In Drinking Stories, Bridget Callahan and Sarah Sphar go to a bar, have a few drinks and talk about them. For this installment, we visit Sullivan's in Lakewood to sample some cold weather warmers.
Bridget: When I was little and got sick, my mother would make me a concoction of hot water and lemon juice, and swirl honey in it. I called it hot lemonade, and loved it. Of course, that’s actually a whiskey hot toddy, minus the alcohol. Apparently, my mom also makes a really mean party punch, but she won’t give me the recipe.
Since it has been slowly getting colder and rainier, so that I can pretty much start to taste the snow in the air, Sarah and I decided to drink some whiskey at Sullivan's. We both started out with hot toddies, which, I don’t know, I really liked mine. You get so used to drinking thick sweet drinks that come in martini glasses and make your mouth taste like a lollipop that sometimes you forget about the magic of some straight liquor and hot water. It was really nicely done too, with the lemon and the cinnamon stick. I’m pretty sure if I caught that awful flu bug going around at the wedding this weekend, this drink killed it.
Sarah: I was afraid that the warm spell we had was really going to rain on our toddy parade, but it being October, we've turned that meteorological corner where evenings are always cool, no matter how far into the 70s it gets during the day. You want the weather to cooperate for a hot drink. A hot toddy always makes me feel like I should be wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, but Sullivan's was cozy enough to go along with that. In fact we really got into the spirit and ordered the fish and chips, so we could talk whiskey while a couple of other patrons yelled at Monday Night Football.
Bridget: I don’t “eat” fish, but every once in a while I crave deep fried planks of white fish. The chips were super crispy and good, I could have eaten all of those by themselves, dipping them in tartar sauce. You know, I never liked tartar sauce before, this was the first time I really enjoyed it, probably because I could really taste the pickles. I would have been happier with the fish itself if it had been crispier. Compared to the chips, it was downright soggy, but had the same familiar fried fish yummy-ness. So, it satisfied the craving but next time I would specifically order it fried hard.
Sarah: Typically I don't like tartar sauce that's overtly pickle-y. I'm happy you liked it, though, because I would have felt bad if you hadn't. I also would have felt bad if you didn't like the whiskey selections - I tried hard to assemble a flight that would give you something to like, something to not like very much and something about which to feel indifferent. The great thing about Sullivan's spirits menu is that you can assemble your own flight of whiskey for just a little bit of money and still get home safely.
When it comes to whiskey, it really is helpful to compare them. I feel like most people's experience with whiskey involves trying one that they don't happen to enjoy and then dismissing whiskey altogether. This is tragic because then they will never, ever know the happiness of walking into a bar on a brutally cold day and ordering a Harp and a shot of Powers. It's like mittens for your insides.
Bridget: This year has been the year of Bridget learning to drink her spirits plain. It’s about time. A year ago, if you had said to me “hey, let’s try this flight of whiskeys,” I would have politely told you to stuff it and gone happily back to my chocolate martini. Now I’m all for it. Show me new and better ways to make my throat burn. My favorite one was the Redbreast, which was smoother. (Since I’m still a whiskey baby.) I think half of the reason I enjoyed it was the name.
Sarah: Redbreast is a 12-year-old pure pot still Irish whiskey and it's typically described as "assertive," though due to its spiciness and long finish it does pull off the smoothness you noticed. I ended up finishing the Powers Gold Label, which has honey and spice characteristics and is, as I mentioned, very nice sipped alongside a beer. We left the Bushmills 10-year sitting on the bar, as I recalled. No love for the Bushmills.
Bridget: Bushmills had that acidic, Listerine smell I associate with all the reasons I didn't drink whiskey before. I guess everyone needs to find their own right. Sullivan's is definitely a place I would go on a really yucky winter night to warm up, and I'm looking forward to testing that mittens theory.
Sarah: The thing about whiskey is that people often drink it to appear hard, when in reality it is all about the subtlety. It takes years to age. A lot of it evaporates (the evaporated portion is called "the angels' share" ... how's that for poetry?). The water used to make it, the distillery's proximity to the sea, the type of barrel in which it's aged - there's really a great deal of delicacy in the process. Which is why you just have a little bit, and then you fall asleep. All nice and warm.
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