Los Feliz Hot Bartender Crawl Recap

 

Last month, I organized a bar crawl in Los Feliz as one of the events leading up to my 3rd Anniversary party (coming up next Wednesday, 12/12/12, are you going?). One of my nominated hot bartenders is Rosie Ruiz at Big Bar and now the new bar manager at 1886.

She surprised my bar crawlers with a special menu for the evening. And since we were having such a good time with the music jams, great food and even better cocktails, we completely skipped the second stop. Rosie rocks!

 

Red Light Special – Sailor Jerry rum, Smith & Cross rum, lemon, honey, flower tea

You would think this is a lighter style color based on the color but nope, it has two different rums including ornery Smith & Cross. I never thought Smith & Cross could play well with other rums but it does with Sailor Jerry. Mixed with lemon, honey and flower tea (hibiscus judging from the color), this festive cocktail is great for the season.

La Cohiba – applejack, Amaro Meletti, orange bitters, cigar

 

You  may be wondering, “cigar?!” Yep, a little bit of the tabacco was infused into the simple syrup also in this drink. The result is a slightly smokey undertone that went well with the spice in the applejack and the saffron in the Meletti. It’s like having your cigar already in your drink so you don’t have to smoke which means you can cozy up to the bar and not shiver in our fierce LA winter (cough).

 

Spice of Life – Partida reposado tequila, East India sherry, apple, lemon, cinnamon, pecans

I ended with the hot cocktail, the Spice of Life. I do love me some hot tequila drinks. They’re so wonderful on chilly nights. Rosie does really great cocktails with sherry so I was very happy to see it pop up in this cocktail.

Will Rosie be the Minty Hot Bartender? Find out next Wednesday!

Big Bar at Alcove

1927 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027 — (323) 644-0100

 

 

The Minty Hot Bartender nominee Chris Amirault at MessHall

 

Over at MessHall, Chris Amirault was stirring and mixing along with bar manager Erik Lund that night. Within five seconds of Chris spotting me, he asked why didn’t I have a drink yet so of course, I let him make up something.

Double Trouble?

 

This double gin, double amari could be trouble… I told Chris I’m going to call it the Dual Personality. With Ford’s gin, Old Raj gin, Amaro Nonino and Amaro CioCiaro, it’s the sort of thing I like to open my nights with. And swim through the night. And close it out with. But he must be paying attention to what I actually do.

 

The Minty Mojito

 

Because my last cocktail of the night was his mojito made with Pierre Ferrand cognac– I like to end with something on the lighter side. It’s officially called the Minty Mojito but get it from Chris at MessHall because I’m pretty sure if you asked for it elsewhere, you’d get a regular one and not a delicious cognac one. The extra special somethin’ somethin’ in this drink is the loganberry liqueur.

Before I had announced the hot bartender nominees, but after I announced this contest, most bartenders just sort of let me do my own thing which is take pictures and quietly observe what they’re doing behind the stick. Not Chris, he engaged with me at every opportunity whether that was him reaching for a bottle off the top shelf or as he was slapping the mint for the mojito. I only wished I had filmed it to show at the party.

MessHall just recently changed chefs so it’ll be interesting to see if the menu evolves. I know the cocktail list is changing soon and it’ll be mostly Erik’s list but Chris has a cocktail on there. Gee, is it the Minty Mojito?

Yes, you’re coming to the party, right?

MessHall

4500 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027 –(323) 660-6377

 

© The Minty 2012