Isthmus Drinks 2014

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PUBLISHED THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

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The sip of the season Just like our menu, our new seasonally-driven cocktails capture the best ingredients of the season.

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How to make classics from legendary Wisconsin establishments in your own home

BY ANDRÉ DARLINGTON ILLUSTRATIONS BY TOMMY WASHBUSH

Supper clubs are a Wisconsin birthright. The ritual of relish trays,

works were developed to cover the flavor of harsh, illicit moonshine

wedge salads, prime rib and fish fries on Friday is part of the state’s

but have been retained long after Repeal made them unnecessary.

unique culinary and social heritage. Often family-run for genera-

tions, the establishments have a timeless quality. Much of their ap-

portunity to sample other cocktails of yesteryear. In fact, in a few

peal is that the clock, suspended in an atmosphere of relaxation and

of Madison’s establishments, it’s still possible to imbibe classics

tradition, is frozen at some point before the 1960s.

as they were served 30 or 40 years ago, handed down across an un-

As dining destinations that also serve as community centers,

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 ISTHMUS DRINKS u ISTHMUS.COM u

broken line of career bartenders. To sip is to enter a time capsule.

supper clubs specialize in the cocktail hour. Local news and gossip

are shared over drinks in a large bar adjacent to the dining room.

come a long way in the last decade, returned to their original glory

with fresh ingredients, high-quality liquor and classic techniques.

The signature supper club cocktail is the Brandy Old Fashioned,

Of course, outside the supper club bubble, cocktails have

usually served “sweet” — i.e., with a splash of 7-Up or Sprite. It’s a

The recipes below are modern updates for those wanting to re-

thriving Prohibition-era holdover, a muddled puddle of sugar and bit-

create the iconic potions of the past at home, but with contempo-

ters with orange peel and a chemical-red cherry garnish. The fruity

rary sensibility.

WHISKEY SOUR

Whiskey Sour

The venerable Whiskey Sour has had a tough slog through the 20th century, besmirched by pre-made sour mix and cheap booze. The cocktail has close ties with Wisconsin — one of its first appearances ever in print was in the Waukesha Plaindealer in 1870.

At the Esquire Club, the combination of whiskey and sour is an ideal balance to slightly salty fried perch or clam chowder. It exists here alongside tuxedo-shirt-garbed waitresses and wood paneling that is the backdrop for the weekly pageantry of the family-style Friday night fish fry. Even with lemonade from a soda gun, the drink is perfection amid the bustling yet serene environment.

• 2 ounces bourbon or rye • 1 ounce fresh lemon juice • 3/4 ounce simple syrup (combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, and stir vigorously) • 3/4 ounce egg white • 1 dash Angostura bitters • cherry, for garnish

AT KAVANAUGH’S ESQUIRE CLUB

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As preserves of past tastes, supper clubs offer a unique op-

The Whiskey Sour is improved mightily with fresh lemon juice, high-quality whiskey and an egg white. This combination may have originated as far back as the 1700s and is a revelation of spice and tartness in perfect harmony.

Shake ingredients without ice to emulsify the egg white. Then add ice, shake again, and strain into a chilled glass. Add the cherry garnish.

HARVEY WALLBANGER

STINGER AT FEILER’S

Delaney’s still has a bottle of Galliano, the necessary ingredient to make the infamous ’70s drink the Harvey Wallbanger. Legend has it there was a surfer named Harvey who drank too many of these concoctions and would crash his way down hallways at parties. But it’s really a drink created by Galliano, which advertised it with a cartoon character named Harvey.

Essentially a Screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) with a float of Galliano on top, it has a refreshing, hard-to-place flavor that’s the source of its once-wild popularity. Topnotch bar service at Delaney’s will transport you back to an era of flared jeans and animal prints. It just might be your new favorite hangout.

The Stinger, a mix of brandy and crème de menthe (go ahead and shudder), was once one of the most popular drinks of its age.

In the 19th century, high society quaffed it before bedtime. The cocktail then returned with a vengeance in the brandy heyday of the 1940s and ’50s, and it is still alive and kicking at the venerable Feiler’s supper club. The restaurant has been hit hard by the unending construction on its doorstep, but is on course to celebrate its 50th anniversary in two years. The Stinger is perhaps an acquired taste, but surprisingly refreshing after a meal. Finding and sipping one in the wild is a true retro treat.

AT DELANEY’S

Harvey Wallbanger

SATAN’S WHISKERS AT SMOKY’S CLUB

Smoky’s is a repository of classic cocktails thanks to “Martini Bob” Perry, who has been behind the bar for over 40 years. Here drinkers can find now obscure but delicious cocktails like the vermouth and gin-based Journalist, as well as a proper example of James Bond’s gin and vodka-based Vesper. Such classics are supplemented by a massive martini list, including a page of chocolatinis.

But perhaps the most interesting cocktail to order is a Satan’s Whiskers, a vermouth and orange juice combination that appeared in The Savoy Cocktail Book by bartender Harry Craddock in 1930. It’s an easy-drinking, not-toosweet Prohibition-era cocktail that has real glamour to it. At Smoky’s, it’s served in the straight version with Grand Marnier, but there’s another recipe that calls for orange curacao instead. It’s what used to be known as “Satan’s Whiskers — Curled.”

This recipe is adapted from bartender Don Lee, who updates the ’70s classic by clarifying orange juice and adding a hint of lemon for a cleaner taste and texture.

• 1 1/2 ounces vodka • 1/2 ounce Galliano • 2 ounces orange juice • 1/4 ounce lemon juice • 1 dash Angostura bitters • half-wheel of orange, for garnish • coarse salt, for garnish

Stinger

TOM COLLINS

AT TOBY’S SUPPER CLUB

Using Old Tom gin, a sweeter style of gin still widely available (look for Hayman’s), is the key to this drink. Don’t confuse the Tom Collins with a Gin Fizz (served without ice in a shorter glass) or a Gin Rickey (made with lime instead of lemon, and with no added sugar).

• 2 ounces brandy • 1 ounce white crème de menthe Shake and strain into a brandy or rocks glass filled with crushed ice.

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• 2 ounces Old Tom gin • 1 ounce fresh lemon juice • 1/2 ounce simple syrup • club soda or seltzer water Combine ingredients in an icefilled Collins glass. Stir and top with club soda or seltzer water.

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Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Add orange garnish.

Tom Collins

Typically drinks that do not contain eggs, fruit juice or dairy are stirred and not shaken. But the Stinger is an exception, as shaking gives the drink a nice froth.

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If you ask for an easy-sipping Tom Collins at the legendary supper club Toby’s, the bartender won’t miss a beat and instead ask whether you want it on the rocks or blended. Here, the drink is no museum piece for a few old-timers, but a living document. The blended option will arrive as a refreshing mix of gin, lemon and sugar with a cherry on top. It’s like a boozy, woozy adult milkshake with a kick that fits in with the woodpaneled décor and über-friendly patrons.

The Tom Collins is an old drink, descended from 18th-century gin punch, and appearing in one of the first cocktail books ever printed, 1887’s Jerry Thomas’ Bartenders Guide. It still lends its name to those tallbut-wide cylinders known as Collins glasses.

Satan’s Whiskers • 1 ounce gin • 1/2 ounce Grand Marnier • 1 ounce dry vermouth • 1 ounce sweet vermouth • 1 ounce fresh-squeezed orange juice • 1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters orange twist, for garnish

Strain orange juice and lemon juice through a coffee filter and stir in an ice-filled mixing glass with vodka, Galliano and dash of Angostura bitters. Strain into a glass.

Garnish with orange wheel and a sprinkle of salt.

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Square Wine Company’s Andrea Hillsey finds her niche in Madison

BY JULIA BURKE n PHOTO BY SHARON VANORNY

As owner of Square Wine Company, 5 N. Pinckney St. on the Capitol Square, Andrea Hillsey shares her passion for wine with customers through regular classes and tastings, and also with every bottle sold. Hold up a label and she may give you the 30-second biography of the winemaker, a snappy treatise on how the wine was made, or one of her trademark one-liners: “That wine is for when you’re wearing sweatpants and you’ve given up on life.”

During a recent conversation with Isthmus, Hillsey was happy to wax poetic on her journey to wine geekdom, her enduring love for Burgundy, and an approach to wine sales through tastings, classes and knowledge-sharing that she calls “sneaky education.”

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How did you get into wine?

My trip to wine is funny and random and weird. I was recruited to play softball at Purdue, and in my last semester I had to take a physics course. I surrounded that course with all the stuff that’s supposed to make you a better human: sexuality, jazz history, philosophy of religion and then wine. It came to the end of the semester and I realized that this wine class was the one for which I’d studied the hardest.

Upon graduation I followed my partner to Madison. She got a job at the university, and I was waiting tables on the west side. The idea was I was going to wait tables until I saved enough money to go to graduate school for physical therapy, and that never happened — I became a manager and ran their bar program.

I was in charge of their wine list and cocktails

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and stuff, and it was a very corporate setting, so I didn’t have a lot of freedom to make many choices. I had a postgraduate scholarship from Purdue, and instead of using that for PT school I went to study hospitality management at Florida International in Miami.

It was like a two-and-a-half-year vacation.

More importantly than getting my degree, I worked at a cool, niche-y retail store called Wolfe’s. Jeffrey Wolfe is the owner and he hired me on a whim, but I ended up working for him for two and a half years learning an insane amount about wine. And that’s essentially what we’re reproducing here.

What made you want to open Square Wine Company in Madison?

I got my sommelier certification from the International Sommelier Guild when I got back to Madison. I was opening the store and studying for the exam at the same time, and I was freaking out.

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In Miami, with anything Jeffrey Wolfe poured me, I was like a newborn baby. Every experience was something new, and I knew I was in trustworthy hands. More than anything I was in a position to taste a lot, and that’s where you form your general knowledge of wine — picking out certain notes, working backwards, asking, “Why does it taste that way?”

My biggest wine epiphany moment was with white burgundy, a Meursault from Arnaud Ente. When I taste wines like that I just shake my head. Anyone who knows me around wine has seen me have those moments. You need to have those moments.

When you work in the wine industry, we taste so much wine — and we’re not looking for sympathy that we taste so much wine — but every now and again you need something that makes you think, “Oh my god, this is why I do this.” n

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Do you have any professional wine certification?

I would go down to Chicago every Sunday, and the entire day was dedicated to wine. I have really good Chicago food and drink contacts because of it. My level-two instructor was Aaron Sherman, who runs the front of the house at Girl and the Goat, and my first level was run by Michael Muser, who just opened Grace, both in Chicago.

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I went out to Oregon, and Wolfe convinced the guys at Chehalem Wines in Newberg to take me on for a harvest in the fall of 2010 for about six weeks. It was so much fun. I thought it was important, though I knew I was going to be on the sales side, to go work a harvest because otherwise I felt like I was only telling 50% of the story. I knew the steps of making wine, but I’d never seen it happen. I’d never dug out a tank [fermenting wine leaves, skins and sediment at the bottom of tanks, which cellar staff must then shovel out].

It’s funny when it’s nature; there’s no punching a clock. There was a day that we worked from eight in the morning until midnight, just because that’s when stuff is coming in. It definitely gave me more of an appreciation for wine and what goes into it and the insane amount of work that it is. I don’t think I’ve ever physically worked that hard in my life.

I came back to Madison excited to take the wine world by storm, and I couldn’t find a job. I worked at the Steve’s stores for about a year and a half, spending most of my time

with Randy Wautlet at the Fitchburg store.

I convinced my partner’s dad to give me some money, and I opened this store.

When I left Miami people said I should go back to Madison and open another Wolfe’s, and I thought between the Barriques and Steve’s stores the market was already saturated with wine. However, I didn’t realize that there was still this opportunity to do what he was doing in an educational sort of way — I like to call it “sneaky education” — and it made perfect sense. We sell small-producer, organic, biodynamic, sustainable, very naturally made wines, and people in Madison care so much about food that’s produced that way that it was only a matter of time before people started paying attention to the wine they were drinking.

You have people who go to the farmers’ market and then say, “Oh, I buy Two-Buck Chuck at Trader Joe’s.” There’s a disconnect.

Without coming out and saying “You’re doing it wrong,” we wanted to push people away from that because nobody knew any better.

In the United States you can put over 200 [additives and ingredients] into a bottle of wine without having to put any of it on the label, and nobody knows that.

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Visit our tasting room - sample the spirits, enjoy a cocktail, and also purchase bottles & souvenirs! Tours daily.

Lakefront Brewery, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has been a leading innovator in the craft brewing industry for over 25 years. Lakefront made the first certified organic beer in the U.S., Organic E.S.B., and recently, was the first brewery to make a 100% indigenous beer—all hops, malt, wheat, and yeast from one state—Wisconsinite Summer Weiss. Lakefront produced 40,500 barrels at the end of 2013 and its distribution reaches 37 states and three countries.

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VILLAGE OF WAUWATOSA Stop for a bite and a brew in the historic village of Wauwatosa!

Located just 10 minutes west of Milwaukee, Wauwatosa is a vibrant European-style village filled with charming pubs and restaurants.

Choose a Belgian brew from the ever-changing Bier Book at Cafe Hollander, one of the German draughts at Cafe Bavaria or a classic combination pint at Mo’s Irish Pub. Make sure to stop by Big Head Brewing Co., Wauwatosa’s very own microbrewery. Cheers!

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From legendary German brewers Blatz, Pabst, Schlitz and Miller to modern craft brew masters, Milwaukee’s beer heritage and culture still thrives today. Come raise a glass with us. Cheers!

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Nothing’s more tame than a soothing cup of tea, but add the world’s most popular beverage to a cocktail and its simplicity gets an exciting makeover. From summer’s sweet spiked iced tea to fall’s hot toddies, tea is an unsung hero of mixology that enlivens and structures an amazing variety of drinks.

The options are vast. Tea can be herbal, smoky, savory, fruity, spicy, floral or minty depending on the style, and its tannin provides a hearty spine for drinks needing balance. And with tea vendors like Monroe Street’s Macha Teahouse bringing special teas from around the world to Madison, our bartenders have a world of variety with which to experiment.

“The most fun part of tea is that it adds a lot of subtlety, which I have a lot of respect for,” says Jeff Spear, bar manager at Sujeo. The Asian fusion restaurant’s openingweek cocktail list included “Yup in My White Tea,” an instantly popular white-tea-based cocktail made with ginger peach sangria, Canton ginger liqueur, soju and lemon.

Spear describes his current interest in tea-infused spirits and tea drinks as the “experimental sponge stage.”

He sees tea-based drinks, for which he works with Macha, as essential to Sujeo’s menu and philosophy. “Working with this cuisine, where tea culture is so prominent, it’s important to us and chef Tory [Miller] that we all learn the history, processes and rituals around it,” says Spear.

From mint-tea-infused soju (a Korean spirit) as a digestif to orange blossom tea with vodka or rum, Spear finds the flavor profiles of tea inspiring. Tea and bourbon, the keys to a great hot toddy, are a match made in heaven, and can soothe a hoarse cold-weather throat — especially with a little lemon and honey.

Tea can also be paired with spiced rum for a fall warmer or even a Christmasy drink. For these, black tea’s smoky notes are an effective backbone.

A fascinating tea for adventurous drinkers is the Chinese pu-erh, an earthy and rich fermented variety that lends itself beautifully to dark spirit bases. Try the Pu-erh Old Fashioned recipe from Serious Eats (at bit.ly/pu-erhcocktail), localizing it with Jamaican #2 or Cherry Bark Vanilla bitters from Milwaukee’s Bittercube and Yahara Bay bourbon. n

Experiment with a vast array of leaf and liquor blends

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BY JULIA BURKE n PHOTO BY PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS

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Sujeo’s ‘Yup in My White Tea’

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Top Wisco-centric beers for your fall frolics

BY ROBIN SHEPARD

Autumn beers fall between the lighter lawnmower beers of summer and the stronger, snifter-sipped brews of winter. My ideal fall “pick six” lies somewhere between the lazy days of summer and holding onto a really cold one...with mittens.

FANTASY FACTORY

WALK OFF TRIPLE

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Milwaukee Brewing Company

This golden-amber brew is full of resiny, citrusy bitterness, and it’s strong, at 6.3% ABV. You can find Fantasy Factory on tap at the brewery. It’s quickly become a favorite of local hop-heads. If it were available in bottles, it would be in my fantasy six-pack.

This new, special brew from Milwaukee Brewing should be out in time for postseason baseball.

Walk Off Triple is, of course, a Belgian tripel, bottled-conditioned. The beer was introduced in a handful of Milwaukee venues in August; the good news is that the brewery will now offer it in 750 mL bottles. At least Brewers’ fans will have something to celebrate, since the team didn’t rouse itself from its late slump.

SNARLING BADGER Grand Teton Brewing Company This is not a Wisconsin-made beer (it hails from Victor, Idaho), but its name makes it a must-have in a pick six of brews for Badger football Saturdays. At 6% ABV, Snarling Badger is stronger than expected for a Berliner Weiss, with hints of apple and pineapple. It’s more tart than sour, with some alcoholic warmth that makes it well suited to the cooler days ahead. It recently started turning up in fourpacks of 12-ounce bottles in some Madison bottle stops with extensive beer selections, such as Riley’s Wines of the World and Trixie’s Liquor.

BLEEDING HEART Wisconsin Brewing Company Bleeding Heart amber saison is a bolder version of brewmaster Kirby Nelson’s previously released Zenith saison. Bleeding Heart is has a rich yeasty flavor, with firm malty background, strong and a little warm from its 6.1% ABV. It’s dark for a saison, with a brilliant amber color. This is a flavorful take on a Belgian farmhouse ale.

OKTOBERFEST

APPLE ALE

Capital Brewery Any fall six-pack needs an Oktoberfest in the mix, and there are so many good Wisconsin versions out that it’s hard to pick just one. Capital Brewery’s Oktoberfest has a pleasant malty core that’s smooth, with caramel and biscuit tones, and it finishes clean. It’s medium-bodied and a nice American version of the beer made famous by Germany’s fall celebration. Capital’s Oktoberfest beer has won more than a dozen awards and medals, the most recent a gold in the 2013 World Beer Championships.

New Glarus Brewing Company

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THURSDAY 25, SEPTEMBER 25,2014 2014

Skip pumpkin brews and turn to New Glarus Apple Ale, a blend of Wisconsin apple juice and a brown ale (and one of New Glarus’ most soughtafter seasonals). It has lots of apple aroma and flavor, but never strays too far from the brown ale at its core. Light and bubbly at around 4% ABV, it has sweet, cider-like qualities that are ideal for the season.

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Nick Zabel of Dexter’s: ‘Our regulars have gotten used to weird things happening to our taps.’

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Why these special beer events are worth your time

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BY KYLE NABILCY n PHOTO BY SHARON VANORNY

W hen it comes to the tap takeover, there are really only two kinds of beer-drinker responses. There’s “Aw, man, now all the beer geeks are going to be clogging up my watering hole of choice all night, and my favorite beer is going to be replaced by some brandy barrel-aged vanilla kumquat Belgian strong ale.”

And the other: “Hell yeah, brandy barrel-aged vanilla kumquat Belgian strong ale!”

In truth, tap takeovers aren’t always a cavalcade of bizarro beer variants and limited-time offerings. Think of them as one part brewery advertising, one part fan service, and one part reward to the hosting bar or restaurant. Or just one big opportunity to try something new.

For the unfamiliar, a tap takeover is more or less what it sounds like. A restaurant or bar organizes an event with a brewer, during which most or all beer tap lines are replaced with beers from that brewer. Often, these takeovers coincide with larger beer-universe events like Madison Craft Beer Week or the days preceding Great Taste of the Midwest. Sometimes they announce the arrival of a new beer in the market. Other times, they’re put on just for the heck of it.

“I would say that we do some kind of tap takeover at least once per month,” says Nick Zabel, owner of Dexter’s Pub on Madison’s east side. “Our regulars have gotten used to weird things happening to our taps. I think it actually gets some of our regulars to try beers they normally would not have tried.”

Dexter’s, and places like the Coopers Tavern, the Old Fashioned and Brickhouse BBQ, have the benefit of a lot of tap lines.

This allows the venue to run a very large single-brewer takeover, or a multi-brewer takeover, or just a partial takeover that leaves some of the existing taps alone.

One of my favorite aspects of the tap takeover is the unexpected or outof-the-way venue that puts on a great event.

Maybe it’s Craftsman Table & Tap out in Middleton, or State Street’s Roast, deep in student territory. Blue Moon on Old University is a known commodity for a great burger, but has really established itself recently as a beer destination for those willing to venture out its way.

“We definitely see new faces when we put an event on,” says Jim Schmock, beer program manager at the Blue Moon, “and that is great because we get a chance to introduce ourselves to people who may not ever go down Old University.”

Until recently, that included yours truly.

But stand-alone taps like Goose Island’s Bourbon County Barleywine and Dave’s Brewfarm Funk III got me in the door. Schmock has been branching out from Great Taste and Craft Beer Week takeovers, with events like an Epic Brewing tap takeover scheduled during Epic Systems’ (no relation, but coincidence definitely intentional) User Group Meeting in mid-September.

“In general we try to do an event at least every other month, and try to run a theme when the opportunity presents itself,” Schmock says. “People are excited about beer more than two weeks of the year, after all.”

As brewers get more pro-

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access isn’t enough to tempt your taste buds, consider the food-pairing possibilities. Tap takeovers provide what Schmock calls a “moving target” for chefs to work with. They can flex culinary muscle to match the food menu with the drinks.

Other restaurants organize beer dinners — the Coopers Tavern, Merchant and Graze, among others — when the tap lines are flush with one brewer’s product. Dexter’s will restart its food pairing and brewer-historycentric Heritage Series of tap takeovers in January.

Tap takeovers are a risk, sure, but a calculated one. The venue is betting that the deep dive into a brewer’s catalog will appeal to dedicated beer fans. The brewer is betting that, if nothing else, the exposure will pay off. And you, the drinker, are betting that you’ll be impressed enough with one brewer’s library of beers to not miss the other stuff you might have been drinking otherwise.

When it results in the venue getting a boost in new-customer traffic, the brewer earning some increased market visibility, and the beer fans’ horizons expanding, the tap takeover is a win-win-win proposition, and worth a try pretty much every time. n

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lific, the job of beer venues becomes both easier and harder in terms of running tap takeovers. What’s the strategy for picking among the many options?

“Number one, it does not matter how many beers a brewery may pop out, it must be something that we think our customers will like,” says Zabel. “There must be varied taps that are of great quality. I love getting all 24 taps filled, but I would rather have 12 fantastic taps than 24 okay taps.”

Schmock, too, knows it’s a complicated dance. “There is a lot of beer out there. Almost too much. Almost,” he jokes. “In the end, though, it comes down to the question of

‘Is this something I would want to drink with my friends?’”

The brewers have basically the same priority, so you’re not likely to encounter one prized tap and a bunch of junk. It’s the brewer’s reputation on the line as well as the venue’s.

“I always like to include some rare or special-release beers, as well as flagship brews,” says Anello Mollica, co-owner and head brewer at Central Waters in Amherst, Wis. “So the total number of taplines matters quite a bit. Also, we take into account the type of account it is, what kind of customer base it has, and what the event is for.

“We always try to get a beer that is the draw. So a beer like ‘16’ — our anniversary beer — or a beer from our experimental programs tends to draw a crowd.”

One such experimental beer that has reeled in the beer geeks (again, like yours truly) is Plums Were on Sale, a caramelcolored, red wine barrel-aged sour beer made with Italian plums. Sour beers are often the hook to tap takeovers these days, as the style’s popularity grows. Also, you have to love the dryly humorous name.

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2014