Drink 42: Hungry Like The Wolf Is Fire

The Name: Hungry Like The Wolf Is Fire                                                                             

The Bar: Joe's (480 Amsterdam Ave., NYC)

The Story Behind The Name: Bless me father, for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last post. Sorry to the fans of this blog--I'll try to order more weird drinks with more consistency! Although, in reality, the problem isn't that I haven't been ordering weird drinks, it's that I haven't been writing about them. In fact, a month ago, I played What's That Drink and just haven't had a chance to write about it until now.

One of this blog's most avid fans (and one of those waiting most patiently during this two month hiatus) is my friend Christine. Christine has been following What's That Drink since the beginning, and was present when I ordered The Murdered Moose. Christine recently visited New York City and said she was determined to once again appear on this blog. So one night, I met up with Christine, her girlfriend (and my friend) Cheyenne, and her friend (and my new friend) Katie. We decided to do a mini barhop on the Upper West Side, so a What's That Drink cocktail was bound to happen. We just had to figure out what drink to get.

Me and Christine at The Dead Poet

Our answer came while we were in The Dead Poet, where I'd ordered The Lord of Sealand. Among The Dead Poet's many charms is a jukebox with a great song selection. Luckily for us, no one played Tom Jones' "What's New, Pussycat?" But even more luckily, someone did play "Hungry Like the Wolf." The reason this was so lucky was that, on top of just being a great song, Katie had a particular anecdote about it. One night when Katie was particularly drunk, she happened to hear the song and was struck by how good it was. And it was so good that she wanted everyone to know. So long after the song was over she began wandering over to people to inform them that "Hungry Like The Wolf is Fire."

She had a variety of responses to this, with many people agreeing that, yes, that song is "fire," but others simply looking confused and replying, "...okay?" Still, Katie was undeterred by this skepticism. She was so determined to let the world know that "Hungry Like the Wolf is Fire" that she tweeted it at 1:00 in the morning.

  There's something about the wording of the phrase that just makes it particularly funny. For example, using the word "fire" as an adjective for cool. I must admit that I'd never heard this particular turn of phrase before. I've certainly heard the term "on fire," but never simply "fire." Since getting this drink, I've asked people whether they've ever heard someone use "fire" in this context before. Like "That's so fire!!!!" But no one had. Until, completely out of context, I was at work and I heard someone say it. So it appears to be a select term that is very popular with anyone who's four years younger than me. Yet, hearing the phrase, even if you haven't heard it before, you still know what Katie was trying to say. And, I think, that pretty much everyone would agree that she's correct. Hungry Like the Wolf IS fire.

Ordering The Drink: We left The Dead Poet so we could get the drink elsewhere. Partly because I've already ordered a custom drink at The Dead Poet, and partly because there's no shortage of great bars along Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side. This is the neighborhood I grew up in, and I can vouch that Amsterdam used to have nothing of note, but has really taken off in the past few years. And there are a ton of great bars lining the avenue starting in the high 70's. One of the better ones is Joe's, which has both good food and good drinks. We had also been there earlier in the evening, and knew that one bartender in particular--a good-natured and jovial guy with a big bushy beard--would probably get really excited by the What's That Drink challenge. As we walked back into Joe's, he saw us and waved.

We didn't sit at the bar, though, we got a table, so after a little while, a waitress came over to take our drink order. As I explained the idea behind ordering a drink based on the name, I included my typical caveat that, if the bartender didn't want to do this, I'd completely understand. "Oh no," our waitress replied, "he'll DEFINITELY want to do this." After I said the name of the drink, she smiled. "I already know what I'd do for this," she said, "but we'll see what he comes up with."

After a little bit, she came back with the drinks, grinning. "He had the same exact idea as I did," she said.

The Drink:

Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire
Angostura Bitters
Sugar
Water

Assessment of Drink: Anyone familiar with cocktails will immediately look at these ingredients and go "Why, that's an Old Fashioned!" And you're right--it IS an Old Fashioned. But it's an Old Fashioned made with cinnamon whiskey. And, frankly, I'm amazed that I've never had a cinnamon whiskey old fashioned before because that's an absolutely brilliant idea. The Old Fashioned has always been one of the most subtle cocktails, and one that really highlights the whiskey, using slight additions like bitters, sugar, and water, to transform the whiskey into a separate mixed drink. And while whiskey purists will always prefer the regular plain Old Fashioned thank you very much, there are now some really good flavored whiskeys in the world that are worth trying, and logically, the way an Old Fashioned works with regular whiskey, it works just as well with flavored whiskeys. It's, at the very least, an intriguing idea.

The one downside to this is that flavored whiskeys--and cinnamon whiskey in particular--does tend to put the flavoring front and center. Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire is VERY cinnamon, and while I really enjoyed the drink, having the whiskey's flavor intensified by the bitters and sugar means that you taste the flavor even more. I mean, you could smell the cinnamon as soon as the drink was placed before us, and I do think that--although it would have violated the simplicity of an Old Fashioned--the drink as a whole might have benefited from having something else to cut down on the cinnamon flavor. I know that Katie in particular, the one for whom the drink was named, found the cinnamon REALLY overpowering. So, while I definitely liked the drink and would recommend it, my recommendation comes with the caveat to make sure you REALLY like cinnamon whiskey if you want to try and make/order this drink for yourself. Personally, I think that if you want to get a flavored Old Fashioned, a subtler flavor like Jack Daniel's Honey might be the more popular choice.

Does It Live Up To The Name: The thing is that, whether the cinnamon flavor was overpowering or not, this drink matched the name PERFECTLY. The word "Fire" was in the drink, so I would have been disappointed if cinnamon was not front and center. Our friendly bartender at Joe's absolutely nailed it in terms of matching the drink to the name. When I come up with these cocktail names, and try to guess what my bartender will come up with, I typically break the drink name into words. So I was thinking, "What will the bartender do to evoke a Wolf in this drink?" But, stupidly, I didn't think of the obvious route to actually acknowledge the song. At this point, Hungry Like the Wolf is a classic--it's a familiar song that pretty much anyone knows and which has a lot of popular appeal. So taking a well-known cocktail, especially an Old Fashioned, as your starting point is a great way to evoke the spirit and feeling of the song. And then, adding cinnamon whiskey (especially one with the word "Fire" in the name) is a perfect twist to add to acknowledge the addition of fire into the drink name. It was a simple approach to the drink name, but I honestly can't think of any approach that would have been better--this really is the perfect drink to match the name. Duran Duran themselves would have been proud.

Basically what I'm trying to say was that the Hungry Like The Wolf Is Fire is fire. And even a drink I'd consider ordering again. Although perhaps with a bit more sugar or bitters to cut through the fiery cinnamon flavor.

Drink 40: The Birthday Shirt

The Name: The Birthday Shirt                                                                              

The Bar: The Tippler (425 West 15th St., NYC)

The Story Behind The Name: It was my birthday last week! Happy birthday to me! I'll pause while you sing in celebration of your favorite cocktail blogger becoming one year older!

December 4th is not just my birthday, it is also the anniversary of the only actively bad drink I've ever gotten for this blog. Regular readers will surely remember the debacle of The Brave Potato, a drink I ordered on my birthday two years ago and which left a bad taste in my mouth, both literally and figuratively. It was a disaster. It was such a disaster, in fact, that last year, I didn't even order a What's-That-Drink cocktail because I was worried I might have a similar experience. I also didn't order a drink because last year I celebrated at a bar called The Ginger Man, which has one of the best beer selections in the city, but is not exactly known for their mixed drinks. 

But this year, I decided that I had to order a birthday drink and hopefully the results would be better than two years prior.

But while I didn't order an unusual drink on my birthday last year, I did do something special at The Ginger Man: I wore a shirt. I know, you're thinking that most people wear shirts in polite society, but this wasn't just any shirt. It was a special shirt that I had never worn before. And it looks like this.

 

It might not look too weird on the clothes hanger, but this shirt is quite odd. The middle is white, but then the sleeves and collar and cuffs are not, so you look kind of like you're wearing a vest. And then the collar, cuffs, and right sleeve are all a purple checkered pattern, but the left arm is inexplicable robin's egg blue. On top of all that, there are the rather prominent black buttons which just add together to make the shirt perplexing. I had bought it because I liked how unusual it was. It's a well-made garment, but it really does look like someone made a terrible mistake while making this and accidentally put the wrong sleeve in. Or someone had started making a shirt and realized they didn't have enough white fabric, so they decided to use the purple check fabric for the rest of the shirt, but then realized they didn't have enough of THAT, so they just went, "fuck it" and made one sleeve blue because they had to finish this shirt because they were on a deadline. Maybe the shirt was put into a futuristic matter transporter with two other shirts and the atoms got jumbled out and the three shirts melded into one. No matter why this shirt was made, I like it. I like clothes that people are confused by when they look at you.

And other people liked it too! Almost everyone who came to my birthday last year said "I like that shirt," and we all theorized how this shirt had come into being. The person who seemed most enthusiastic about the shirt last year was my friend David, who recently joined me for The Psychic Squirrel a few months ago. On my birthday, we planned to meet at another time, and he told me that we could grab dinner only if I wore the same shirt. I don't think he was joking.

After my birthday, I went to put the shirt away and reflected on how well-received its first outing had been. "What a great shirt!" I thought to myself. I then proceeded to completely forget that it was in my closet and didn't wear it again.

Until last week. As I was going through my closet on my birthday last Friday, I happened to see the shirt and realized that I had to wear it again. And thus, a tradition is born. It is now officially my birthday shirt. And I, forever and always, will only wear it on my birthday. Or if someone invites me to a weird shirt party.

Ordering The Drink: One of my favorite places in New York City is Chelsea Market, a large indoor market and food hall located in, you guessed it, Chelsea. I've been there multiple times (it's one of my go-to places to take friends who are visiting the city), but I had not been to their underground bar, The Tippler. I'd heard great things about it, though, and I do love Chelsea Market, so I figured this would be the perfect place to celebrate my birthday. It was a great selection--The Tippler is a huge space, but also feels very cozy. By arriving early, I was lucky enough to nab a large wooden table right at the entrance to the bar, and as friends trickled in, I had several cocktails from off the menu and all were delicious. Plus, as you would expect from a bar located in a sprawling culinary market, the food was great. And some of the cocktails even contained ingredients that I knew I had seen in the various storefronts above--most notably a variety of unusual bitters. I immediately knew The Tippler was a great choice for a birthday celebration, and was excited to play What's That Drink there.

I will confess that I initially was going to order a drink with a different name entirely, but as had happened the year before, my shirt had once again become a topic of conversation. Most interestingly, David--my friend who had been the most intrigued by the shirt last year--not only didn't remember the shirt at all, but seemed to actively dislike it this time around. "I wore this shirt just for you!" I told him. "I really wish you hadn't," he replied.

Given that the birthday shirt was now officially a tradition, my friend Morgan suggested that I order a drink called The Birthday Shirt. I agreed that that was a good idea. Morgan was incredibly pleased with himself, and told everybody multiple times how he was the one who came up with the name. I'm letting you know this because I always believe that credit should be given where credit is due. So, thank you Morgan. I hope you appreciate this acknowledgment.

The server--who was fantastic and was attentive all night even though the bar was very busy-- came to our table and I explained the weird drink order. Our server seemed to love the idea, although she did express some slight concern about explaining it to the bartenders. She seemed to think they might feel like I was trying to test them, but I assured her that there was not a specific drink I was looking for and that anything they put in the drink I'd be happy with. "Maybe give me a hint about what type of spirit you want?" she suggested. But I refused and told her I wanted their interpretation of The Birthday Shirt without any input from me. Given her apprehension, I repeated that if they didn't want to do it, she could let me know and I'd totally understand. But she smiled mischievously and said, "Oh no, I'll definitely find someone who'll do it," and walked off.

In a bit she came back holding both a drink and a shot in her hand.

The Drink:
"Is this The Birthday Shirt?!" I asked when she'd returned.

"Well...not exactly." she put the drinks on the table. The shot was topped with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, which certainly seemed festive. "This is a birthday shot," she explained. "And the bartender said that maybe someone with a speech impediment would call it a birthday shirt." I asked her what was in the shot, and she pointed it out on the menu: lemon vodka, frangelico, and Bailey's, topped of course with whipped cream and sprinkles. Our server rolled her eyes as she relayed the bartender's explanation. It was clear that she thought they had copped out quite a bit and wished that she was bringing me something more fun, unusual, and off-the menu.

"But, on top of the birthday shot, we're also bringing you our old fashioned with muddled cherries. On the house. Hope that's okay." I assured her that a free old fashioned was always welcome and thanked her. Then, I took the shot.

Me wearing the birthday shirt, while holding the birthday shot. The old fashioned is on the table, and my friend Alex is in the background completely undermining my attempts to look dignified and wise beyond my years.

Assessment of Drink: Not much to complain about flavorwise. The crew at The Tippler knows what they're doing, and both the birthday shot and the old fashioned were excellent. Birthday cake shots are actually fairly common, but this one was well-balanced and not as overly sweet as birthday cake shots tend to be. And the old fashioned was really great. A poorly made old fashioned tends to just be watered-down whiskey, but when you have a good old fashioned you realize that the process that goes behind making this drink well really does elevate it. In this instance, they had the brilliant idea to muddle cherries along with the sugar and bitters. Rather than just getting the customary maraschino cherry garnish, there was a nice undertone of cherry throughout which didn't dominate the flavor profile but also added a nice tartness. It was very well-crafted.

When they were placed on the table, the idea was clearly that these were two separate entities. One shot, and one drink. But since they were both served in response to my order, I decided to think about how they worked as a pairing. I wondered if doing the shot right before might have had any effect on the old fashioned. Maybe it would bring out some natural sweetness of the cocktail? But...yeah it really didn't. There's no cohesion between the shot and the drink. So, my attempts to justify the two as a pairing didn't really work, and they remained separate entities in my mind. But the were delicious entities at the very least.

Does It Live Up To The Name: I guess there is some cleverness is going "Birthday Shirt sounds like Birthday Shot," although the specificity of bringing speech impediments into the equation seemed unnecessary and lightly mean-spirited. But, still, it was a little disappointing to receive two things directly off the menu. The challenge really wasn't met. And so, as far as What's That Drink is concerned, I've now struck out twice on my birthday.

But, from a non-blogging standpoint, it was still a great order. The birthday shot was fun (in fact, later in the evening, I did another round of birthday shots with my friend Nick). And it's hard to be too disappointed in a bar's service when they give you a free drink--especially one as excellent as that old fashioned. So, much like the birthday shirt itself, it's hard to know what to make of the Birthday Shirt What's That Drink experience. I may not have left with a never-before-crafted custom cocktail, but I had a great time with some great friends at a great bar. While wearing a great shirt.

Drink 38: The Curse of the Oyster Bar (Part II)

The Name: The Curse of the Oyster Bar                                                                                 

The Bar: On the Rocks (696 10th Ave., NYC)

The Story Behind The Name: A seafood restaurant called Dock's has brought nothing but bad luck to me and my family. And that bad luck continued when I got rejected by a bar when I first tried to order this drink! You can read about that experience, and about the horrible things that happened every time my family tried to eat at Dock's, in Part I here.

Ordering The Drink: A few days after I was at Death & Co., I met some more friends for drinks in Times Square. After first stopping at The Rum House, where I've had a great drink before, we left in search of a less expensive option, and settled on On The Rocks, which I'd never heard of before. Things in the theatre district tend to be a mixture of tourist traps and then great New York institutions. On The Rocks fits firmly in the latter category--it's a small place with a vast whiskey collection that has a very local and quiet feel. It's one of the few Times Square bars that really has a neighborhood feel. Plus, we discovered that they offer a 20% off discount for members of Actor's Equity, which not only made my wallet happy, but also reinforced that they are supportive of the locals (read: struggling and not struggling artists). I finished off an impeccable whiskey sour, and decided to see if I could finally get a drink called The Curse of the Oyster Bar.

The bartender--and I think the only person working in the entire bar--was a friendly and dapperly-dressed guy named Josh. I told him I had a weird request for him. "I doubt it's THAT weird," he said. "You say that NOW..." I replied and told him my request. After I gave him the name The Curse of the Oyster Bar, he was silent for a long time and lost in thought.

"I'm going to do something weird," he said.

"Great! I told you it was a weird request," I said. Soon, a drink was placed before me.

The Drink:

The Curse of the Oyster Bar

Tequila

Lemon Juice

Sugar

Frost Bitters

Whiskey float 

Assessment of Drink: As soon as Josh set this drink down, he apologized. "I made something awesome," he said, "but then I tried to add a whiskey float to it and I think I ruined it. If you don't like it, I'll make another one without the float."

But I tried it, and I liked it a lot! My friends Christa and James tasted it too and also thought it was great. Josh seemed surprised. "I guess I just know what it HAD tasted like and I liked that better. But I'm glad you like it," he said

The secret ingredient here are the frost bitters. Frost bitters, a variety of bitter I was not aware of, have a unique taste that's a bit reminiscent of menthol. It's almost medicinal but in a good way, and has a briney taste like old-fashioned licorice. Josh let me smell the bitters and it's evident that this is a very strong ingredient, and probably a difficult one to use as it would threaten to overpower any other flavor in the drink. And while it's certainly a prominent taste in The Curse of the Oyster Bar, it didn't feel like it overpowered anything. Probably due to the sugar, which softened some of the abrasiveness of the frost bitters. The sugar also tempered the lemon, highlighting its sweetness as opposed to the sour or bitter flavors. It made this a remarkably easy drink to sip. Considering that it had both whiskey and tequila, it could have easily felt too strong for most casual drinkers, but it went down very easily. The tequila and whiskey were both prominent flavors, but the combination of the frost bitters, lemon, and sugar, served well to temper the strength while still preserving the flavor. I really liked it!

But, I was curious about how disappointed Josh was with his effort. He clearly thought this drink was better without the whiskey float (a technique where the drink is layered--in this case, the whiskey was sitting on the top of the drink rather than being mixed in with the rest of it). I asked if he'd be willing to make me the same drink but without the whiskey float and he happily obliged.

The drinks look almost exactly alike.

The drinks are very different, to be sure. Despite the only difference being the whiskey, it was amazing how different these two drinks tasted. But while I liked both drinks, I didn't find this one to be so clearly superior as Josh did. I actually liked the whiskey on top--since it's not incorporated into the rest of the drink, it comes in as a bit of an aftertaste, which adds a bit more dimension to the drink I think.

But I can also understand why Josh liked the second drink better--without the whiskey in there, the tequila came through much clearer. Considering that this bar is called On The Rocks, its emphasis is less on mixed drinks and more on highlighting the quality of the spirit. And that's something that the non-whiskey version managed to do better. The various ingredients were used to enhance the tequila--the whiskey competes with it. More serious drinkers would probably agree with Josh and like the second drink more. For me, I still liked the kick of whiskey at the end--it was a nice little surprise.

Does It Live Up To The Name: My first thought is that the frost bitters make this drink fit the name. They had a slightly briny flavor that could arguably put one in mind of the sea. It's a loose connection, but it's one that I made as I considered why this drink might be called The Curse of the Oyster Bar.

But I wasn't completely sold. The connection to oysters was tenuous. But even more lacking was the actual "curse" part. There was nothing sinister about this drink--nothing to imply a curse. So, I ultimately didn't really think it lived up to the name too much. Especially since Josh already used a layering technique by floating the whiskey, it might have been cool if there had been a floating of something like absinthe, or some sort of red mixer that could have made a big impression and maybe implied some sort of curse. When I think of curses, I don't usually think of lemons.

That being said, I bet that Josh had a reason for assigning this drink to the given name. He put a lot of thought into it and crafted this drink with much precision. So I have a feeling that if I had inquired as to why he came up with this drink, he might have had a good explanation.

I'll definitely be returning to On The Rocks--and not just for the Equity member discount! It's a Times Square bar that doesn't feel like a Times Square bar. That might be because it's technically in Hell's Kitchen, not Midtown, but you say tomato and I say tomato. It has a great selection of whiskey and beer, and is a nice quiet oasis from the hustle and bustle of one of NYC's busiest areas. The drinks were good enough that they might have shaken the curse of Dock's off of me for good. And, after being rejected the first time I tried to order this drink, it was great to find a place that made me TWO drinks instead of just one.