In the bars and restaurants throughout Georgia, everyone seems to know everyone, which automatically makes me feel more relaxed. And that’s something I noticed about Georgians: They. Always. Seem. Comfortable. And that’s important. Especially when I can’t decide between a Ticonderoga Cup cocktail at the Ticonderoga Club (shout out to their skeleton mascots, the “Bone Soldiers,” in this image) or a Watchman’s Daiquiri at Watchman’s seafood restaurant next door, both terrific cocktail destinations located inside the fetching Krog Street Market.
Georgia
Georgia is “home of Coca-Cola, peaches, and hip-hop,” as hometown Atlanta bartender and my former colleague Brad Goocher says. Georgia produces more peaches, peanuts, and pecans than anywhere else in the United States (check out the Forest Park farmers’ market), and is the site of the founding of NASCAR, and hosts the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National every year, where more Bloody Marys are served than at a Wisconsin family reunion (and that’s a lot).
A Savannah militia put punch on the map in the 1850s with the Chatham Artillery Punch cocktail, blending Cognac, rum, and brandy with a healthy dose of Champagne, which is a lethal weapon for anyone believing they can be a universal soldier after having two or more of these wild puppies.
Athens Seabear Oyster Bar is known for its Dirty Dawg Old Fashioned, which is a Bourbon Old Fashioned with a splash of Coke instead of sugar. The Old Pal in Athens does a great job listing people’s names and the drink someone bought for them when they visited. And the Expat, owned by Jerry Slater, co-author of the excellent Southern Foodways Alliance Guide to Cocktails, has a balanced cocktail menu to accommodate seasonally inspired, cocktail-friendly food.
When I returned to Athens after a few years in New York, the crowd here had invented what we call a “howdy.” Not completely unique, but it’s a half shot poured upon entering your regular watering hole, usually to accompany a beer, or as a group celebration or memorial.
—Hunt Revell, bartender, Seabear (Athens)
Atlanta has developed its own cocktail game over the past few years. Beverage director Miles Macquarrie has made Kimball House and Watchman’s two must-visits, the Bookhouse Pub makes everyone a believer with its tiki taco Tuesdays, and don’t miss Holeman & Finch Public House, a sophisticated bar with zero pretension. Holeman & Finch celebrates “good food, drinks and people,” and their food and beverage menu—reflecting images of past restaurant, bar, and entertainment generations—clearly embraces the sentiment. There are too many fine cocktail programs to list in this book, but Atlanta can proudly claim the award for best airport cocktail bar in the country: One Flew South, located in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson. You might say the cocktail program there is first class. “The staff at One Flew South greet a huge chunk of their guests by name,” says the author and bartender Misty Kalkofen. “Which is extremely rare to find in an airport bar.”
Plenty to see and do in Atlanta, and if one is at Manuel’s Tavern in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood, and surrounded by good friends, it’s perfectly acceptable to conjure “Hope that we feel this, feel this way forever” lyrics by Atlanta’s very own OutKast.
BAR SNACK
“Shots shots shots . . .”: Where did this catchy phrase originate? There has to be a song, right? Yes. It just so happens that when people ring out the words “Shots shots, shots shots shots, shots shots!” they are referencing the LMFAO song “Shots,” featuring Atlanta’s Lil Jon, who often tweets “Ohhhhhh yeah” and #mic #drop. The first shot I ever learned to make was a Kamikaze. When I make it today it’s called a “Snaquiri” (a shot portion of a Daiquiri). Don’t do a Snaquiri shot alone, and don’t sit near anyone who is doing one alone.
GEORGIA BEVERAGE
What’s a cocktail book without Coca-Cola? What’s a Jack and Coke without Coke? (Probably a Jack and Pepsi.) Arguably one of the most celebrated beverages in our lifetime, Coca-Cola has no shortage of American connections: From the gigantic sign in Times Square to the billboards and signs in little towns across America, from being in Beatles lyrics (“Come Together”) to having Elvis promote the beverage on his final 1977 tour, from “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” to “Mean” Joe Greene tossing a bottle of Coke to a young fan, you simply can’t beat the real thing. Dr. John Pemberton invented the syrupy wildfire we call Coca-Cola in 1886; it was named by Pemberton’s bookkeeper and first sold at an Atlanta soda fountain in a pharmacy.
Me: What was your first American cocktail? Murray: Jack and Coke. Me: What is your favorite cocktail to make? Murray: Jack and Coke. Me: What is your least favorite cocktail to make? Murray: Jack and Coke.
—From an interview with legendary Seattle bartender Murray Stenson, November 2018
GEORGIA BUCKET LIST BAR
Named after a historic Atlanta hotel, Kimball House (located in a former train depot) is an exquisite place. It has a gorgeous pine bar (fashioned from the building’s original floor-boards) where you’ll want to sit and drink for some time, and the apron-clad bartenders are knowledgeable and courteous, and known to make a gorgeous Ramos Gin Fizz. Just consider ordering another drink to sip while you wait, since the Ramos takes a healthy bit of time to create. There’s mixing, shaking, chilling, and setting involved. As Savannah’s Big Boi would say, “Life moves fast. You gotta document the good times.” Amen B.B.
Coca-Cola. Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilarating! Invigorating! The new and popular soda fountain drink containing the properties of the wonderful Coca plant and the famous Cola nut.
—Atlanta Journal, May 29, 1886
GEORGIA SPIRIT
Rum is beginning to make an impact in Georgia, with domestic sugarcane playing a big part. Richland has been operating the only single-estate, single-barrel rum distillery in the United States since 2009, and began bottling in 2012. Pretty remarkable results for water, sugarcane, and yeast.
GEORGIA’S OLDEST BAR
No, there won’t be any Jack Sparrows bartending here, but there will be a building looking as weathered as your favorite Disney pirate. Originally opened to be a botanical garden modeled after the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, the Pirates’ House mutinied against those efforts in around 1754. The fifteen-room restaurant has early pages of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island hanging on the walls, and the cocktails served there today take inspiration from the salty seas and pirate legends of books, films, and stories, which reminds me: Also, did you hear about the new pirate movie? It’s rated RRRRRRR . . .
GEORGIA COCKTAIL BAR
Ticonderoga Club has been flying under the radar for too long, and deserves more national recognition. Its signature cocktail, the bar’s namesake, features rum, Cognac, sherry, and pineapple, served over crushed ice in a copper Julep cup, a wild forest of mint canvassing the exterior. Co-owners Paul Calvert and Greg Best started an Avengers-style team of bartending in Atlanta when they opened this place in 2014, and balance the world of cocktails and food as well as anyone in the United States.
UPPERCUT
Miles manages to provide a proper nod to home state icon Coca-Cola by using it as the syrup portion of this recipe (published originally on Tasting Table). Bourbon and spiced rum are a nice Batman and Robin for cocktail crime-fighting.
1½ ounces bourbon
¾ ounce spiced rum (such as Scarlet Ibis)
½ ounce Punt e Mes vermouth
½ ounce Coca-Cola reduction (recipe follows)
4 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
Garnish: orange peel
Shake the ingredients with ice until chilled; strain over fresh ice in a chilled rocks glass and garnish with the orange.
Coca-Cola Reduction
Makes about 1½ cups
One 12-ounce can Coca-Cola
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the Coca-Cola to a boil. Cook to reduce the liquid to ¾ cup, 5 to 7 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, stirring constantly, until it dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Let cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
There used to be a bartender down in Atlanta named Jim Averitt. If you can believe it, he worked at Applebee’s, of all places. But the man had an encyclopedic knowledge of cocktails, jokes, anecdotes, and most importantly, people. I learned a great deal just by watching him. He’s been gone a few years, and I miss him.
—Dermot McCormack, bartender, Spring Lounge (Manhattan, NY)
GEORGIA ROAD
Georgia Road is basically a four-part sour honoring the Peach State. Richland Georgia Rum is a single-estate sugarcane product from the southwestern part of the state, and Atlanta Spirit Works is a new distillery with connections to Athens (where Seabear is located).
¾ ounce Richland rum
¾ ounce Atlanta Spirit Works Armour & Oak apple brandy (or Laird’s)
¾ ounce equal parts St. George Spiced Pear and Hamilton Pimento Dram
¾ ounce fresh lime juice 1 teaspoon salted turbinado syrup (recipe follows)
Garnish: star anise
Shake the ingredients with ice until chilled; fine strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the star anise.
Salted Turbinado Syrup
Makes about 2 cups
1 cup water
1 cup turbinado cane sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stir the ingredients until the sugar and salt dissolve and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.