The McGlinchey and the Swizzle Stick Bar
“Hi, my name’s John. What’s yours?”
“Kevin,” said the young bartender who looks too young to be able to answer my next question. He’s Kevin Moreau and I’m in the famous Swizzle Stick Bar at the Loews Hotel in New Orleans.
“I’m on a mission and I have a deadline.” I’m almost afraid to tell Kevin why I’m really there. I need to finish designing two different signature drinks for a cocktail reception and a dinner tomorrow night. I’ve been mixing and sampling on-and-off for a month, but now the time is getting close and I’m not ready yet.
“Can you help me conjure up a signature cocktail?” I anxiously ask Kevin. “The law firm I work with is holding its annual meeting here and I’d like to serve a signature drink upstairs in the hotel tomorrow night.”
Café Adelaide / the Swizzle Stick Bar
300 Poydras Street
New Orleans LA 70130
(504) 595-3305
www.cafeadelaide.com
In front of me is a yellow sheet of legal paper with the outline of a drink I’m calling the “McGlinchey.” That’s the same name as the law firm. The drink is a whiskey sour of sorts, except more complex and hopefully a tad more drinkable.
“Sure, I’ll do my best. Is that where you’re starting?” Kevin glances down at the sheet of paper I’m writing on. Like any bartender or accountant, Kevin is an expert at reading upside down.
“Yup,” I say. “The drink starts with Irish whiskey to celebrate the heritage of the McGlinchey name. Then there’s Southern Comfort to honor the New Orleans roots of the firm. There’s some lime juice, fresh of course, to give it a slight sour edge and some pineapple juice to blend the lime with the peach notes of the SOCO. Can you mix one over ice so we can find out what it tastes like?”
Kevin glances at the recipe’s outline, turns away and moves to his mixing station. In a minute or so he returns with a short drink in a rocks glass. He places the drink in front of me. Using a bar straw, he pipettes a little of the mixture and tastes it himself for the first time.
“Too sour,” he says. It takes me barely a sip to agree.
“We should add a little simple syrup,” Kevin says, knowing I’m ready to agree.
I’m wearing a friendly smile of appreciation: “Sometimes I underestimate just how sour fresh lime juice can be,” I nod.
Kevin brings over a shot glass with just a spot of simple syrup. I pour the syrup into the glass and mix the drink with a swizzle stick.
“Much better! I think we’ve got it. Mission accomplished.”
McGlinchey
With just a taste of old New Orleans
1 1/2 ounce Irish whiskey
1/2 ounce Southern Comfort
1/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/4 ounce fresh pineapple juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup
dash Peychaud’s bittersServe over ice in a rocks glass.
Garnish with a cherry and a pineapple cube.
“Now, one more thing, Kevin,” my earlier apprehension mostly gone. “I need another drink for a smaller group of the firm’s lawyers who practice law around the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, that’s ‘CAFA’ for short. This drink needs to be stronger and, here’s the hard part: the initials of the ingredients need to spell out CAFA.”
2 Responses to “The McGlinchey and the Swizzle Stick Bar”
Posted by: Joni - 03/12/2008
How about:
Cuervo Gold
Absinthe
Fresh lime juice
Aquavit
Well? Would you drink that concoction?!
Posted by: John Martin - 03/13/2008
>>Would you drink that concoction?!
Yup. Drinkable. Stay tuned for “the rest of the story.”
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