13 cocktails to try in Tucson
- Updated
It's gotta be 5 o'clock somewhere, right?
Some afternoons are meant for emails. And some afternoons — our favorite afternoons — are meant for crispy strips of flatbread and tequila infused with looseleaf tea.
One of our favorite afternoons is spent at Renee’s Organic Oven.
Happy hour at Renee’s means $6 cocktails and discounted bar bites, like the black-bean tostada with buttery avocado and organic greens, or the hummus platter with a loaf of hot, garlicky flatbread straight from the oven in the back.
The intimate pizza cafe is an east-side hub for vegetarians and conscious eaters, but it also boasts a colorful cocktail list crafted by owner Renee Kreager. (The brunch drink AM Rx, which recently caught my Facebook attention, features mole bitters and locally-roasted Yellow Brick Coffee.)
After a summery Tucson afternoon I was in the mood for something lighter, so chose the Miel de Vida, a punchy cocktail with an unexpected ingredient: black cherry. The tart juice imparts a lush mulberry purple to the liquid, which froths at top after a quick shake.
The Honey of Life, as it translates, features two distinct honey ingredients: First, Kreager infuses reposado tequila with dried honeybush tea leaves from the Cape of South Africa. Sourced by midtown’s Maya Tea company, the honey-scented tea lends a sweet, smoky undertone to the drink. Second, after the drink is poured onto large blocks of ice, the server rims the glass with real honey, and then sticks on sugar and ground chiltepin chiles.
When you sip, the peppers leave a tingle on your lips, making the fruity vanilla juice a pleasant release. It’s hot, but not overpowering. The sprinkle of chile is just enough to spice up your afternoon.
Next time you find yourself on the breezy patio at Café Passé surrounded by mesquite and other desert plants, take a deep breath and skip the coffee.
You’re gonna want to try this ... In addition to its regular espressos and mochas, the North Fourth Avenue coffee shop pours a fermented kombucha that’s brewed in the commercial kitchen at the Mercado San Agustin, and brought over on a bicycle.
Weird, you say, “I don’t like kombucha.”
Well, until I tried this drink, neither did I! But watching the sunset, drinking this fruity fermented tea that’s been laced with a shot of gin and sweetened with berries ... it was really wonderful.
Café Passé usually carries two varieties of the Black Mountain Spring Fermentery kombucha: an apple ginger oolong and a second rotating variety, often a mixed berry. (You can order it in a cocktail, or drink it by itself.)
To create many of his kombuchas, brewer Brenden Shultz starts with oolong tea from a young farmer in China, brought in by local teahouse Seven Cups. He uses a variety of cultures in his fermentations, including those also used in Mexican tepache liqueur and saison farmhouse ale.
Shultz — a musician and performance artist who grew up on a small farm in New Hampshire and came to Tucson after touring through Europe — is very into his water. For the best quality, he brings in spring water from the San Francisco Peaks watershed outside of Flagstaff. When the water comes up from the ground, it’s “a moment of levitation,” he says.
Spritzy sweet and herbaceous from the gin, the drink is a true springtime treat. It doesn’t have an official name, but Café Passé barista Kate Roberts calls it the Healthy Helga. As far as its nutritional properties, the jury’s out. But I do know one thing: It definitely made me feel good.
In the mood for something familiar? Why not try a big glass of iced chicken soup?
The recipe is simple: 2 ounces Canadian whisky, a half-ounce “bouilla” spiced chicken broth, rosemary simple syrup, lemon juice and egg white. Shake twice, pour into a long-stemmed glass and top with bitters. Voilà! You’ve got the “Broyled Chicken.” Drink up, before it gets warm!
Or, if you like, you can just order a whiskey sour. The small team of bartenders at Sidecar, 139 S. Eastbourne Ave., will shake up just about anything to make you feel at home. In addition to the chicken cocktail on the weekly special menu, they’ve got a fun list of classic drinks spruced up with trendy ingredients like cordials, flavored bitters and all manner of shrubs.
Co-owned by Ari Shapiro of Sparkroot, the intimate spot behind Falora Pizza takes the old standards and turns them on their heads. Menu items include a dark and stormy cocktail with Amer liqueur and house-salted lime cordial, and the Rye Hanky Panky with cardamom-infused rye and mole bitters. The trio of bartenders — Sean McEvoy, Niccy Brodhurst and Theo Goodhart — focus on fresh ingredients and limit the refined sugar.
My Julep Ryelle was not nearly as sweet as one would expect when looking at a giant snow cone. Despite having a rye whiskey base, the playful take on the mint julep is light and fresh from the muddled mint. A wonderful dry sherry softens some of the stronger flavors from the whiskey and lemon cordial, and adds a hint of grape. After it’s stirred, the bartender packs a handful of nugget ice onto the top, and then pours over a spritzy malvasia wine.
Sitting on my barstool listening to jazz and staring at a faux-brick wall made from rectangular cuts of leather, I didn’t exactly feel like I was at the Kentucky Derby. Apparently this place gets packed on the weekends and becomes standing room only. For those who don’t want to wait — a craft cocktail can take several minutes to create — there’s also a small beer selection.
To drink or not to drink? Well, let’s see … Is your choice liquor A) cardamom-infused blended Scotch garnished with a fennel sprinkle, or B) Bud Light.
Do you feel claustrophobic in underground spaces? When is the last time you’ve sipped Wonder Bread?
Oh, stop thinking about it and just do it already! Enter through the beer garden at Reilly Craft Pizza & Drink, proceed down the desolate concrete staircase and turn left at the bathroom. You are now in the Tough Luck Club, a rowdy speakeasy-style bar in a former mortuary storage room.
Long and thin with sleek black booths lining a wall of exposed volcanic rock, the bar is devastatingly, almost uncomfortably hip. (My barmate said it reminded her of a secret episode of “Portlandia.”) Bartenders wearing aprons and baseball caps shake up cocktails with irreverent names like Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, Divers do it Deeper and The Brooklyn Vegan with hemp-infused pisco.
Some drinks seem like experiments — the Sound of Silence a.k.a. “milquetoast” was so dry and sour you could barely taste the Wonder Bread infused in the gin — but others are revelations.
The Nanu-Nanu was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. (Almost alien?)
First, it contains red curry powder, and four egg yolks. The frothy yellow highball is built off a grape brandy that’s been infused with blanched and roasted peanuts, which are later used as a garnish on top. Sour citrus juice and punchy ginger syrup cut through the heaviness, leaving you a complex, spicy dinner entrée of a drink.
Bar manager Niklas Morris says it’s an homage to Robin Williams, and references his performance in “Good Morning, Vietnam.” The cocktail is also a riff on the tiki drink the Suffering Bastard, and in the words of my friend: “It tastes like curry with alcohol in it.”
Not your thing? You can still have a drink, well actually two. For $4, you can get the “special”: a shot of corn whiskey and a can of Coors. This is in remembrance of the swampy hipster hangout The District Tavern on Congress Street, which wooed us all with its old pool tables and jukebox that seemed to go unchanged since 1997. The District closed last month.
Haven’t been to the Good Oak yet? I beg to differ.
The Good Oak is where we all live. As the theory goes, the state of Arizona takes its name from the Basque word meaning “the good oak tree,” after a Spanish ranch nestled in the oak woodlands southwest of Tumacácori.
But the Good Oak is also an incredible cocktail bar, and if you haven’t yet stepped inside its downtown walls, I suggest you make the trip.
Serving nothing but beer and wine from across Arizona, the staff creates all manner of earthly delights: wine snow cones, “bitter beers” spiked with lemon and Angostura, a spicy porter mixed with orange peel, chai tea and chiltepin peppers and cold-brewed in a French press.
With a license for only wine and beer, the folks at Good Oak Bar get creative. Bar Manager Kassie Killebrew, a New Orleans native who has been living in Arizona for the past eight years, draws her inspiration from what’s in season.
When friend and local honey producer Noel Patterson brought over a case of tart calamondin citrus fruits that he picked at the University of Arizona campus, Killebrew used them as the base in her chilled wine cocktail, Respect Your Elders.
Killebrew calls it a “community cocktail.” First, she muddles the tangy little “acid orange,” skin and all, with a few sprigs of local basil, making sure to release the oils from the herb without bruising it.
Other ingredients she throws in: Sauvignon Blanc from Zarpara Vineyards in Willcox, Austrian elder syrup brought in by Patterson (he also works for a distribution company), vibrant blood orange juice from McClendon’s Select farm in Peoria, housemade blueberry zin shrub from Page Springs Cellars.
This sounds like a powerhouse, but the cocktail is actually quite gentle. With a delicate aroma of citrus and flowers, the white wine tastes fresh and light, like something you’d drink on a Sonoma patio in the springtime.
It’s definitely fruity but not overly so, with a creaminess imparted from the elder syrup, and a nice balance of sweet blueberry and tart orange.
Killebrew then skewers an extra calamondin on the top, which you can use to stir the cocktail if you like.
As the last sip lingered on my palate, I took the little ball and peeled it back, eating its snappy sweet skin first, then the explosive fruit which ruptured in my mouth, filling the whole bar area with the smell of an orange grove. An abrupt change, but it felt, somehow fitting.
Let’s just imagine — stay with me here — you’re at Guadalajara Grill, and you were so distracted by the mariachi guitar that you forgot to tell the tableside salsa lady to make yours freakishly spicy. (Yeah right, like that would ever happen.) Well, here’s a solution! Get the chiles in your margarita.
The Jalapeño Margarita at Guadalajara Original Grill, 1220 E. Prince Road, will satisfy even the fiercest craving for capsicum. It’s a gut-punch of fiery jalapeño-infused tequila, lightened up with a little orange juice and some fresh cilantro. The zesty tang of the lime hits you first, followed by that familiar slow burn we all live for.
And at $8 for a 16-ounce goblet, this is something you can feel good about. It’s no secret that the north- side Mexican restaurant has some of the best drink deals in town. During happy hour from 3-6 p.m. weekdays and 10 p.m.-close Friday and Saturday nights, house margaritas are only $3. (The house is practically the same, sin jalapeño.)
Bartender Noah Gustafson makes his margarita mix by the 5-gallon jug, and on a busy night he can easily go through nine of them. He likens it to a “margarita factory,” where there’s a little something for everyone: fruity margaritas sweetened with prickly pear puree, stiff Margatinis, 30-plus tequilas and a cylindrical three-layered frozen concoction called the Bandera.
For the jalapeño drink, Gustafson takes a bottle of Zapopan reposado tequila and fills it with cilantro and sliced peppers. After about three days, the infusion is complete and it’s ready to drink. (If you’re brave enough.) I found the burning sensation a perfect complement to the plump tomato salsa, which seemed almost sweet by comparison.
It definitely got me warmed up for that steaming molcajete stone bowl, with shrimp so hot they sear your fingers as you struggle to get the tails off. But oh, they taste so wonderful when they go down. Well, the first one does at least, before it burns your tongue ...
Does anyone remember the days when the fanciest drink you could get at Wilko was an Izze sparkling grapefruit soda? It’s only been five years, but it seems like ages ago that the owners tossed out the grab-and-go salads, shaded the windows on the beverage case and turned this campus-area market into a sleek, gourmet restaurant.
And my, how far they’ve come. Today, Wilko boasts one of the city’s most creative cocktail selections. Open the paper menu adorned with whimsical illustrations of each drink, and you’ll find creations like the Oh Hi Yo with ancho and cinnamon tincture, as well as a drink called the Rockingbird that’s sweetened with maple syrup smoked with aromatic Peruvian wood. (Did we mention Wilko has an absinthe frappe?)
The Penguin Suit, $10, is built around orgeat, a rustic French almond milk that’s most commonly seen in the famous tiki drink, the Mai Tai. Bar manager Sara Holcombe makes her own in the sous-vide machine, cooking down almond milk, brandy, orange flower water and salt. According to beverage director Lucas Anable, the end result “tastes like liquid marzipan.”
But the drink is spirit heavy, with five different liquors that all add a distinct quality: A smoky Laphroaig Scotch is a natural companion to absinthe, Lucas said, elevating the warming medicinal properties of the anise and giving the drink a wintery roasted flavor. Cachaça, a Brazilian sugar cane distillate brings in some fruitiness, along with the blanc vermouth. After the liquors are stirred together with the orgeat and a salted lemon cordial, the mixture takes on a wonderful soft, pearly white color. Sara then floats a darker black strap rum on the top, creating a layered effect that reminded me of the sunrise.
The intent is to make a sort of reverse-cocktail: At first, you’re hit by the smoke, and the aromas of baking spices from the rum. But underneath, there’s this incredible fruity almond flavor that shines through, almost unexpectedly. Kind of like wearing penguin suit with a Hawaiian shirt underneath: It's winter on the outside, and a party within!
A nature-lover, are you? So your evening hikes along the Rillito River Park Trail consist of sitting at a barstool drinking tequila, while the man next to you pulls up pictures of plants on his cell phone ...
You must have gotten into Reforma. The lively Mexico City-style restaurant in the former home of Vivace, 4310 N. Campbell Ave., hosts what’s probably Tucson’s best collection of agave-based spirits: 260-plus tequilas, mezcals, sotols and the only Bacanora you can bring into the United States.
Co-owner Grant Krueger has cultivated a library of the plant’s many expressions, displayed high up on the walls in compartments only reached by ladder.
While you’re at Reforma, expect to be educated. Browsing through the scrollable iPad menu, I wondered aloud about the Sonoran specialty Bacanora. That launched the bartender and the patron to my right, sipping his tequila like a fine Scotch, into stories about Mexican moonshine and how the “desert spoon” used in sotol differs from blue agave in tequila.
This can be a little intimidating, so I wouldn’t blame you if you stick to a standby like Patron, or spring for a cocktail instead.
The smart list contains a number of hybrids like the Maestro Gentry: an Oaxacan old fashioned that features both tequila and Del Maguey mezcal, and tastes like smoky candy. (It’s named after an authority on agave, Howard S. Gentry.)
I tried the Vocho Verde, which isn’t made from agave at all but from pisco, a clear grape brandy distilled in the deserts of Peru. Usually the liquor is slapped into a foamy sweet pisco sour, its grape flavor heavy like a fruit pop. But shimmering in the martini glass, the herbal pisco tasted almost like gin, lightly muddled with fresh cucumber and mixed with lime and vibrant Green Chartreuse. A thin sliver of cucumber floated on top displaying its delicate seeds, like a lily flower.
The man next to me didn’t seem to approve. He drinks his liquor neat, savoring the intricacies of the base spirit and the way the humble succulent transforms itself into something so complex: a golden, divine liquid. Since their bottle of Cielo Rojo Bacanora was almost gone, the bartender brought out the remaining half shot for me to try on the house. It was incredibly smoky and rich, almost like molasses, with a smoothness that reminded me of great sake. It was like nothing I’ve ever tasted ... and I want it again.
On a weekday night at, say about 11 p.m., you may find yourself at Proper drinking a shrub. Don’t spit it out! It’s good for you, and by now you’ve surely noticed, it’s also delicious.
A shrub at Proper, 300 E. Congress St., doesn’t mean the plant. It’s actually a potent, fruity drinking vinegar, used in cultures throughout the world as everything from a refreshment to a medicinal tonic, and has become incredibly trendy on the bar scene. Proper’s version — made by blending figs with apple cider vinegar — adds that special tangy element to their rye drink, the Figgy Stardust.
So drink up, because there’s another syrup you need to try, one you may become plumb crazy for: deep, fruity plum bitters from the New York-based Fee Brothers. A dash of this stuff adds a special something to Proper’s Champagne cocktail, The Morrigan.
Orchid pink and delightfully effervescent in its highball glass, the cocktail would be perfect in the afternoon. But it’s also an excellent prelude to your late-night bocadillo. In addition to the plum bitters, bartender Chelsea Carter adds a housemade blackberry cordial spiked with ginger and star anise. The Cruzan light rum barely peeps out its head, leaving the drink delicate and floral, with just enough fruitiness to keep you coming back.
It’s named after its color: The vivid, purple-pink hue reminded General Manager Kim Bower of Morrigan, the Celtic warrior goddess. Also known as the “phantom queen,” Morrigan often takes the form of a raven, and symbolizes a number of concepts including war, fertility and death. She is alluring, almost dangerously beautiful.
But beware, she’s more powerful than you think.
On a recent Monday night, the downtown hideaway Scott and Co. was packed to the rafters with people singing songs between their spirits, while the lone bartender furiously pounded out mesquite bean Tucson Teas aromatic with creosote tincture, sour bacanora cocktails and orders of the Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.
I’ve never seen it that busy, and honestly, I’m still not sure how he did it. At Scott and Co., 49 N. Scott Ave., every drink is meticulously crafted, from the geometric etching on the lime garnish down to the arugula tincture. And all, distinctly Tucson.
Case in point: La Pequeña Sucia, a ruby red drink that tastes almost like watermelon raspados. But it’s got a kick: tequila, and to give it a backbone, unaged Nuestra Soledad mezcal from Oaxaca, Mexico.
And like any great raspado, there’s the chamoy, that addicting salty sweet condiment made from fermented fruit that you can buy in little bottles at any Mexican market. This fiery sauce could be overpowering, but bartender Matt Martinez evens out the savoriness by adding Italian Zucca amaro, an herbal liqueur that’s actually made with rhubarb. And not to be outdone, there’s also a dash of absinthe.
La Pequeña Sucia may be the fruitiest drink on the menu, but it’s incredibly complex, possibly brilliant. The fresh house-made watermelon syrup shines from beneath a symphony of smoke and spice, making it light and drinkable. Martinez wanted to evoke the flavors of the south side, the feeling of riding the bus after school down to the Mexican candy shop. Being a boy, watching the girls with their sandia suckers.
But of course, we’re adults now. And that is even more fun. ...
Nothing says the word “man” better than drinking a good, heavy stout in the wintertime. But what if that stout is served in a coupe glass and topped with creamy pink foam?
Well, that would be “Man on a Bearskin Rug.” The beer-based cocktail is still masculine, but in a retro, Burt Reynolds ladykiller sort of way. In other words, it’s the perfect drink for someone sitting at the newish R Bar downtown, watching live concert videos from the 1970s projected onto a wall.
The Rialto Theatre’s hip alleyway cocktail lounge, 350 E. Congress St., has taken the reins of the dear-departed Red Room at Grill. For one, the bar is literally red. With its vinyl DJ night and saucy cocktail list served till the late hours of the morning, R Bar has attracted critical mass of Tucson hipsters.
Its Man on a Bearskin Rug is funkier than you’d think — almost fruity. The silky oatmeal stout from Ninkasi brewery in Oregon is freshened up with a dose of 7 ½-year-old apple brandy, earthy Italian Carpano Antica vermouth, and a house-made grenadine made from pomegranate juice and turbinado sugar. A nice dash of Angostura bitters also lends an herbaceous note, making the drink so complex my friend said it reminded her of a special brand of vintage French cologne. (But, I’m sure, with better flavor …)
After the boozy base is shaken, the bartender pours the stout on top, making sure to get a good head on the beer to activate the foam. Although I couldn’t really see it in the low-lit room, the bartender told me it mixes with the other ingredients and forms pinkish rings, almost like a bulls-eye.
Let’s just say, a couple of these is infinitely more fun than winning a game of darts. …
Let’s get this straight: I came for the bacon-wrapped frog legs, the Andouille sausage gumbo and the adobo pork “bunhugger.” Not for the cocktail list. The last thing I expected to find at The Parish, the north side’s gourmet Southern restaurant and gastropub, was a Caribbean version of the Moscow mule.
But holy moly, is this one somethin’! The drink takes its cues from one of the darlings of the Tucson cocktail scene of late, a gingery vodka mix with closer origins than its name suggests. (The story goes that the Moscow Mule was invented in Los Angeles as a ploy to get Americans to drink more vodka.) But interestingly, Parish’s version is not made with vodka, but with rum.
The restaurant, 6453 N. Oracle Road, really gets into its infusions: To give the rum that extra something, it adds whole vanilla beans and sliced ginger that’s been steeped in hot water to enhance its flavor. A few days later, once the ingredients have married, the vanilla-ginger rum becomes a base for the Caribbean Mule, $8.
The rum goes down surprisingly smooth, stirred in with the tangy lime juice and bubbly Gosling’s ginger beer. Instead of simple syrup, the bartender sweetens the drink up with some Luxardo maraschino liqueur, lending a pleasing hint of cherries into the mix.
Before the drink comes to your table, it’s also literally set on fire. The bartender ignites a lime slice on the top with a spray mixture of bitters and Bacardi 151, letting the natural oils seep out from the peel to give the drink an assertive citrusy flavor.
But of course, the drink is nothing without that iconic copper mug, in this case, amusingly provided by the Russian vodka distributor. As Shakespeare said, “all’s well that ends well.”
When you find yourself in the new downtown, why not try something Old Fashioned? Slip into the bar at Hub and order a stiff, whiskey drink.
The late-night hot spot at 266 E. Congress St. mixes up a version that’ll really knock your stockings off. It’s called the Old Pueblo, and wow, is it boozy. The recipe is sort of a cross between an Old Fashioned and a Manhattan, with a good dose of whiskey and sweet vermouth lightened up with some spritzy club soda.
The cocktail would be overpowering if not for the citrus: The bartender uses the flesh and peel of an entire orange slice when muddling, and then tosses in a dash of orange bitters to boot. His other not-so-secret ingredient is a griotte, a brandied sour cherry from France that has been soaked in Scotch to give it a smoky undertone, reminiscent of creosote.
The simple, potent drink is a far cry from some of the tincture-laced Sazeracs and whimsical wine slushies found around downtown these days. But hey, this is still the Old Pueblo, right?
Some afternoons are meant for emails. And some afternoons — our favorite afternoons — are meant for crispy strips of flatbread and tequila infused with looseleaf tea.
One of our favorite afternoons is spent at Renee’s Organic Oven.
Happy hour at Renee’s means $6 cocktails and discounted bar bites, like the black-bean tostada with buttery avocado and organic greens, or the hummus platter with a loaf of hot, garlicky flatbread straight from the oven in the back.
The intimate pizza cafe is an east-side hub for vegetarians and conscious eaters, but it also boasts a colorful cocktail list crafted by owner Renee Kreager. (The brunch drink AM Rx, which recently caught my Facebook attention, features mole bitters and locally-roasted Yellow Brick Coffee.)
After a summery Tucson afternoon I was in the mood for something lighter, so chose the Miel de Vida, a punchy cocktail with an unexpected ingredient: black cherry. The tart juice imparts a lush mulberry purple to the liquid, which froths at top after a quick shake.
The Honey of Life, as it translates, features two distinct honey ingredients: First, Kreager infuses reposado tequila with dried honeybush tea leaves from the Cape of South Africa. Sourced by midtown’s Maya Tea company, the honey-scented tea lends a sweet, smoky undertone to the drink. Second, after the drink is poured onto large blocks of ice, the server rims the glass with real honey, and then sticks on sugar and ground chiltepin chiles.
When you sip, the peppers leave a tingle on your lips, making the fruity vanilla juice a pleasant release. It’s hot, but not overpowering. The sprinkle of chile is just enough to spice up your afternoon.
Next time you find yourself on the breezy patio at Café Passé surrounded by mesquite and other desert plants, take a deep breath and skip the coffee.
You’re gonna want to try this ... In addition to its regular espressos and mochas, the North Fourth Avenue coffee shop pours a fermented kombucha that’s brewed in the commercial kitchen at the Mercado San Agustin, and brought over on a bicycle.
Weird, you say, “I don’t like kombucha.”
Well, until I tried this drink, neither did I! But watching the sunset, drinking this fruity fermented tea that’s been laced with a shot of gin and sweetened with berries ... it was really wonderful.
Café Passé usually carries two varieties of the Black Mountain Spring Fermentery kombucha: an apple ginger oolong and a second rotating variety, often a mixed berry. (You can order it in a cocktail, or drink it by itself.)
To create many of his kombuchas, brewer Brenden Shultz starts with oolong tea from a young farmer in China, brought in by local teahouse Seven Cups. He uses a variety of cultures in his fermentations, including those also used in Mexican tepache liqueur and saison farmhouse ale.
Shultz — a musician and performance artist who grew up on a small farm in New Hampshire and came to Tucson after touring through Europe — is very into his water. For the best quality, he brings in spring water from the San Francisco Peaks watershed outside of Flagstaff. When the water comes up from the ground, it’s “a moment of levitation,” he says.
Spritzy sweet and herbaceous from the gin, the drink is a true springtime treat. It doesn’t have an official name, but Café Passé barista Kate Roberts calls it the Healthy Helga. As far as its nutritional properties, the jury’s out. But I do know one thing: It definitely made me feel good.
In the mood for something familiar? Why not try a big glass of iced chicken soup?
The recipe is simple: 2 ounces Canadian whisky, a half-ounce “bouilla” spiced chicken broth, rosemary simple syrup, lemon juice and egg white. Shake twice, pour into a long-stemmed glass and top with bitters. Voilà! You’ve got the “Broyled Chicken.” Drink up, before it gets warm!
Or, if you like, you can just order a whiskey sour. The small team of bartenders at Sidecar, 139 S. Eastbourne Ave., will shake up just about anything to make you feel at home. In addition to the chicken cocktail on the weekly special menu, they’ve got a fun list of classic drinks spruced up with trendy ingredients like cordials, flavored bitters and all manner of shrubs.
Co-owned by Ari Shapiro of Sparkroot, the intimate spot behind Falora Pizza takes the old standards and turns them on their heads. Menu items include a dark and stormy cocktail with Amer liqueur and house-salted lime cordial, and the Rye Hanky Panky with cardamom-infused rye and mole bitters. The trio of bartenders — Sean McEvoy, Niccy Brodhurst and Theo Goodhart — focus on fresh ingredients and limit the refined sugar.
My Julep Ryelle was not nearly as sweet as one would expect when looking at a giant snow cone. Despite having a rye whiskey base, the playful take on the mint julep is light and fresh from the muddled mint. A wonderful dry sherry softens some of the stronger flavors from the whiskey and lemon cordial, and adds a hint of grape. After it’s stirred, the bartender packs a handful of nugget ice onto the top, and then pours over a spritzy malvasia wine.
Sitting on my barstool listening to jazz and staring at a faux-brick wall made from rectangular cuts of leather, I didn’t exactly feel like I was at the Kentucky Derby. Apparently this place gets packed on the weekends and becomes standing room only. For those who don’t want to wait — a craft cocktail can take several minutes to create — there’s also a small beer selection.
To drink or not to drink? Well, let’s see … Is your choice liquor A) cardamom-infused blended Scotch garnished with a fennel sprinkle, or B) Bud Light.
Do you feel claustrophobic in underground spaces? When is the last time you’ve sipped Wonder Bread?
Oh, stop thinking about it and just do it already! Enter through the beer garden at Reilly Craft Pizza & Drink, proceed down the desolate concrete staircase and turn left at the bathroom. You are now in the Tough Luck Club, a rowdy speakeasy-style bar in a former mortuary storage room.
Long and thin with sleek black booths lining a wall of exposed volcanic rock, the bar is devastatingly, almost uncomfortably hip. (My barmate said it reminded her of a secret episode of “Portlandia.”) Bartenders wearing aprons and baseball caps shake up cocktails with irreverent names like Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, Divers do it Deeper and The Brooklyn Vegan with hemp-infused pisco.
Some drinks seem like experiments — the Sound of Silence a.k.a. “milquetoast” was so dry and sour you could barely taste the Wonder Bread infused in the gin — but others are revelations.
The Nanu-Nanu was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. (Almost alien?)
First, it contains red curry powder, and four egg yolks. The frothy yellow highball is built off a grape brandy that’s been infused with blanched and roasted peanuts, which are later used as a garnish on top. Sour citrus juice and punchy ginger syrup cut through the heaviness, leaving you a complex, spicy dinner entrée of a drink.
Bar manager Niklas Morris says it’s an homage to Robin Williams, and references his performance in “Good Morning, Vietnam.” The cocktail is also a riff on the tiki drink the Suffering Bastard, and in the words of my friend: “It tastes like curry with alcohol in it.”
Not your thing? You can still have a drink, well actually two. For $4, you can get the “special”: a shot of corn whiskey and a can of Coors. This is in remembrance of the swampy hipster hangout The District Tavern on Congress Street, which wooed us all with its old pool tables and jukebox that seemed to go unchanged since 1997. The District closed last month.
Haven’t been to the Good Oak yet? I beg to differ.
The Good Oak is where we all live. As the theory goes, the state of Arizona takes its name from the Basque word meaning “the good oak tree,” after a Spanish ranch nestled in the oak woodlands southwest of Tumacácori.
But the Good Oak is also an incredible cocktail bar, and if you haven’t yet stepped inside its downtown walls, I suggest you make the trip.
Serving nothing but beer and wine from across Arizona, the staff creates all manner of earthly delights: wine snow cones, “bitter beers” spiked with lemon and Angostura, a spicy porter mixed with orange peel, chai tea and chiltepin peppers and cold-brewed in a French press.
With a license for only wine and beer, the folks at Good Oak Bar get creative. Bar Manager Kassie Killebrew, a New Orleans native who has been living in Arizona for the past eight years, draws her inspiration from what’s in season.
When friend and local honey producer Noel Patterson brought over a case of tart calamondin citrus fruits that he picked at the University of Arizona campus, Killebrew used them as the base in her chilled wine cocktail, Respect Your Elders.
Killebrew calls it a “community cocktail.” First, she muddles the tangy little “acid orange,” skin and all, with a few sprigs of local basil, making sure to release the oils from the herb without bruising it.
Other ingredients she throws in: Sauvignon Blanc from Zarpara Vineyards in Willcox, Austrian elder syrup brought in by Patterson (he also works for a distribution company), vibrant blood orange juice from McClendon’s Select farm in Peoria, housemade blueberry zin shrub from Page Springs Cellars.
This sounds like a powerhouse, but the cocktail is actually quite gentle. With a delicate aroma of citrus and flowers, the white wine tastes fresh and light, like something you’d drink on a Sonoma patio in the springtime.
It’s definitely fruity but not overly so, with a creaminess imparted from the elder syrup, and a nice balance of sweet blueberry and tart orange.
Killebrew then skewers an extra calamondin on the top, which you can use to stir the cocktail if you like.
As the last sip lingered on my palate, I took the little ball and peeled it back, eating its snappy sweet skin first, then the explosive fruit which ruptured in my mouth, filling the whole bar area with the smell of an orange grove. An abrupt change, but it felt, somehow fitting.
Let’s just imagine — stay with me here — you’re at Guadalajara Grill, and you were so distracted by the mariachi guitar that you forgot to tell the tableside salsa lady to make yours freakishly spicy. (Yeah right, like that would ever happen.) Well, here’s a solution! Get the chiles in your margarita.
The Jalapeño Margarita at Guadalajara Original Grill, 1220 E. Prince Road, will satisfy even the fiercest craving for capsicum. It’s a gut-punch of fiery jalapeño-infused tequila, lightened up with a little orange juice and some fresh cilantro. The zesty tang of the lime hits you first, followed by that familiar slow burn we all live for.
And at $8 for a 16-ounce goblet, this is something you can feel good about. It’s no secret that the north- side Mexican restaurant has some of the best drink deals in town. During happy hour from 3-6 p.m. weekdays and 10 p.m.-close Friday and Saturday nights, house margaritas are only $3. (The house is practically the same, sin jalapeño.)
Bartender Noah Gustafson makes his margarita mix by the 5-gallon jug, and on a busy night he can easily go through nine of them. He likens it to a “margarita factory,” where there’s a little something for everyone: fruity margaritas sweetened with prickly pear puree, stiff Margatinis, 30-plus tequilas and a cylindrical three-layered frozen concoction called the Bandera.
For the jalapeño drink, Gustafson takes a bottle of Zapopan reposado tequila and fills it with cilantro and sliced peppers. After about three days, the infusion is complete and it’s ready to drink. (If you’re brave enough.) I found the burning sensation a perfect complement to the plump tomato salsa, which seemed almost sweet by comparison.
It definitely got me warmed up for that steaming molcajete stone bowl, with shrimp so hot they sear your fingers as you struggle to get the tails off. But oh, they taste so wonderful when they go down. Well, the first one does at least, before it burns your tongue ...
Does anyone remember the days when the fanciest drink you could get at Wilko was an Izze sparkling grapefruit soda? It’s only been five years, but it seems like ages ago that the owners tossed out the grab-and-go salads, shaded the windows on the beverage case and turned this campus-area market into a sleek, gourmet restaurant.
And my, how far they’ve come. Today, Wilko boasts one of the city’s most creative cocktail selections. Open the paper menu adorned with whimsical illustrations of each drink, and you’ll find creations like the Oh Hi Yo with ancho and cinnamon tincture, as well as a drink called the Rockingbird that’s sweetened with maple syrup smoked with aromatic Peruvian wood. (Did we mention Wilko has an absinthe frappe?)
The Penguin Suit, $10, is built around orgeat, a rustic French almond milk that’s most commonly seen in the famous tiki drink, the Mai Tai. Bar manager Sara Holcombe makes her own in the sous-vide machine, cooking down almond milk, brandy, orange flower water and salt. According to beverage director Lucas Anable, the end result “tastes like liquid marzipan.”
But the drink is spirit heavy, with five different liquors that all add a distinct quality: A smoky Laphroaig Scotch is a natural companion to absinthe, Lucas said, elevating the warming medicinal properties of the anise and giving the drink a wintery roasted flavor. Cachaça, a Brazilian sugar cane distillate brings in some fruitiness, along with the blanc vermouth. After the liquors are stirred together with the orgeat and a salted lemon cordial, the mixture takes on a wonderful soft, pearly white color. Sara then floats a darker black strap rum on the top, creating a layered effect that reminded me of the sunrise.
The intent is to make a sort of reverse-cocktail: At first, you’re hit by the smoke, and the aromas of baking spices from the rum. But underneath, there’s this incredible fruity almond flavor that shines through, almost unexpectedly. Kind of like wearing penguin suit with a Hawaiian shirt underneath: It's winter on the outside, and a party within!
A nature-lover, are you? So your evening hikes along the Rillito River Park Trail consist of sitting at a barstool drinking tequila, while the man next to you pulls up pictures of plants on his cell phone ...
You must have gotten into Reforma. The lively Mexico City-style restaurant in the former home of Vivace, 4310 N. Campbell Ave., hosts what’s probably Tucson’s best collection of agave-based spirits: 260-plus tequilas, mezcals, sotols and the only Bacanora you can bring into the United States.
Co-owner Grant Krueger has cultivated a library of the plant’s many expressions, displayed high up on the walls in compartments only reached by ladder.
While you’re at Reforma, expect to be educated. Browsing through the scrollable iPad menu, I wondered aloud about the Sonoran specialty Bacanora. That launched the bartender and the patron to my right, sipping his tequila like a fine Scotch, into stories about Mexican moonshine and how the “desert spoon” used in sotol differs from blue agave in tequila.
This can be a little intimidating, so I wouldn’t blame you if you stick to a standby like Patron, or spring for a cocktail instead.
The smart list contains a number of hybrids like the Maestro Gentry: an Oaxacan old fashioned that features both tequila and Del Maguey mezcal, and tastes like smoky candy. (It’s named after an authority on agave, Howard S. Gentry.)
I tried the Vocho Verde, which isn’t made from agave at all but from pisco, a clear grape brandy distilled in the deserts of Peru. Usually the liquor is slapped into a foamy sweet pisco sour, its grape flavor heavy like a fruit pop. But shimmering in the martini glass, the herbal pisco tasted almost like gin, lightly muddled with fresh cucumber and mixed with lime and vibrant Green Chartreuse. A thin sliver of cucumber floated on top displaying its delicate seeds, like a lily flower.
The man next to me didn’t seem to approve. He drinks his liquor neat, savoring the intricacies of the base spirit and the way the humble succulent transforms itself into something so complex: a golden, divine liquid. Since their bottle of Cielo Rojo Bacanora was almost gone, the bartender brought out the remaining half shot for me to try on the house. It was incredibly smoky and rich, almost like molasses, with a smoothness that reminded me of great sake. It was like nothing I’ve ever tasted ... and I want it again.
On a weekday night at, say about 11 p.m., you may find yourself at Proper drinking a shrub. Don’t spit it out! It’s good for you, and by now you’ve surely noticed, it’s also delicious.
A shrub at Proper, 300 E. Congress St., doesn’t mean the plant. It’s actually a potent, fruity drinking vinegar, used in cultures throughout the world as everything from a refreshment to a medicinal tonic, and has become incredibly trendy on the bar scene. Proper’s version — made by blending figs with apple cider vinegar — adds that special tangy element to their rye drink, the Figgy Stardust.
So drink up, because there’s another syrup you need to try, one you may become plumb crazy for: deep, fruity plum bitters from the New York-based Fee Brothers. A dash of this stuff adds a special something to Proper’s Champagne cocktail, The Morrigan.
Orchid pink and delightfully effervescent in its highball glass, the cocktail would be perfect in the afternoon. But it’s also an excellent prelude to your late-night bocadillo. In addition to the plum bitters, bartender Chelsea Carter adds a housemade blackberry cordial spiked with ginger and star anise. The Cruzan light rum barely peeps out its head, leaving the drink delicate and floral, with just enough fruitiness to keep you coming back.
It’s named after its color: The vivid, purple-pink hue reminded General Manager Kim Bower of Morrigan, the Celtic warrior goddess. Also known as the “phantom queen,” Morrigan often takes the form of a raven, and symbolizes a number of concepts including war, fertility and death. She is alluring, almost dangerously beautiful.
But beware, she’s more powerful than you think.
On a recent Monday night, the downtown hideaway Scott and Co. was packed to the rafters with people singing songs between their spirits, while the lone bartender furiously pounded out mesquite bean Tucson Teas aromatic with creosote tincture, sour bacanora cocktails and orders of the Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.
I’ve never seen it that busy, and honestly, I’m still not sure how he did it. At Scott and Co., 49 N. Scott Ave., every drink is meticulously crafted, from the geometric etching on the lime garnish down to the arugula tincture. And all, distinctly Tucson.
Case in point: La Pequeña Sucia, a ruby red drink that tastes almost like watermelon raspados. But it’s got a kick: tequila, and to give it a backbone, unaged Nuestra Soledad mezcal from Oaxaca, Mexico.
And like any great raspado, there’s the chamoy, that addicting salty sweet condiment made from fermented fruit that you can buy in little bottles at any Mexican market. This fiery sauce could be overpowering, but bartender Matt Martinez evens out the savoriness by adding Italian Zucca amaro, an herbal liqueur that’s actually made with rhubarb. And not to be outdone, there’s also a dash of absinthe.
La Pequeña Sucia may be the fruitiest drink on the menu, but it’s incredibly complex, possibly brilliant. The fresh house-made watermelon syrup shines from beneath a symphony of smoke and spice, making it light and drinkable. Martinez wanted to evoke the flavors of the south side, the feeling of riding the bus after school down to the Mexican candy shop. Being a boy, watching the girls with their sandia suckers.
But of course, we’re adults now. And that is even more fun. ...
Nothing says the word “man” better than drinking a good, heavy stout in the wintertime. But what if that stout is served in a coupe glass and topped with creamy pink foam?
Well, that would be “Man on a Bearskin Rug.” The beer-based cocktail is still masculine, but in a retro, Burt Reynolds ladykiller sort of way. In other words, it’s the perfect drink for someone sitting at the newish R Bar downtown, watching live concert videos from the 1970s projected onto a wall.
The Rialto Theatre’s hip alleyway cocktail lounge, 350 E. Congress St., has taken the reins of the dear-departed Red Room at Grill. For one, the bar is literally red. With its vinyl DJ night and saucy cocktail list served till the late hours of the morning, R Bar has attracted critical mass of Tucson hipsters.
Its Man on a Bearskin Rug is funkier than you’d think — almost fruity. The silky oatmeal stout from Ninkasi brewery in Oregon is freshened up with a dose of 7 ½-year-old apple brandy, earthy Italian Carpano Antica vermouth, and a house-made grenadine made from pomegranate juice and turbinado sugar. A nice dash of Angostura bitters also lends an herbaceous note, making the drink so complex my friend said it reminded her of a special brand of vintage French cologne. (But, I’m sure, with better flavor …)
After the boozy base is shaken, the bartender pours the stout on top, making sure to get a good head on the beer to activate the foam. Although I couldn’t really see it in the low-lit room, the bartender told me it mixes with the other ingredients and forms pinkish rings, almost like a bulls-eye.
Let’s just say, a couple of these is infinitely more fun than winning a game of darts. …
Let’s get this straight: I came for the bacon-wrapped frog legs, the Andouille sausage gumbo and the adobo pork “bunhugger.” Not for the cocktail list. The last thing I expected to find at The Parish, the north side’s gourmet Southern restaurant and gastropub, was a Caribbean version of the Moscow mule.
But holy moly, is this one somethin’! The drink takes its cues from one of the darlings of the Tucson cocktail scene of late, a gingery vodka mix with closer origins than its name suggests. (The story goes that the Moscow Mule was invented in Los Angeles as a ploy to get Americans to drink more vodka.) But interestingly, Parish’s version is not made with vodka, but with rum.
The restaurant, 6453 N. Oracle Road, really gets into its infusions: To give the rum that extra something, it adds whole vanilla beans and sliced ginger that’s been steeped in hot water to enhance its flavor. A few days later, once the ingredients have married, the vanilla-ginger rum becomes a base for the Caribbean Mule, $8.
The rum goes down surprisingly smooth, stirred in with the tangy lime juice and bubbly Gosling’s ginger beer. Instead of simple syrup, the bartender sweetens the drink up with some Luxardo maraschino liqueur, lending a pleasing hint of cherries into the mix.
Before the drink comes to your table, it’s also literally set on fire. The bartender ignites a lime slice on the top with a spray mixture of bitters and Bacardi 151, letting the natural oils seep out from the peel to give the drink an assertive citrusy flavor.
But of course, the drink is nothing without that iconic copper mug, in this case, amusingly provided by the Russian vodka distributor. As Shakespeare said, “all’s well that ends well.”
When you find yourself in the new downtown, why not try something Old Fashioned? Slip into the bar at Hub and order a stiff, whiskey drink.
The late-night hot spot at 266 E. Congress St. mixes up a version that’ll really knock your stockings off. It’s called the Old Pueblo, and wow, is it boozy. The recipe is sort of a cross between an Old Fashioned and a Manhattan, with a good dose of whiskey and sweet vermouth lightened up with some spritzy club soda.
The cocktail would be overpowering if not for the citrus: The bartender uses the flesh and peel of an entire orange slice when muddling, and then tosses in a dash of orange bitters to boot. His other not-so-secret ingredient is a griotte, a brandied sour cherry from France that has been soaked in Scotch to give it a smoky undertone, reminiscent of creosote.
The simple, potent drink is a far cry from some of the tincture-laced Sazeracs and whimsical wine slushies found around downtown these days. But hey, this is still the Old Pueblo, right?
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- Sweeps
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- Sidecar
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- Proper
- Scott And Co.
- R Bar
- The Parish
- Hub
- Tucson Nightlife
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