Presidents Pub rebels against summer drink trends
Katie Roupe / O-R An Old Fashioned, Rosemary Lemon Law, Teddy’s Tennis Time, The Great Beer Tale and a Manhattan are a handful of the whiskey drinks that Presidents Pub features.
Katie Roupe / O-R Presidents Pub bartender Regina Newman pours an Old Fashioned over ice before serving up the cocktail.
Katie Roupe / O-R The Rosemary Lemon Law is made with rosemary lemonade infused with rosemary, rosemary and lavender bitters and summer shandy. The drink also contains “Rebellion Rye” whiskey from Red Pump Spirits in Washington.
Katie Roupe / O-R Regina Newman shakes up a Rosemary Lemon Law cocktail at Presidents Pub.
Katie Roupe / O-R Presidents Pub cocktail chef Steve Kowalczuk carefully adds ice to a Summer Vacation cocktail.
For the first time since Prohibition, legal whiskey is being produced in the city of Washington in time for the city’s annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival. And it’s the first time local restaurants and bars have been able to incorporate a local spirit into their cocktails.
Whiskey isn’t often thought of as a summer beverage, even when watered down or mixed with a favorite cola. But cocktail chef Steve Kowalczuk of The Presidents Pub on Main Street is looking to buck the trend and make bourbon believers out of skeptics.
Three new cocktails on the summer drink menu lean heavily on Red Pump Spirits’ just-introduced “Rebellion Rye.” The rye is a 90-proof whiskey that pays tribute to the feisty farmers who produced the grain for “Monongahela Mash” and were ultimately part of the uprising against the excise tax in 1791. Red Pump owner Ed Belfoure, who is just doors down from the pub, said he is still using local farmers for grain as much as he can, but demand for the first distilled batches had him reaching for rye in other counties. This rye is the central flavor to the three drinks.
“We’re working with grapefruit IPAs, orange and lemon shandies and those types of summer beers and flavors, so we wanted to incorporate those, as well as use them as inspiration for some new cocktails and put a spin on some classics,” Kowalczuk said.
Rosemary Lemon Law
This is a drink that doesn’t need a lawyer or a refund. The thirst-quenching take on a boozy summer beverage features rosemary lemonade, which is infused with rosemary by brewing it like a tea. Rosemary and lavender bitters bring herbacious and floral spice to the front while the puckery lemon flavors finish clean and invite another sip. After it’s topped with a splash of summer shandy, Kowalczuk says this is a beverage that will bring beer and bourbon fans together. Summer has always been about clear spirit cocktails. Kowalczuk knew customers would be skeptical to shy away from standbys that cater to tequila and vodka. But the Lemon Law is a drink that blends the profile of the rye with natural ingredients and still allows the whiskey to come through without being liquor-forward. Served tall over ice in a beer glass and garnished with a rosemary sprig, the no-frills presentation won’t deter those who might worry about a tiny umbrella showing up.
The Great Beer Tale
As the name partly implies, a good story should be served up alongside this beer-focused beverage. Kowalczuk said he didn’t have one – at least one that could be printed in a magazine. But it also alludes to the fact that it’s a hybrid cocktail, leaning squarely on the flavors of orange and the clean taste of a white wheat Witbier. For this beer tale, it’s Full Pint’s “White Lightning.” The beer froths up a foamy, not-as-sweet-as-the-other-two-cocktails flavor alongside the rye and rosemary lemonade. It’s kissed with oil from a slice of orange before the peel is dropped into this crossover drink that appeals to those seeking a more traditional and dry beer flavor. The orange and lemon flavors perfectly complement a wheat beer, and offer a slight sweetness to balance the dry profile. Part of the switch to summer drinks is making sure outside patio customers are swilling and chilling and not looking for a refill. The incorporation of beer and simple, natural ingredients assures waitstaff can easily look at the drink menu and whip one up quickly if a bartender isn’t at hand. “It may look and sound pretentious when you describe these drinks, but we really are paring back to simple four- or five-ingredient cocktails so they’re easy to make, but also so you can taste these flavors that you usually only associate with summer,” Kowalczuk said. “But like the Lemon Law, this may become a new standard year-round.”
Teddy’s Tennis Time
This is the real deal without the chamomile. Well actually it does use tea – a black tea – in honor of President Teddy Roosevelt’s take on a mint julep. But when tasting, it’s more like a souped-up, natural-ingredient Long Island iced tea. “This is pretty much the mix he drank when he was playing tennis,” Kowalczuk said. This is perhaps the most involved drink of the three, and it turned out to be the favorite for many taste testers. Even those who hate mint juleps – or mint at all – found the drink complex yet refreshing. In addition to the Rebellion Rye, another spirit is added: E&J VSOP brandy. (A quick primer on brandy: VSOP stands for “very superior old pale,” or rather a younger brandy in which the distilled grape wine is casked for at least four years. XO, or “extra old,” is casked for at least six years. But the latter often comes with more notes of caramel and vanilla compared to the VSOP varieties of brandy, which provide more ripe fruit flavors that blend better in cocktails). With a sugar-in-the-raw simple syrup at the base, the spirits are added along with fresh mint and water and topped with black tea. The brownish color of the black tea cascades down into the rest of the drink, encouraging a customer to stir it. And that’s just what is intended. So it may be the most interactive drink a customer has had since dropping a shot into a beer glass. “This is really a comfort drink,” Kowalczuk said, “because Long Islands, juleps – they’re so familiar and a ready-made favorite for a lot of folks. So this appeals to both those crowds.”
Speakeasy Secrets
The new drinks accompany classic cocktails and Prohibition-era throwbacks. Another throwback to Prohibition and the era’s hush-hush speakeasy bars will be a semi-secret drink menu advertised on the restaurant’s social media accounts. The secret menu concept first found mass popularity with fast-food chains about a decade ago, like In-N-Out Burger on the West Coast. Ask San Franciscans about “animal style” burgers or fries and they’ll tell you the cheesy, mustard-laced grilled onion infusion is an open secret. Once one finds social media hashtags like #hackthemenu, then it’s realized that secret menus are more of an open secret among brands’ superfans than an exclusive club of closely guarded confidential recipes. But Kowalczuk said he wants to lean closer to the latter concept than ever before, only briefly advertising drinks on Instagram, Snapchat and other digital platforms to encourage patrons to ask for them with a secret password. “Prohibition’s speakeasy bars had a secret knock or password, and you wouldn’t gain entry unless you knew it. This will be our secret entrance. Unless you know the name of the drink and the password, you won’t be able to order it. It encourages some intrigue and interest among certain drink fans. So if you overhear someone ordering a secret drink and say, ‘Hey! Give me one of those, too,’ unless you can give the bartender the password – well, you can order something else until you found it.”