and dismantled the toilet and tore apart the bathroom.

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

It’s clean and beautiful, there is great hiking all the way around, and it’s a foodie city with exceptional restaurants and fantastic bars.

Find Ricardo Hoffman at Zig Zag Tuesday through Thursday and again on Saturdays. If I were you, I’d ask for something with tequila in it.

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Tags: Five Questions for the Bartender, Seattle Bartenders, Tequila, Mezcal, Zig Zag Cafe

Behind the bar

Five Questions for the Bartender: Mark Sexauer

The man behind the bar at Barrio Bellevue likes Mezcal, hoppy beer, and Sun Liquor.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 12, 2010 at 03:31PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Mark Sexauer: blogger, bartender, parent.

No, Mark Sexaueur’s favorite cocktail is not a Sexauer On the Beach. So don’t even try it, because there’s no way he hasn’t heard that joke before.

In between blogging about cocktails and parenting that adorable little person in this photo, Sexauer serves up stellar cocktails at Barrio Bellevue. He can also teach you a thing or two about tequila.

Here, five questions with Mark Sexauer.

What is the most underrated spirit?

It’s easily Mezcal. Mezcal is stereotyped as being of low quality, and bad marketing (like the “worm” in the bottom of the bottle—it’s not actually a worm, it’s a moth larva) has only polished its reputation as a spirit that your buddies dare you to order in shot form.

From heavily smoky barrel-aged Mezcals to unaged light, vegetal mezcals, it is one of my favorite spirits to mix with. Mezcal is quickly gaining interest on both sides of the bar; watch as many more arrive on the market in the coming years.

What is your favorite Seattle bar?

This is really, really hard, but I think my favorite bar—and the one that is closest to a bar I would want to own—is Sun Liquor on Capitol Hill.

What drink do you order at the bar?

I usually order a nice hoppy beer and/or tequila to sip.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen in a bar?

I’ve seen lots of stupid things, but the worst may have been when some guy passed out ON TOP OF the fence surrounding the smoking section of this bar where I worked. He was trying to climb it, I guess? We had a hard time pulling him down and eventually he woke up. It looked pretty painful….How do you fall asleep over a fence?

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

People eat well and drink well here, and there are a ton of places in which to do both.

I’m all about driving west and seeing the Sound and then eventually the ocean, or driving east and hitting the Cascades.

The neighborhoods. I love the different offerings and vibes from all the little (and big) neighborhoods around the city.

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Tags: Bellevue, Five Questions for the Bartender, Seattle Bartenders, Mezcal

Edgar Martinez Enters the Booze Biz

On June 22, the Mariners alum will sign bottles of El Zacatecano, his new line of mezcals.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 16, 2010 at 12:01PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

There has been a weird amount of sports-related stuff on Sauced recently, what with the World Cup and everything.

Now this: Erstwhile Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez has entered the booze biz with a line of Mezcals called El Zacatecano. There is a Blanco, Reposado, and an Añejo, all three are listed in Washington liquor stores. Unlike traditional Oaxacan mezcals, Martinez’s will not have a pickled worm at the bottom of the bottle.

Yes, Edgar Martinez has a line of mezcals. Go with it. And if you like where it takes you, take yourself to the liquor store in SoDo (2960 4th Ave S) on Tuesday, June 22 when the one-time baseball star will be signing bottles from 4 to 6pm. (He’s also scheduled to make appearances at SafeCo field, more on that here.)

Mezcal, by the way, is a traditional Mexican spirit made from agave, like tequila. Tequila and mezcal are different in two important ways:

1. Prior to distillation, agave used to make tequila is steam-cooked until the starch turns into sugar. The plant base for mezcal, however, is cooked over charcoal. As a result, mezcal has a smoky flavor you won’t find with tequila.

2. Tequila can only be made from one species of agave and has to be made in the state of Jalisco. Mezcal is from Oaxaca and it can be made from various types of agave.

Edgar Martinez is from Puerto Rico.

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Tags: Booze News, Mezcal