Tag Archive for: good drinks

AJC: Fancy-pants bars not your thing? Try these 5 friendly winners

Not long ago, I decided to check out a Buckhead bar that’s the epitome of fashion. But, before I could get in, I had to email the joint for a secret code to let me in the door.

Not my thang. I’m much happier at my new neighborhood Kroger on Glenwood Avenue. It has a nifty wine and craft-beer bar with a relaxed mood and a three-drink maximum. (That’s right: Kroger doesn’t endorse drunk shopping.)

Luckily, Atlanta has a number of establishments with a friendly, laid-back vibe; good drinks; and dependable grub. Here are some faves:

Ration & Dram.This Arizona Avenue spot has a terrific drink program. Wave of Mutilation, made with tequila, pineapple and lime, manages to taste both tropical and autumnal, thanks to a splash of spicy pimento dram. In Bed With Harvey combines pisco with aged Antiguan rum, Gran Classico bitters and lemon. On the classic side, the bar’s Brian Stanger makes a kick-butt Sazerac.

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Travel + Leisure: Atlanta’s Best Spots for Sipping Low-Proof Cocktails

Cocktails made with low-alcohol booze have become increasingly popular, and Atlanta’s at the forefront of the trend. So-called suppressor drinks—the antithesis of ultra- potent “revivers”— swap hard liquor for fortified or sparkling wines, layering them with liqueurs, juices, sodas, and fruit for a complex beverage that won’t have you stumbling home.

Barkeeps around the city have followed Best’s lead, adding a low-proof cocktail or two to their own menus. At Ration & Dram, bartender Andy Minchow’s Suppressor #7— Pommeau de Normandie, Cynar, and sparkling wine—is a perennial favorite, as is Cooks & Soldiers’ La Lorea, a zippy concoction of Casoni 1814, Cocchi Rosa, lemon, honey, and cava. Some choose suppressors because they’re less intimidating than, say, a high-octane martini. But they’re also true drinkers’ drinks, showing what a bartender can do when he doesn’t have the harder stuff to fall back on.

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Jezebel: Gourmet Game Day

Killer football and top notch bites? Here, the 10 hot spots sending our taste buds into overtime.

Head to Ration & Dram to share signature communal cocktails while watching the big game on one of the upstairs or downstairs screens.  Pair a Punch Seventy-Five (gin, lemon juice and sparkling wine) with a French dip, and you’ll be cheering for more than just your home team.

Full article here.

AJC: 5 places to build your own cocktail in Atlanta

Sugar or salt on the rim? If you like your cocktails a little more personalized than just choosing what’s lining your margarita glass, don’t miss these build your own cocktail options at Atlanta’s restaurants and bars.

Ration & Dram. The Kirkwood watering hole is encouraging their customers to step right up and customize their own brunch punch on vintage Brunch Punch Cards, sourced from a local library. Start to build your punch by choosing your sparkle: Sparkling Brut, Rose, or Stiegl Grapefruit Radler, then add in mixers like strawberry puree, pineapple juice, Deep Eddy Vodka, Pimm’s, Cappeletti and Campari then punching your selections on the library card.

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AJC: 5 healthier cocktails from metro Atlanta restaurants

Whether it’s the summer heat, or your waistline or alcohol tolerance, sometimes you need a lighter, healthier cocktail. Many metro Atlanta bars are happy to oblige. Here are five local cocktails with health benefits.

Ration + Dram

130 Arizona Ave. NE, Atlanta. 678-974-8380. rationanddram.com

The Ring Around the Rose is a light and slightly sweet cooler that includes Cocchi Rosa, an Italian aperitif, rose water and sparkling rosé. The restaurant‘s ingredients make it lower in alcohol than most. Plus, it has a lot of the same benefits of drinking red wine.

Full Article.

Atlanta Mag: The 15 Best Places for Boozy Drinks in Atlanta

4. Ration and Dram

7.9

130 Arizona Ave NE, Atlanta, GA
American Restaurant · 24 tips and reviews

Creative Loafing AtlantaCreative Loafing Atlanta: This neighborhood spot welcomes adults, parents, and children to enjoy southern dishes for dinner and its weekend brunch with house-made sodas, teas, and other boozy and non-boozy beverages.

Leigh G.Leigh Gilbert: $1 oysters on Mondays! Roasted ones are soooo good

Robb L.Robb Lejuwaan: Love this place. Great food, cocktails and excellent service.

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17th South: COCKTAIL COURSES

Ration & Dram
Shaken or Stirred: Champagne Cocktails
WHEN: June 18, 4 p.m.
COST: $50 (includes four cocktails and hors d’oeuvres)

THE DETAILS: Each month, this eatery hosts its Shaken or Stirred cocktail class to teach guests all they need to know about the tools and spirits that make a great cocktail. And with days of summer on the horizon, Andy Minchow, Ration & Dram’s co-owner and cocktail guru, will be teaching participants how to mix up perfect poolside sips, like the Zombie or Painkiller. Snag your seat by calling 678.974.8380.

Ration & Dram
130 Arizona Ave.
Atlanta 30307
678.974.8380
rationanddram.com

Thrillist: THE BEST DRINK SPECIALS IN 11 ATLANTA NEIGHBORHOODS

It seems like every weekend, a new bar or restaurant is opening in Atlanta — especially in or around Ponce City Market. Because of this, we decided to locate the best drink specials in 11 ATL ‘hoods. (Even Buckhead, where there are much better deals than a $10 Old Fashioned.)

Kirkwood
Ration & Dram

Drink specials don’t necessarily need to be all about the alcohol. Sometimes the food component can be the real draw. On Monday nights, Ration & Dram offers “buck a shuck” oysters, meaning you can fill up on delicious oysters for not a lot of dollars, and wash ‘em down with rotating weekly specials like $25 bottles of rosé, mezcal deals, and more.

Read the full list here.

Creating Loafing: Best Bets: Perfectly paired Oscar cocktails

Your drinking guide to the 88th Annual Academy Awards (February 28, 2016, 5:30 PM) is here. We can’t all be at the ceremonies but we can honor the nominated while sipping around Atlanta. We found 8 cocktails that seem to have been made for highly acclaimed flicks. Celebrate the biggest night in Hollywood with a drink that matches the spirit of each Best Picture film. If none of these do the trick, make your own and take a drink every time the “wrap it up” music comes on. And the nominees are…

The Big Short is the story of hedge fund managers and bankers who capitalize on the bursting housing bubble during the financial crisis of 2008. They bet against (shorted) subprime mortgage bonds and waited for the eventual implosion. Time Invested ($11) at Tavernpointe is goes perfectly with the herbaceous tequila, pear, Aperol, lemon, green tea, and celery bartender Madison Burch stirs together. It’s better balanced than the sheets of those bankers. 1545 Peachtree St. NE. Midtown. 404-549-3954. www.tavernpointe.com.

The Courier ($10) at Ticonderoga Club is a suppressor much the silencers used on the CIA agents’ guns in Bridge of Spies. It’s an blend of Spanish red vermouth and sherry boosted by coffee liqueur and orange bitters. Garnished with a lovely and aromatic cardamom leaf, it is subtle and nuanced, like a courier of secret plans during the Cold War. 99 Krog St NE. Inman Park. 404-458-4534. www.ticonderogaclub.com.

There is a love triangle in Brooklyn with an Irish immigrant, an Italian plumber, and a local Irishman back home. Home is two places for Ellis Lacey. She could be the muse for Dual Citizenship ($10) at La Tavola with Hedura blanco tequila, Cappelletti Aperitivo, and grapefruit essence. 992 Virginia Ave. Virginia Highland. 404-873-5430. www.latavolatrattoria.com.

The only cocktail that could withstand the fury of Max and Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road is In the Wind ($10) at The Iberian Pig. What better way to go through a post-apocalyptic chase through wasteland than with a spicy and flavorful amalgam of rye whiskey, yellow chartreuse, Amaro Montenegro, Grand Marnier, and Angostura and Orange bitters. 121 Sycamore Street. Decatur. 404-371-8800. www.theiberianpigatl.com.

Left by his crew on the hostile planet of Mars, Matt Damon’s astronaut character in The Martian thrives by way of science and his sense of humor. Kellie Thornat Empire State South is equally as clever with spirit concoctions. Two World Hero ($12) mixes together tea-infused cognac, rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and red wine syrup. Sublime as space must be. 999 Peachtree Street NE. Midtown. 404-541-1105. www.empirestatesouth.com.

Fueled by grief and revenge, a frontiersman treks across the American wilderness of 1823 in The Revenant. The survival skills of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Hugh Glass, are the stuff of legend. Hunting Season ($12) at Kimball House is an equally fierce cocktail. The bitter elements of rye whiskey, cherry aperitif, absinthe, and earthy sassafras please a daring palate. 303 E. Howard Ave. Decatur. 404-378-3502. www.kimball-house.com.

In Room, five-year-old Jack and his mom are the whole world to each other after being held captive in a shed his entire life. The One and Only ($12) at Miller Union sums up their strong connection in a glass. Vodka, floral St. Germain, grapefruit bitters, and lemon conjure up the sunny flavors of the outside world.999 Brady Ave. NW. Westside. 678-733-8550. www.millerunion.com.

In 2001 a team of Boston Globe journalists go on a mission to uncover allegations of priests molesting boys within their churches in Spotlight. Offset such dark material in the fun atmosphere of Decatur’s S.O.S. Tiki Bar. We suggest The Reverend’s Fancy ($10), a boozy mix of pineapple rum, Reposado tequila, amaro, and a rim of coconut garnish. It’s cheeky, but delicious. 340 Church Street. Decatur. 404-377-9308.

Bonus: It’s not one of the eight candidates but if it were, we would match Star Wars: The Force Awakens with The Dark Side at Ration and Dram. Brandy, rum, porter beer syrup, and Angostura bitters are stirred to make you question where your loyalties lie. 130 Arizona Ave. NE. Kirkwood/Edgewood. 678-974-8380. www.rationanddram.com.

AJC: Bars bring winter cheer with warm cocktails

Winter is coming, Atlanta.

Generally, we prepare for this season the only way Southerners know how: with bread, milk and booze. But, forget the run to the grocery store. Head to bars around town, where you can find everything from wassail to toddies that will light a fire in your belly on a cold day.

Here are five hot mugs of good cheer to help bide the time until our patios and porches wake from their winter slumbers.

Hot buttered rum

A well-made hot buttered rum is surprisingly light, despite using butter and brown sugar. Ration and Dram’s rendition is downright addictive — and charming, served in a dainty gold-rimmed tea cup. The batter is the typical mixture of brown sugar, unsalted butter, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg dissolved in hot water in a preheated mug. But that’s where tradition ends and crafting a cocktail begins. Rather than simply pouring a rich, dark rum into the drink, possibly putting it out of reach of imbibers who are turned off by sweetness, Ration combines the smooth, caramel-forward Jamaican Blackwell rum and Bitter Truth’s pimento dram (allspice berries soaked in rum), which mellows the sugary batter with a hint of bitterness. You may find yourself ordering another, and still another, while you read a book and nibble on the daily popcorn offered at the bar.

Ration and Dram, 130 Arizona Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 678-974-8380

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Creative Loafing: What to drink with Thanksgiving dinner – Part I

Make these cocktails or drink these local beers on Thanksgiving, because they said so.

Still at a loss for what to drink with your Thanksgiving turkey cake and cherumple on Thursday? We asked Atlanta beer, wine, and cocktail experts to share a few of their recommendations. If you’re in need of some turkey-friendly, boozy inspiration, today is your lucky day.

This series comes to you into three parts. Part I covers beer and spirits starting with thoughtful cocktail recipes from talented barkeeps Julian Goglia (the Pinewood), Andy Minchow (Ration & Dram), and Bradford Tolleson (Restaurant Eugene). CL’s resident beer guy Austin L. Ray also chipped in with three fall seasonals from Atlanta breweries that opened in 2014. In parts II and III, we tap into Advanced Sommelier Tim Willard’s near-encyclopedic body of wine knowledge and hear from southern wine geek extraordinaire Steven Grubbs, respectively.

Andy Minchow, Ration & Dram

The Plymouth Rocktail
1 ounce Plymouth gin
1 ounce Dolin Blanc (any sweet white vermouth will work)
1 barspoon of cranberry sauce(yes I did. That and the name are the cheesy parts)
2 barspoons of lemon juice
Shake and double strain into a champagne flute or wine glass.
Top with 3 ounces of dry sparkling wine(rose if you have it)
Garnish with an orange twist.

This can also be done as a punch over ice. I think it will be a nice cocktail to start the drinking off and look funny in the hands of any men watching football.

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AJC: 4 rainy day deals around Atlanta

Don’t let a rainy day in Atlanta spoil your fun; instead, let the weather inspire you. There are plenty of things to do in Atlanta when it rains, and plenty of places that will reward you for putting on your rain gear and trekking out into the city.

$6 classic cocktails at Ration & Dram (Kirkwood). Ration & Dram recently introduced a new rainy day classics cocktail menu, which is only available on rainy days. Each drink on the menu is $6 and includes classic cocktails like Dark n Stormy, Daiquiri and Horse’s Neck. 130 Arizona Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, Ga. 30307,678-974-8380, www.rationanddram.com

 

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