Drink 39: The Cotton Frog

The Name: The Cotton Frog                                                                                 

The Bar:  Bathtub Gin (132 9th Ave., NYC)

The Story Behind The Name: It's hard to believe that this blog is two years old. Two years ago, I happened to be at a bar with some good friends and, on a whim, ordered a drink with a weird name.

Now, two years and almost 40 drinks later, this has become a thing that I do.

I'm very lucky to have regular readers and many wonderful friends who have fueled my quest to irritate and/or intrigue every bartender I meet with my really weird request. And I would like to thank all of those bartenders who have indulged me and made me weird drinks--it has been heartening to know that my request is almost always greeted with enthusiasm (ALMOST always...) and I've had some really phenomenal and unusual drinks thanks to the many bartenders who have embraced this challenge. It's really been a blast.

And so, of course, I had to get a drink to celebrate the two-year anniversary of the blog. Last year, my friend Ryan and I grabbed a drink to celebrate, since he was present at this blog's creation. And this year, we made plans to meet again, and went to a phenomenal bar called Bathtub Gin. Now, all we needed was a custom name.

For the one-year anniversary, I ordered the Honey Milked From the Teats of Zeus in a blatant attempt to receive the most delicious drink I would ever taste in my life (and the bartender came pretty damn close). This year, I wanted to make it a little more personal. Most people are familiar with the tradition that, for wedding anniversaries, there are different types of gifts you customarily get due based on the number of years being celebrated. So, the one-year anniversary, you traditionally get a gift made of paper. After twenty five years, it's a gift made of silver. After fifty years, it's gold. I did some research and found out the customary two-year present is a gift made of cotton. I also found out that the sixth anniversary present is traditionally a gift of "candy or iron," which is super weird because those are two very different things. But, I figured that cotton would be a great word to include in the drink name. One, it would honor the fact that this blog is two years old. And, secondly, we were going to a bar that specializes in gin drinks. GIN drinks. Get it? Cotton gin? Like the cotton gin?! THE COTTON GIN?!?! Eh? Eh?!?!

That pun is great and you know it. Shut up.

But I needed more to this drink name. And I thought back to the very first What's That Drink cocktail--The Frog Hitler. And so I decided to order a cocktail called The Cotton Frog. This way, I could pay homage to the drink that started this all, and celebrate the two years of ordering weird drinks at once!

And, The Cotton Frog sounds much more appealing than The Cotton Hitler.

Ordering The Drink: Bathtub Gin is a wonderful speakeasy in New York. It's hidden in the wall of Stone Street Coffee in Chelsea, so you can have coffee during the day and then drinks at night. Once you go in, it's a really neat place, which fully embraces the speakeasy theme even more than other hidden bars I've been to. As we were going in, we were informed that there would be a surprise burlesque show that night. We were also told that, because of the burlesque show, we were absolutely not allowed to take any pictures or video. If we were seen using our cell phones, someone from the bar would confiscate it. That was enough for me to not take any pictures.

But if Ryan and I had been there on a non-burlesque night, I would have taken multiple pictures of the cool interior of this place. It has a lovely Victorian theme, and the centerpiece of the whole place is a giant copper bathtub in the middle of the room.

But, most importantly, the drinks were great. I first ordered a gin-based drink called The Sherry Cobbler, since gin is their specialty. But Ryan got a fantastic whiskey based drink and, even better, later got a a fascinating drink served hot that contained ale and sherry and all kinds of great things. It tasted like a fancy beer float crossed with eggnog crossed with a hot toddy. It was beautiful.

And it was really a pleasure watching the bartenders work. The bar was very crowded, even on a Tuesday night, so we didn't get to really study the bartenders, but it was clear that they were crafting these drinks with precision. We saw bartenders lighting orange peels on fire and measuring in fancy beakers and grating nutmeg with a flourish. It was great to watch.

And so I was very glad when the bartender agreed to my drink request for The Cotton Frog. Without hesitation he said, "Alright!" and set to work. In not too long, I got my drink.

The Drink:  

Since I had turned my phone off in fear of the bouncer's warning, I didn't get a picture of this drink, but it looked...for lack of a better word...fluffy. It was white and foamy and delicate. Almost graceful, if you can use such a word to describe a cocktail's appearance. I asked the bartender what was in it, and he began to rattle off the ingredients. But, as I've already mentioned, the bar was crowded, and the noise level was pretty high. When he finished, I said, "I missed all of that," and he jokingly said, "Well that's the only time I'm saying it!" He then repeated the list of ingredients...and I think I got all of them? I'll be honest, I might have missed something. But I'm about 90% sure this is the correct drink recipe. Which is pretty sure, but I still wanted to provide a disclaimer.

Gin

Lime juice

Cream

Egg

Green Chartreuse

 

Assessment of Drink: This was incredible. Really, absolutely delicious. I'm a sucker for cocktails that include lime in them. As one of the more vibrant of the citrus fruits, lime is perhaps the most consistent way to add a dash of acid to a drink, which makes the flavors of the drink bright and refreshing. Also, as acidity tends to do, it serves to highlight the flavors it interacts with, and that's always nice when it comes to cocktails. Especially when you have such a subtle flavor such as gin.

The lime was certainly the most assertive flavor, but not too overpowering. You could still taste the freshness of the cream and the subtle sweetness of the chartreuse. It was, in many ways, a dessert drink. But unlike most dessert drinks, it was not too sweet thanks to the lime.

The texture was also on point--the drink itself had a lot of foam which clung to the sides of the glass and which I licked clean in a most undignified manner. The drink itself, under all the foam, was velvety and buttery and lush, but still quite light and airy.

And, it should be noted, this is the type of drink that only a trained bartender can make. I certainly wouldn't be able to replicate it--especially considering the use of the egg, this drink showcased a lot of skill and know-how.

When I closed out my tab, the bartender asked how the drink was. I thought for a second and said "It was like drinking a key lime pie cloud." I'm pretty happy with that description. It's surprisingly accurate, I think, and it also sounds marketable. "Try The Cotton Frog today, it's like drinking a key lime pie cloud!" This is one of the select drinks I've gotten for this blog where it was good enough that I actually think it could be on the cocktail menu at the bar--if anyone from Bathtub Gin is reading this, consider The Cotton Frog for the next time you change your menu. All the cocktails I tried there were delicious, but I think The Cotton Frog was actually my favorite.

Does It Live Up To The Name: Yes it does! The Cotton Frog was, I think, a deceptively challenging name. It would be easy to show cotton. Even if you don't think of my groanworthy cotton-gin-pun, making a completely white drink would automatically make the word "cotton" make sense. And the word frog would also be easy to show--just make a green drink. But it's impossible to have both a green and a white drink.

The bartender at Bathtub Gin was able to find a way around this. He went with a white drink, but the fact that it had both lime and green chartreuse was enough, to me, to represent the idea of a green frog. So it worked very well. It was both a delicious drink, and an excellent fit for the name.

Bathtub Gin was a really wonderful place. Any bar that you have to enter by going through a hidden panel in a wall is automatically cool, and Bathtub Gin really goes all out with its atmosphere. Unfortunately, Ryan and I left shortly after the burlesque show begins. The bar was busy, and all of the tables where you can actually sit and relax were reserved (definitely try to make a reservation if you plan on going). The room was too crowded and I was too short to be able to see anything. Although I know that the pre-show act did something that involved fire because there was a sudden flash and everyone went "ooooh," and then the first act performed to a very cool cover of Besame Mucho.

But despite our early departure, Bathtub Gin was a rousing success, and the perfect place to celebrate two years of this blog. Many thanks to my readers these past two years--and I look forward to sharing more drinks and more stories with you all!

Drink 35: The Twin Scouts

The Name: The Twin Scouts                                                                                

The Bar: Nitecap (120 Rivington Street, NYC)

The Story Behind The Name: Despite the fact that about 3% of the world's population are twins, the existence of twins seems to fascinate those who are not twins themselves. Nearly all of William Shakespeare's comedies feature confusion involving twins, and require a lengthy explanation of the events that occurred because everyone's so confused, even though all would have been cleared up if anyone had just referred to anyone else by name. In pop culture, when twins are not presented as confusing, they're presented as undeniably creepy, despite the fact that all they want is someone to play with them.

"We were thinking backgammon or something, but we also have parcheesi if that's more your speed. Our mom made snacks."

But, more than being just confusing or creepy, the most consistent representation of twins in pop culture is that they are identical in every way. The fact that they are twins is generally offered to the audience in lieu of giving the characters any discernible personality.

Like these twins from the show Doug. You can tell which one is which because they have different shirts!

Of course, such depictions of twins are wildly inaccurate. While twins are often very close, they are their own individuals and have their own personalities, interests, and lives which exist outside one another. Surely in real life there isn't a creepy set of twins who do everything together and basically act as one entity!

Well, that's what I thought, until my mom told me about two twins she went to college with. Meet Larry and Terry.

Larry and Terry, in my mom's yearbook.

But when I think of Larry and Terry, I don't call them Larry and Terry. I call them Lawwy and Tewwy, because aside from their matching faces and haircuts, they also had matching speech impediments--infantile R's that I feel bad for laughing at but which undeniably make this story all the funnier. Larry and Terry were practically indistinguishable from each other, right down to wearing the same outfit and having the same haircut. Speaking of their haircuts, they both had matching buzzcuts because they were boy scouts. Being boy scouts was their only activity.

My mom didn't know much about Larry and Terry. the mostly kept to themselves, doing scouting-related things. But she remembers them very distinctly. They were literally never apart and would often be seen walking in the hall together. But, for some reason, when walking in the hall, instead of holding their heads upright, their heads would be kind of bent towards each other, forming a sort of arch between them. My mom and her friends formed a theory that this must have been how their necks were positioned in the womb.

But this was not their quirkiest trait. My mom's most distinct memory of Larry and Terry comes from seeing them as they were studying in the library. They would get their textbooks out, and Terry would turn to his brother and they would have the following exchange.

"Awe you weady, Lawwy?"

"I'm weady, Tewwy."

They then proceeded to turn their pages at the exact same time. They would repeat this exchange at the end of every page, and would only turn to the next page when the other was ready. I mean, weady. This was not an isolated incident, this is just how they studied.

Pictuwed: a gif of a pewson who is weady.

If you don't find the visual of these two guys saying this and turning their pages in unison incredibly hilarious, then I can't help you. Try reading it aloud. Ever since my mom told me about Lawwy and Tewwy, this became a part of my life. If I'm doing work or reading a newspaper, or doing anything that requires an exaggerated turning of a page, then before I turn it, 90% of the time I first say "Awe you weady, Lawwy? I'm weady Tewwy!" and turn the page, giggling to myself. Then I look around and realize that nobody else is there and I worry about my own sanity. 

But not as worried as I am about the sanity of Lawwy and Tewwy. Look at Larry's eyes. LOOK AT HIS EYES.

It's also worth noting that not only were their first names similar, but their middle names were almost identical as well. My mom doesn't remember exactly, but she thinks one of their middle names was Gilman and the other was Stilman. Seriously, the inhuman similarities between them and their odd behavior makes them sound like the Coneheads. That would make a lot of sense, actually.

Ordering The Drink: I was getting a drink with my friend Ryan, who has appeared several times on this blog and was in fact there at What's That Drink's conception! We went to a neat little spot called Nitecap--a great little place that I'd heard a lot about but never been to before. I'd read that it had a speakeasy vibe to it. Apparently it was one of those places that you would walk right by without noticing, because it was behind an unmarked, underground door. I love hidden places like that, and so Ryan and I planned to meet there.

When we arrived we discovered the following sign clearly showing where the bar was.

There's an arrow and everything.

So, reports of how secretive Nitecap is were fairly exaggerated--it even had a big red sign outside the storefront. My guess is it USED to be secluded away, but then nobody would go in, so they decided to scrap that and go ahead and let people know they were there. But, even with these changes, once you go inside it still has the speakeasy feel. It's very dark and atmospheric--you really do feel like you're in some hidden, unknown spot.

As part of this atmosphere, it was really, really dark in Nitecap, and I hate taking flash pictures in dark bars because I think it's obnoxious. So I didn't get any pictures of the very hip interior. And I also didn't get any pictures of my first drink, which is a shame because it was great. It was called the See No Evil, and was served in a glass in the shape of a monkey covering its eyes. It was delicious, and it summed up what I think the idea behind Nitecap really is. The bar feels very sophisticated and cool, but has lots of touches of fun and whimsy. Along with things like a drink served in a monkey, the menu itself was almost childlike, with a wacky, bright red font, and past menus have had things like word searches and "spot the difference" pictures. It's a fun place, but they also know their mixed drinks and the menu, which divides their drinks into various categories by type of cocktail, features twists on classic cocktails, and shows a keen eye for the history of mixology. It's the type of place that cocktail experts will appreciate, but those who know nothing about cocktails will enjoy just as much.

After I finished my monkey drink, I asked our waiter if the bartender would make me a drink called the Twin Scouts. I had actually never considered using Lawwy and Tewwy as inspiration for a drink, so the name came at Ryan's suggestion.

Ryan at the top of the stairs leading to Nitecap. You'we the best, Wyan!

In not too long, my dwink was weady, and the Twin Scouts was placed on my table.

The Drink:
Laphroaig Scotch Whiskey
Famous Grouse Scotch Whiskey
Passion Fruit
Pineapple Juice
Lime juice
Garnish with pineapple (both the fruit and the leaves), maraschino cherry, and a cocktail umbrella

(I know I said I don't like to take pictures in dark bars, but...I had to get a picture of this absurd garnish. I'd already taken a few sips, and eaten the pineapple and cherry, but...just look at that umbrella and those pineapple leaves! Amazing. It was like drinking a tropical forest.)

Assessment of Drink: This was great--an unsurprisingly tropical drink, given the ingredients and the colorful garnish. Passion fruit is a fairly dominant flavor, and sure enough, it's the first thing you taste. At my first sip, I thought the passion fruit was actually too overpowering, and that it had drowned out the two scotches. I was wrong, though--the scotch was definitely there, but would kind of sneak up on you. Instead of being the dominant flavor, you'd get a distinct flavor of scotch as an aftertaste. This was a very pleasant surprise, with whiskey being the flavor that lingered on your tongue. This aftertaste also prevented the drink from being too sweet. Ultimately, it was a fun drink that is deceptively complex. It's a drink that you'll like whether you like to drink straight scotch or margaritas.

Does It Live Up To The Name: Sure. When the waiter brought the drink to our table, he initially just said "There are two types of whiskey," and didn't specify the type until afterwards. I hadn't thought too much about the name, but this is an obvious and clever solution--by having two varieties of whiskey, the "Twin" part of the drink's name is already taken care of.

I'm less sold on how this drink conveys the Scout part. The drink was distinctly tropical in flavor, and there's really nothing tropical about the scouts.

"This badge is for the limbo. And this badge is for surfing. And this badge is for a complete lack of a suntan. And this badge is for..."

The waiter actually explained why there was a tropical theme. Not sure what sort of drink I wanted, the bartender knew I had ordered the See No Evil already, which also has a bit of a tropical bent, so he had stayed in that theme. That still doesn't explain how the "Scouts" were represented in this drink. Maybe, because it had two scotches in it, and Scotch kind of sounds like Scout? Maybe he actually thought I was asking for a Twin Scotch--it wouldn't be the first time a bartender had misheard my drink order. But, no matter what, the Scout aspect is, I think, definitely missing from the drink, and that holds me back from being 100% sold on thinking this drink matches the name. Scouts, after all, have pretty much nothing to do with passion fruit.

But, despite this, I still was a big fan of the drink, and of Nitecap as a bar. It's a great, semi-secret place and I would definitely return. Next time I'm in the area and someone asks where's a good place to get a drink, I'll certainly be weady with a suggestion.