The bar has been raised this week.   Ashley and I joined the rest of the cool kids looking for the latest place to be seen on the Westside for this week’s drinks.  The word about town was that the place to be was [tag]Ormsby’s – a pub in the White Provisions building[/tag].  After a quick walk-through, we decided that we would save Ormsby’s for another Random Atlanta quest – maybe best beer list? best use of in-door games involving sand? bar with the most patrons wearing white Polos with the collars popped?

Instead, we went upstairs to the bar at [tag]Abattoir[/tag].  As soon as we walked through the door, we knew we had made the right decision for this week’s drinks.  This space is amazing – understated and classy, yet comfortable.  The menu features a small and ever-changing list of hand-crafted cocktails featuring house-infused liquors, homemade mixers, and wonderfully diverse flavors.

We had trouble deciding what to order because our bartender – and the artist behind the yummy goodness we soon consumed – is also mesmerizingly handsome.  But we should not objectify our bartenders/mixologists/makers-of-goodness, and you should know our bar-setting high ratings this week are not because we were hypnotized by Brian’s blue eyes.  They are because these drinks justify the entire 52 Week adventure.

We both ordered gin drinks, but you would never know it because they were completely different,yet equally delicious.  We paced ourselves and savored every sip.

I opted for the Westside.  Why not, when in the  Westside?  This cocktail featured house-made grapefruit soda, a dry London Gin, and Fernet Branca.  I suppose we should not be blogging about drinks if we have never heard of Fernat Branca, but I went to the website and still can’t tell you exactly what it is.  “Orange bitters” is just too much of an over-simplification.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

The Westside:

Presentation: 5 olives.  Served on the rocks with a nice orange rind and a wooden stirrer.  No straw.  It would be a sad waste of this cocktail to suck it through a plastic straw.

Taste: 5 olives.  Perfect summertime gin drink.  I do not even care for grapefruit, but the house-made grapefruit soda was not too tart and was carefully balanced with the other flavors.  I had to resist the urge to clap.  Brian was way too cool for clapping, and he would have kicked us out.

Creativity: 5 olives.  I love when a drink is perfectly balanced and utilizes ingredients I simply will never have at home.  I will never make grapefruit soda.  Never.

Overall: 5 olives. What else can I say?

Ashley had the equally divine Chimney Swift, or as she kept calling it, the “Chimney Sweep .”   The Chimney Swift consists of house-infused blueberry gin, Vya, fresh-squeezed lime juice, orange curacao and thyme.  Vya is apparently “America’s Aperitif” and is “recognized as the finest vermouth on the planet.”

Presentation: 5 olives.  Served up in a stemless cocktail glass with a dark liquor-infused cherry waiting for you at the bottom of the glass.

Taste: 5 olives.  Neither Ashley not I care for sugary-sweet cocktails, and we get worried about any blueberry-infused anything.  But again, the house-infused blueberry gin was not too sweet and was perfectly paired with the citrus flavors and “America’s Aperitif.”  I though Ashley was going to pass out. Plus, she was so excited to not have cocktail envy.  She loved my drink as well, but felt hers way the best one ever made, ever.

Creativity: 5 olives.  Excellent combination of ingredients.  Who knew? The thyme was a nice touch.

Overall: 5 olives.  Bliss.

Brian carefully measured and stirred each of our drinks using precision.  Brian is not a fan of shaking very many cocktails.  And I would not question Brian on these things.

We can’t break our rule of reviewing more than 2 drinks, but the house-made ginger beer in a unique twist on this year’s “it” drink – the Dark and Stormy – also was wonderful and had a lovely presentation – pictured below.  Overall, we think anything you ordered on this menu would be amazing.   We also think that had we started our adventure here, we would have been more stingy with the “5 olives” rating.  Others who follow will face an up-hill battle to top Abattior.

We have decided to start going to real bars around the city.  We tend to go to restaurants for this drinking task – but only because we love food so much too.  This past weekend, though, we fancied it up a bit and got all dolled up and headed to the [tag]W Downtown[/tag] for the [tag]Drinkshop[/tag] experience.  Our good friends, Sierra and Ryan got all classy as well (not that they aren’t already classy) and joined us.

And what an experience it was! A Real Bar!  There is nothing better than watching a drink made with no soda guns, no pre-made nothing.  Everything is fresh – the fruit, the vegetable extractions, the 300 pound block of ice…it is all fabulous.  We were lucky to have Mitchell make drinks for us.  He explained every detail of the drink and made them with such precision…Alison and I could not figure out how they work in haste when the bar is actually full.  (We of course got there at 7pm.)

Mitchell made a few drinks – but we are rating only two:  The Devil’s Daisy (his own very unique concoction) and the Honey Paloma Fizz.  We will start with the Devil’s Daisy which included a number of items: (I hope I got them all) fresh lime juice, simple syrup, American Absinthe (St. George), mint, egg white, and Cointreau. Wow.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Alison rated the Devil’s Daisy pictured below:

Presentation: 5 olives.  The egg whites created a gorgeous frothy top and the bitters Mitchell spread on top of the egg whites made a delightful little drawing that looked kinda sorta like flowers.

Taste: 4 olives.  This is a difficult one.  The drink was very different and any kind of Absinthe in a drink can really mess with one’s head. But, the Absinthe was not over powering and the lime juice and cointreau helped make it receive 4 olives on the voting scale.

Creativity: 5 olives:  Mitchell deserves an award for this one.  Excellent and well planned concoction.

Overall: 4.5 olives.  Not a drink I would order every day (or every month for that matter) but it was worth a taste and it was fun watching precious Mitchell (as Ashley called him) prepare it for us.

Sierra had the honor of rating her drink.  The Honey Paloma Fizz consisted of lavender infused tequila, honey, ginger, grapefruit, lime, soda and was served tall.  Her post follows:

“The whatever it was called was a refreshing twist on the classic margarita. This is the sort of margarita that Nancy Reagan, an American icon of class, elegance and Republicanism, would drink in between séance communications with Ronnie. She, nor I, would dare “just say no” to this drink.

Presentation: 3 olives.  I suppose a simple presentation is in order for a simple drink. The highlight was the enormous ice-phallus.

Creativity:  3 olives. The drink consisted of an artful combination of flavors. I like the use of lavender – a beautiful flower in name, appearance and essence. I am rating it a 3 because I feel that the bartender/mixologist community is getting too high on themselves and their infused liquors, and I want to do my part to keep their egos in check.

Taste: 4 olives. Drinking this was like drinking a margarita flavored soda. It was the kind of drink that could get you into trouble. I prefer a little kick on the end of a cocktail – a little something to remember it by, like a twenty dollar bill on the dresser – and this was sadly absent.

Overall: 3.5 – Because Ashley’s was better.”

We certainly shall be back to Drinkshop.  Maybe we will come a little later in the evening when it becomes the real hip and sexy joint it is known for.

*This week, we were at yet another destination wedding, so our friends, Sarah and Phillip, were kind enough to post for us.  Their post follows.  Enjoy! 

When Ashley asked if we would guest blog for [tag]52 Weeks of Drinks[/tag] this week, initially I was really excited. Who needs to be asked twice to take yourself out for a great dinner and cocktails? But then I realized that neither one of us knows jack about cocktails. Of the two of us, Phillip is less of a cocktail drinker than I am. However, he’s lately been on the search for a sweet, yet manly, cocktail. So, at the very least, this would be a great learning experience for us!

We decided to head to [tag]JCT Kitchen[/tag] on the Westside. We love the atmosphere and super tasty comfort food on the menu. Nearly every dish has pork belly, so how can you go wrong?

Phillip has a major sweet tooth so he ordered the Strawberry Alarm Clock which includes fresh strawberries, lime, chachaca, brown sugar and balsamic sugar on the rocks. It is very pink, served in a high ball glass with a lime garnish – but very manly as you can tell in the photo…

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Here are Phillip’s ratings:

Presentation – 3 olives
Creativity – 3 olives
Taste – 3 olives
Overall – 3 olives   – He’s a middle of the road kind of guy and says that the taste started off well with the strawberry, but ended up with too strong of a liquor taste. Overall, it was a decent, but mediocre and uninspired cocktail.

I tend to like a really fresh and light cocktail, so I ordered the Leaves of Grass, mostly for the ode to Walt Whitman. The cocktail included bison grass vodka, dolin blanc, lemongrass syrup and fresh tarragon, served up. It came in a martini glass, with little garnish. It wasn’t a particularly creative cocktail, but it was really tasty. On a hot afternoon, these went down way too easily!

My ratings are as follows:

Presentation – 3 olives
Creativity – 2 olives
Taste – 5 olives
Overall – 4 olives

Generally, we had a really great dinner experience. We highly recommend the Angry Mussels! I’m not sure I would order cocktails with dinner again, but definitely would sip either of these fine libations on their upper patio after work or a long day (where you can also order the mussels or other snacks). While we didn’t find Phillip’s ultimate cocktail combination, we eliminated a possibility, so hopefully we’re one step closer to the ideal. The search continues…

This week we used the fabulous [tag]Scoutmob[/tag] to try and get a deal and find a good place for cocktails.  We tried [tag]Amuse![/tag] but much to our dismay – no cocktail menu at all – just a “full bar.”  Not amusing.

The next day, we headed to the mountains of Highland, NC for the wedding of our our lovely friends Kim and Chip.  With little time to spare in Week 19, we decided to head to one of the bars at our swanky lodging, [tag]The Old Edwards Inn[/tag] for this week’s review.  When we entered the “library” bar – known as The Hummingbird Lounge, little did we know we were stepping into the Twilight Zone (insert creepy music here.) It is a beautiful place – no doubt.  Although there was no cocktail menu here either, the entire experience was worth a write-up.

It seems that this is THE place to be in Highlands, NC on a weekend night if you are a local.  “Local” seems to be people above the age of 55 who reside in the greater Atlanta area, but also own a second home in the Highlands  that may or may not have also been owned by their parents’ parents.  They also all seem to be connected to Julia Sugarbaker by 6 degrees of separation.  And by “home,” in the Highlands, we do not mean a rustic mountain cabin, we mean an estately manor with an interior designed by one of Atlanta’s finest designer’s who specializes in “mountain chic.”

Anyway, stereotypes aside,  all the locals stop by the Hummingbird Lounge for a cocktail before heading to their dinner reservations, or swing by for a night cap and smooth guitar playing after their 5:30 dinner is done. The piano fills the room from 5pm until 8, and then the guitar starts.  And does it start.  Ashley and I did not know any of the songs being played by the once famous Atlanta guitarist from the 1970′s.  Just to give you a taste of what we listened to, I have actually posted a short video from the evening.  Be sure to turn the sound up and also look for the old man with his bright green apple martini behind Alison.  

This week, we are rating Ashley’s classic dirty martini with Kettle One and three olives and my classic gin and tonic with Hendricks gin and a lime wedge.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Presentation: 5 olives.  Come on – we are in what was called the Hummingbird Lounge – people!  Our waiter, Jason, was precious and greeted us with a knowing look that said, “prepare yourselves, ladies.”

Creativity: 1 olive.  These were not creative drinks – but they were indeed spot on in a place like the Hummingbird Lounge.

Taste: 5 olives.  We could not have asked for tastier drinks. I am sure Jason makes a heck of a lot of dirty martinis and gin and tonics and they were spot on.  The dirty martini was perfect in its dirtiness and the gin and tonic was classic.

Overall:  4.5 olives.  Our evening was not what we expected and yet, it was memorable and wonderful – I know we shall be back!

We actually made it to an actual bar!  Bravo for us.  We went to [tag]East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern[/tag] for a very good “cause” on Saturday evening.  There, the Pinups for Pitbulls were doing a fundraiser for Atlanta Bully Rescue – a local fabulous non-profit dedicated to helping the pit bulls and bully breeds around our city.

If you know one thing about me and Alison – it should be known that we rescue pit bull mixes – because there are so many that have been abandoned and neglected in Atlanta.  Makes me sick.  Anyway, I will not get on that kick right now except to say that we went to the Graveyard for a fundraiser for bully breeds- and we had a great time!

We plopped down at the bar looking hot as ever and met Tara, the bar manager.  She told us she had just the drink for us to taste- one she made up called the Skittle.  Are you ready?  Consisting of blueberry, cherry,vanilla, raspberry, citrus, orange, blackberry, strawberry, apple, and grape VODKAS... it also has a splash of sprite, cranberry juice and a top off (although not much room left in the pint size glass) of grenadine.  Notice the proud look in Tara’s eyes as she shows off her concoction.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Presentation: 2 olives – It was indeed a very large vodka drink and it was the color of a red skittle – but not much going for the presentation factor.

Creativity:  3 olives – Tara made this up for a vodka drinker who likes a serious stiff and pretty sweet drink (aka [tag]Michael Benoit[/tag])  She decided to put a crap ton of fruity vodkas together and see what she could come up with.   One drink and you are almost drunk.

Taste:  3.5 olives – Well, first, it indeed tastes like a Skittle – a cherry one at that.  It was a bit too sweet for my taste, but Alison did not think so.  She enjoyed the whole damn thing!

Overall: 3 – A great bar drink for sweet vodka lovers – and poured by Tara is even better!

Alison had another drink that consisted of rum and ginger beer.  I am not writing on it because I am too lazy, but here is hot Alison holding the bottle of the rum that came in it in this great photo!

We will be back to the Graveyard Tavern.  We loved the ambiance and the food was excellent.  If you do not like smoke, get there early.  If you don’t smoke and stay out late, take a shower when you get home!  I think we stayed out until almost midnight!