According to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration—I’m curious how many people would miss that Jeopardy answer), twenty-five of their astronauts are Ohio natives, having made nearly eighty space flights, and three of those flights were visits to the moon. John Glenn (Cambridge, OH) was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, and Neil Armstrong (Wapokoneta, OH) was the first man to ever set foot on the moon. Space Martinis. Radical.
Ohio
Pinball was introduced in 1931, and was almost immediately labeled a menace to society, a time-waster and corrupter of youth. Considered gambling, pinball was banned until the mid- 1970s in most American big cities. Naturally, it became a symbol of youth and rebellion, right along with rock and roll.
—From a sign inside Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The term rock and roll was first coined by a Cleveland DJ, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame carries the torch of that musical legacy for everyone. Added to that: LeBron James, Drew Carey, and Mr. Martini himself, Dean Martin, an illustrious group who all hail from the Rock and Roll State.
The Splificator, a drink that one never sees on modern menus and sounds like a villain in the Marvel superhero universe, was also born in Ohio and is attributed to bartender Chris Lawlor of the Burnet House, in Cincinnati, who published a recipe for his cocktail of whiskey, ice, and “Apollinaris Water” (German club soda) in 1895. It is still made today, but simply called a Highball. Manhattan bartender Patrick Gavin Duffy gets all the glory, claiming he invented the cocktail in the 1890s, mixing whiskey (which today can be any spirit) with ice and soda water and, in certain circles, ginger ale. However, while Ohio narrowly missed being able to claim a significant contribution to cocktail history, its drink-related future seems bright, Highballs or not.
It’s hard to talk about Ohio without mentioning bourbon aficionado and bartender Molly Wellmann, who practically put craft cocktails squarely on her back and made Cincinnati a must-visit cocktail destination. Molly is an admired and respected co-owner of Japp’s since 1879 in Over-the-Rhine and Myrtle’s Punch House in East Walnut Hills, both neighborhoods in Cincinnati. Molly received the Nightclub and Bar Award of Best Bartender-Owner of the Year in 2019. She is, as author, cocktail historian, and soul guru David Wondrich puts it, “the bar queen of Cincinnati.”
Cincinnati has plenty of other terrific cocktail destinations as well, including the Lackman, Sundry and Vice, Longfellow, and Low Spark, which features a cocktail called Nicolas Cage, made with Jack Daniel’s rye whiskey, Luxardo amaro, and aromatic bitters, guaranteed to make you feel as wild as your favorite Nicolas Cage movie. But don’t miss the Overlook Lodge, a bar based on the hotel bar in The Shining, featuring a “Here’s Johnny!” surprise shot of the bartender’s choice.
Ohio sees a lot of slivovitz or other forms of Eastern European plum brandy. There’s a huge population of Eastern Europeans that were sent to Cleveland being refugees from World War II.
—Eric Ho, co-owner and bartender, LBM (Cleveland)
Cleveland is another cocktail center, and while it may have put rock and roll on the map back in the 1950s, today its bar scene is what attracts people from near and far. The Vault is located in the basement of a former bank, and serves live music. Quintana’s Barber & Dream Spa doesn’t sound like a craft cocktail speakeasy built above a barbershop, inside a regular-looking house, owned and operated by a wife and husband, and producing some of the finest cocktails in Cleveland, but it is. And if you’re looking to be truly transported, the exotic Porco Lounge and Tiki Room, located in a nondescript building in the Tremont neighborhood, beckons thee, inviting you to swing by and escape for a spell. Bartenders wear Hawaiian shirts, the music is lush exotica, and the vibe is perpetual oasis island getaway. The wait to enter may be a little while, but it’s worth it, as the room is never crowded. After you’ve ordered one of their well-balanced tiki tipplers, take pleasure in being at the birthplace of the World’s Largest Daiquiri, a record claimed here in 2016. The ninety-five-gallon barrel they used to serve the colossal cocktail proudly hangs in the main bar, surrounded by patrons wearing a glow on their faces as they sip a little bit of heaven and forget about the world for a while.
Not just limiting itself to massive Daiquiris, Ohio boasts another impressive booze-related world record. The World’s Longest Bar (at 405 feet, 10 inches in length) is located at the Beer Barrel Saloon on Lake Erie’s South Bass Island, just east of Toledo. Affectionately called “the Barrel” by its regulars and locals, the bar holds 160 barstools and 56 beer taps, and can accommodate 1,200 sitting imbibers, operating with more than twenty bartenders on a busy summer night. I can only imagine what it takes to clean that place at the end of a shift.
Sports in general are THE thing in Cleveland. The famous Muni Lot outside of the Cleveland Browns stadium is packed by 8 a.m. with tailgaters on gameday. And we’re known for food, too. My mom and I attended a comedy show, and the comedian said, “Have you ever noticed, any time you meet someone from Cleveland, they have some sort of food stain on their shirt?” My mom and I laughed, then looked down at our shirts, and there it was, a red sauce stain from the Italian restaurant before the comedy show. As I write this, I realize I have a peanut butter stain on my skirt from breakfast.
—Erin Palisin, friend, born in the Cleve, Director of Strategic Development, Happy Cooking (Manhattan, NY)
OHIO SPIRIT
Watershed began distilling in Columbus in 2010, and was only the second Ohio distillery to open since Prohibition, and the first to make bourbon. The company focuses on not only making consistent quality-driven spirits, such as an apple cider–based vodka, bourbon-barrel aged gin, and nocino liqueur, made with 100 percent Ohio walnuts. Watershed excels in its passion for sustainability and incorporating eco-friendly thoughtfulness to its carbon footprint.
OHIO’S OLDEST BAR
After you enter under one of the most beautiful outdoor bar signs in the country, German influence abounds throughout this historic spot—walls are decorated with many a stein and feature countless signs written in German. The tavern has long been an ideal pit stop for people traveling between Cincinnati and Columbus, and has recently been renovated by new owners.
OHIO BUCKET LIST BAR
Billed as “your friendly neighborhood Viking cocktail bar,” this cozy little hangout in the Cleveland suburbs just wants to have fun, celebrate dragons, wolves, and deer, and leave all the pretensions at home. It was opened by a collective of bar and restaurant industry friends and veterans who built out the space on their own steam. And yes, if you are wondering, the seasonal menu features Viking-themed cocktail names, such as Sower of Oblivion, Set upon a Pyre, and the Gust of a Thousand Winds, a grappa-based drink with pisco, verjus blanc (sour, acidic grape juice), and honey, as well as a category for shots, titled “Rage.” They borrow a page from the acclaimed sustainability team of Trash Tiki by recycling their citrus products and collecting weekly compost. This alone earns them the privilege of playing heavy metal, because there’s nothing more badass than sustainability.
What was the first cocktail I ever had? Frozen Brandy Alexander at Kelleys Island in Ohio.
—Brian Nixon (born and raised in Ohio), owner and bartender, Truxton Inn and McClellan’s Retreat (Washington, DC)
BAR SNACK
Besides alcohol, many taverns, saloons, and establishments of yesteryear would provide free lunches to entice new patrons. In places like Ohio, where there was less local traffic, the saloon environment could be competitive, so owners had to get creative, and within that creativity, a free lunch could keep people hanging around and spending money. Historian Madelon Powers found saloon-goers seeking transformative “joys of intoxication and euphoria” when entering said establishments. Attendees bubbled through the room with unhinged playfulness, operating under a multiplicity of drunk synonyms: woozy, tipsy, sloshed, soused, pickled, bamboozled, flushed, fuzzied, tiddly, half seas over, skunked, crocked, juiced, and canned.
OHIO COCKTAIL BAR
The Velvet Tango Room has been serving an encyclopedic list of cocktails since 1996 in a Prohibitionera speakeasy space, which probably explains the bullet holes in the ceiling. Menu categories reflect classic cocktails, bold spirits, sours, “The Four Ladies” (an ode to sophisticated feminine cocktails inspired by the Pink Lady cocktail, a 1930s classic made with gin, applejack, lemon grenadine, and egg white), fizzes and flips, and “unclassifiables.” The bartenders’ consistency in making well-crafted classic cocktails preceded the cocktail revival movement, so you might say they were setting trends before the trends arrived. Super bonuses: live jazz every night, intoxicating paintings of women, and everyone who works there is a sweetheart. As the menu reads from the opening, “We’ve been waiting for you . . .”
STATE FACT
Ohio’s flag is the only non-rectangular state flag in the United States.
Porco Lounge is an American bar I tell everyone to go visit. Those guys do it all right: décor, drinks, and friendly bartenders. It’s one of my favorite bars in the US. And it’s only two hours from Pittsburgh.
—Sean Enright, owner, Spork (Pittsburgh, PA)
MAÑANA DAIQUIRI
I know. It seems odd to associate a Daiquiri with Ohio. Blame David Embury. He first published this cocktail in his everyone-must-read The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks in 1948. David acquired this original recipe from Herb Smith, one of the best bartenders Embury had seen since Prohibition repeal, of the Spanish Room at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel in Columbus. Though the classic Daiquiri originated in late-1890s Cuba and started making the rounds in 1930s Washington, DC, the original recipe (rum, lime, and sugar) was adjusted in this Ohio spinoff, influencing Embury’s legendary scrupulous palate enough to convince him it needed to be documented in his book. If you don’t like the sweeter angles this version provides, add a dash or two of bitters.
1½ ounces white rum (Bacardi, El Dorado 3-Year, and Banks 5 Island rums all work well)
¾ ounce apricot brandy
½ ounce grenadine (I prefer homemade, but Giffard makes a good one)
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
Shake the ingredients with ice until chilled; strain into a chilled coupe glass and serve up.
What does every bucket list bar need? A friendly soul behind it. And what does every American bar need? A friendly soul behind it who tells tall tales
—Dale DeGroff, aka King Cocktail, author of The Craft of the Cocktail and The Essential Cocktail, and arguably the most important bartender in the world
BLOOD EAGLE
LBM is famous for its cocktail names, such as “Flannel Is the Color of My People,” but most of its names evoke the spirit of the Vikings. Co-owner Eric Ho is a trained aerospace engineer who is still building rockets, only now they’re called cocktails. Blood Eagle has been on LBM’s menu forever, and for good reason: one sip and the spirit will take hold of you—but hopefully not in the true Viking spirit of a Blood Eagle ritual, an uncomfortable method of execution in which one’s ribs, lungs, and intestines are pulled out through a hole cut in the back, forming the shape of wings. Hey, kids, who’s hungry?
1½ ounces roasted beet–infused Beefeater gin (recipe follows)
¾ ounce Averna amaro
½ ounce Campari
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
Garnish: orange peel
Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir and strain over fresh ice in a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Express an orange peel over the edge of the glass and place in the drink to garnish.
My favorite American distiller is Tom’s Foolery in the Chagrin Falls suburb of Cleveland. He makes exceptional whiskeys and applejacks that can stand head to head with any of the large producers. It’s also nice to see an evolution on his methods from using an old Hoga still from Portugal, to getting the Michter’s still installed in his barn, to now using a French cognac still on a farm where he will be growing most of his own grains.
—Eric Ho, co-owner and bartender, LBM (Cleveland)
Roasted Beet–Infused Beefeater Gin
Makes about 1 bottle (750 ml)
2 medium whole red beets
One 750 ml bottle Beefeater gin
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil and roast for 3 hours. Let cool completely. Using a kitchen towel, rub the skin off the beets. Cut the beets into small pieces and put them in a nonreactive container. Add the gin. Set aside at room temperature to infuse for 24 hours. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and transfer back to the bottle; cover and store at room temperature for up to 6 months.