I believe this was the first Dean of Admissions at Yale University, who not only played a mean flute, but mastered the art of never needing a plastic straw. It’s true what they say: Yale University produces innovative talent.
Connecticut
After passing the first automobile law to set a speed limit, at twelve miles per hour, in 1901, Connecticut was off to the races, putting license plates on cars in 1905 and establishing more towns ending with -bury, -ford, and -ton than anywhere else in America. But let’s not forget one of the most important American inventions of all time: the bicycle, which was the Columbia Bicycle, first manufactured in Hartford in 1878. Kickstart my heart.
Connecticut son Paul Newman started Newman’s Own Foundation in 1982, which donates 100 percent of its after-tax profits to organizations in need, such as those serving children with disabilities or poverty-stricken areas of the world, groups working to improve nutrition in schools and lower-income communities, and countless other philanthropic endeavors. But our favorite Connecticut birth must always be our great-great-great-grandpappy, Jerry Thomas, born in New Haven in 1825, who apprenticed as an assistant to a principal bartender in a New Haven tavern, learning the bar trade at a time when America’s drinking game began to evolve, and who, after traveling, training, and working in some of the best programs throughout the country, subsequently became the most popular and important bartender in America.
Foxon Park, in East Haven, is a family-run soda company that’s been providing the state with flavorful nonalcoholic beverages since 1922. The company’s white birch beer, flavored with Alaskan birch and wintergreen, is a state favorite. Definitely a worthwhile accompaniment when munching on New Haven’s famous coal-fired, cracker-thin pizza (aka “apizza”).
New craft cocktail bars are sprouting up throughout the state: Hartford’s Little River Restoratives, specializing in pre-Prohibition cocktails and punches, and New Haven’s 116 Crown, which offers cocktail classes in addition to topnotch food and cocktail pairings, and Elm City Social, featuring a popular peanut butter and jelly Old Fashioned (peanut-infused bourbon and strawberry syrup are marvelous pals), are standouts.
I would never drink this stuff anywhere else, but when I’m in a New Haven pizzeria, I am drinking white birch beer, because it seems like the right thing to do.
—Robert Simonson, author, The Martini, A Proper Drink, The Old Fashioned, and 3-Ingredient Cocktails (Brooklyn, NY)
Litchfield Distillery is producing some fine product in northwest Connecticut, honoring the local farming community. Early farmers were called “batchers” and made their living with hard-earned agricultural sustenance. I salute the distillery’s “Batchers Manifesto”: “Take Pride in Your Work: Nothing exceptional ever comes easy. We honor good old-fashioned, roll-up-your-sleeves effort and remain steadfast in our belief that hard work is the only path to greatness.”
And of course let’s not forget (or forgive) Billy Wilson’s Ageing Still bar in Norwich for creating the Car Bomb (equal parts Irish whiskey and Irish cream liqueur, dropped into a pint of Guinness and slammed) in 1979. Relating the story surrounding this cocktail would be unnecessary, as the tale of how it came to be named is 100 percent disrespectful to victims of terrorism and violence, not only from the IRA days of the late 1970s but throughout the world in all times. In my heart of hearts, I hope this cocktail is never served or asked for ever again.
Ordinary feels like a homey New Haven bar, but it’s on trend with everything that’s happening in cocktails. They have this rich, delicious barrel-aged Stinger variation that I love so much it’s hard for me to order anything else. On Wednesdays, they have a fun “Cocktail Lab” night where they present new drinks by theme or ingredient. I happened in on “Maverick vs. Iceman” night where all drinks were inspired by Top Gun.
—Meaghan Dorman, bar director, Raines Law Room and Dear Irving (Manhattan, NY)
CONNECTICUT BUCKET LIST BAR
Ordinary sits on hallowed ground, as the space was New Haven’s first town tavern back in 1659. Connected to the historic Taft Hotel on a corner of New Haven Green, it has gone through a few different names since it began. The current owners restored the baroque, oak-paneled interior; revamped the restaurant, sourcing ingredients from local farmers; and returned the property to its original glory. They serve a nice variety of punches and keep Yale students from studying—and using their Webster’s dictionaries, a useful irony, as Noah Webster, creator of the first American English dictionary, was born in West Hartford, and famously visited the Ordinary in 1775, standing and playing a fife with one hundred Yale students waiting to escort George Washington to the Continental Army in Cambridge. And they say nothing good happens outside of bars.
CONNECTICUT SPIRIT
Vodka, you may be surprised to learn, was once considered vile. In the 1930s, John Gilbert Martin became vice president of Heublein, based in Hartford, and purchased Smirnoff vodka shortly thereafter, originally marketing it as “white whiskey.” Imagine telling a modern-day vodka connoisseur they’re really into white whiskey, then imagine them not being your friend. When World War II ended, in 1945, people were looking for more excuses to share a drink, and the Moscow Mule, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, and Vodkatini started gaining notoriety, which catapulted the sales of vodka into the stratosphere.
STATE FACT
Police are allowed to pull you over if you’re traveling sixty-five miles an hour on your bicycle.
CONNECTICUT BEVERAGE
In the early 1800s, one of the first soda water fountains opened in New Haven, introduced by Benjamin Silliman, a Yale chemistry professor. “Soda fountains” specialized in carbonating water to replicate mineral water that bubbled up from the earth, creating a product that many at the time believed prevented or cured diseases and absolved dyspepsia or indigestion. By 1836, it was estimated that New York alone had more than 670 soda draft fountains throughout the city, and though working with pressurized beverages certainly didn’t come without its accidents (exploding equipment, broken glassware, innocent people flying across the room), the beverage only continued becoming more popular, with flavored syrups eventually catching on. Druggists and chemists were using bicarbonate soda and having a dandy of a time figuring out what to call their creations. “Carbonade”? “Charged water”? “Mephitic gas”? “Oxygenated water”? In the end, three different options overruled the rest: seltzer, soda water, and soda pop. And depending on what part of the country you lived in, you were ultimately going to call it something else. In Wisconsin, most people call it soda, while just over the border in northern Illinois, you’re getting pop, and if that’s not odd enough, a small percentage of people in New England call it tonic. Egad!
Rum was once very popular in this part of Connecticut. New England rum had the reputation of being very, uh... assertive. Gotta make it through those tough winters somehow, I guess.
—Mark Sabo, bar owner, Conspiracy (Middletown)
CONNECTICUT COCKTAIL BAR
Champions of art, culture, time travel, and all things craft cocktail, Conspiracy deftly employs the best parts of iconic American influences, serving classic cocktails in vintage glassware in a relaxing room of leather chairs, booths, and banquettes. Conspiracy’s menu reads as a beautifully balanced reflection of classic cocktails done right, with pre-Prohibition cocktail influences, along with modern variations on classics, like the Campfire Old Fashioned (bourbon, smoked maple syrup, and bitters, served with a toasted marshmallow). Don’t have just one, and don’t skip Tiki Mondays.
CONNECTICUT’S OLDEST BAR
One of the oldest bars in America is also one of the most charming. Like many of the longstanding taverns in the Northeast, the Griswold also operates as an inn, with thirty-three rooms, multiple dining rooms, a wine bar, and a pub for weary travelers. Put a little popcorn machine in the corner and you’ve got yourself a place to camp until they give last call. I can envision a Vacation movie taking place there in the future, which might upset Chevy Chase, Maryland.
BAR SNACK
In seventeenth-century Connecticut, it was illegal to drink for more than thirty minutes at a time, or to finish more than half a bottle of wine in one sitting. My aunt Yvonne would have spent the rest of her days behind bars.
YALE FENCE
This recipe hails from David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. In the same book, he also features a Greenwich cocktail, which is similar, but uses crème de cacao instead of vermouth for a rich, chocolaty profile. Yale University, founded in 1701, is famous for its music and drama programs (hey there, Meryl Streep). It’s hard to get into Yale. But it’s easy to get into this cocktail.
1 ounce gin
1 ounce applejack
1 ounce sweet vermouth
Garnish: lemon twist
Combine the ingredients with ice and stir until cold; strain into a chilled cocktail glass and serve up, garnished with the lemon.
The Sazerac is my favorite American cocktail to make for people. On the face of it it’s simple, but it can go oh so wrong. I love seeing a guest’s face light up when they breathe in and take that first sip. Even though I grew up on the shore in Milford, Connecticut, I feel transported right to New Orleans each time I get a good Sazerac.
—Mark Sabo, bar owner, Conspiracy (Middletown)
CIDER CUP #1
This lower-ABV (alcohol by volume) tipple is a welcome addition to any fall menu. Orleans are low-alcohol cider-based aperitifs from Eden Specialty Ciders in next-door-neighbor Vermont, featuring herbs and roots and no artificial sweeteners or flavoring agents. Like apples, they can be used in a multiplicity of ways.
¾ ounce Orleans Bitter
¾ ounce Orleans Herbal
½ ounce Calvados syrup (recipe follows)
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon quince paste 1 ounce apple cider
Garnish: seasonal fruit (sliced apples are always a good move)
Combine the Orleans, Calvados syrup, lemon juice, and quince paste and shake with ice until chilled. Strain over crushed ice in a chilled double rocks glass (Conspiracy uses a camping cup). Top with the apple cider and garnish with fruit.
Calvados Syrup
Makes about 2 cups
1 cup Calvados
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cloves 2 star anise pods
1 teaspoon allspice berries 1 cardamom pod
2 cinnamon sticks
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan. Warm on the stove over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat at the first crack of a boil. Let cool and further infuse. When the mixture is at room temperature, strain out the spices and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.