High Spirits

HIGH SPIRITS BEGINNING to END

by

AUDARSHIA TOWNSEND

With this year’s reboot of The Great Gatsby and the continuing popularity of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Americans remain fascinated with the Roaring Twenties. The romanticizing of a colorful era filled with images of flirty flappers, dangerously dapper gangsters and Prohibition never seems to go away—especially when it comes to cocktails.

At Chicago’s Berkshire Room, located in the trendy River North neighborhood, the craft cocktail lounge pays homage to the 1920’s in décor and drinks. The bar’s interior boasts its predecessor’s original terrazzo composite flooring as well as steel shutters from a Kentucky bourbon distillery. And the menu, of course, effortlessly dances between classic and contemporary elixirs, with the “barrel finished” cocktail list offering up some satisfying gems.

Of note is the newest addition, Beginning to End, made with rum, scotch and rye and aged approximately four to seven months in Atlantico rum barrels. Created by Berkshire bartender Johnny Costello, the celebratory sipper boasts the type of back story that would put a smile on Al Capone’s face. According to Berkshire Room partner Benjamin Schiller, Costello came up with the name of the cocktail as he traced the travels of a barrel’s “beginning to end.” In the United States it’s illegal to use barrels more than once to age spirits (e.g., gin, vodka, whiskey), but bartenders skirt around the law by aging cocktails in used casks.

The time Beginning to End spent in the Atlantico rum barrels produces richer, heavier nuances, says Schiller. The finished product arrives to the customer in a coupe, showcasing a deep, mahogany hue.

BERKSHIRE ROOM | JOHNNY COSTELLO

15 E. OHIO ST. | CHICAGO, IL 60611 LOBBY LEVEL OF ACME HOTEL WWW.THEBERKSHIREROOM.COM 312.894.0800

beginning to end

Amended recipe by Johnny Costello on page 86 »