AUSTIN, Texas -- Crafting a quality cocktail takes "precision, passion and patience," says Adam Bryan, the bar master and "executive drinkist" at the East Side Show Room.
The potent potables he turns out from behind the bar at the funky, steampunk-inspired East Austin eatery speak of his dedication. Each of his creations mix the Old World with the New: Boutique absinthe and gin mingles with exotic liquors from France and Italy, plus artisanal spirits from small, independent distilleries.
Our favorite tipple of the several we sampled was the Violet Translation, a twist on the century-old Last Word cocktail (pictured above). A mix of Martin Miller's Gin, Chartreuse, maraschino and Crème de violette, Bryan added a sprig of sage as garnish.
New drinks take weeks of experimentation to perfect. Bryan pulls from the bar's dozens of bottles with unpronounceable labels to make new combinations. His recipes call for as little as a quarter ounce of this or a half-ounce of that, so he and his bartenders meticulously measure every pour of every ingredient in each drink.
"I like taking an old standard and re-imagining it," he says. "You can't reinvent the wheel, but you can give it a twist."
Places like the East Side Show Room are a rarity in Austin, a college town known less for artsy, locavore gourmet havens and more for the scores of sports bars serving dollar drafts that line downtown's bustling Sixth Street corridor. Attendees at the South by Southwest conference, taking place here this week and next, might be excused for not seeing much beyond burgers, barbecue and Lone Star beer as they trudge past the bars' incessant barkers, side-stepping the occasional puddle of vomit.
It's that reputation that Bryan and his business partners are trying to change.
"There's nothing wrong with that scene," he says, "but I feel like Austin's ready for something different."
Something different, indeed. Bryan's signature cocktails include:
- The Velpar: A mix of Texas rum, lemon, St. Germain and absinthe.
- Mondays With Aalto: Named after designer and architect Alvar Aalto, the drink comes in a martini glass filled with Krogstad aquavit, lemon, cacao, triplum and Crème de violette.
- Sicilian Sour: An Italian wonder made of amaretto and sweet vermouth.
All bizarre, all beautiful and all filled with the craziest flavor combinations.
"If I can make somebody a drink that turns them on to something new," Bryan says, "I feel like I've done my job for the day."
The handcrafted vibe extends to the other pages of the bar and restaurant's menu. The kitchen sources its meats and vegetables from more than 30 Texas farms, and builds beautiful dishes like venison and lamb burgers, bison carpaccio and locally raised quail tossed in a spicy molasses BBQ sauce.
The decor is also inventive. With its exposed brick and subdued lighting, the place evokes the feeling of a 1920s Parisian nightclub or a Prohibition-era speakeasy, with fixtures, wrought-iron accents and decorative sculptures welded and banged together by Mickie Spencer, one of the restaurant's partners. Located in a funky former grocery store built in the early 1900s, the establishment opened in 2009. Now the staff is bracing for the restaurant's first SXSW.
There are plenty of bottles of gin, absinthe and rum on offer at the East Side Show Room, but one thing you won't find in abundance is vodka: Bryan says he can't stand the stuff. If anyone orders a vodka and soda, his servers are trained to steer them to one of the more unorthodox choices on the cocktail menu instead.
"I just don't see how anyone can be a vodka person," he says. "It doesn't taste like anything."
