Now, I’ve taken some feedback to my first review, in regards that perhaps it isn’t fair to start a “cocktail review” stream on a place that so clearly doesn’t take the food/drink/hospitality side so seriously. To wit, I say, “well, isn’t that the point?” You don’t have to take it seriously but dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s is still important. The mob isn’t stupid, and with the tidal flood of places opening in the 513 and the vastly inexperienced folk working at/opening up/incharge of…shouldn’t they be held accountable for the product they put, quite literally, on the table? No? Fine. I digress, the next few locations I will kick the tires on what I would say most of the populace would consider, perceptibly, a place to get a “good” drink.
Cincinnati, as it turns out, is having no small shortage of underground grottos. Once a booming industrial town, chock full of distilleries, breweries, apothecaries and blood thirsty butchers, Cincy has basically an entire world under its very feet. Lagering tunnels, barrel tubes and hidden subway tracks makeup an absurd patchwork dream for mole people. Only recently are the city and it’s vast amount of millionaires and angel investors, starting to take advantage of the abandoned ruin of yesteryear.
We’ll dig into the latest and greatest under-the-asphalts soon enough, but I want to visit a city favorite. Not quite the first to open its doors below the bustle of downtown (and most certainly won’t be the last), but this little jewel is a personal favorite. Let us head down to Sotto.
There’s a preconceived hype to going someplace, isn’t there? Maybe you are lucky enough to stay away from a place without ever hearing a peep about it, but when, honestly, was the last time you made a reservation because you blindly picked their number from a phonebook? You might not be able to recall your influence, but there most certainly is one. And if any brick and mortar in this town has a sphere of influence, it’s the Boca Restaurant Group and their sterling armada of Nada, Boca and Sotto. Their immaculate attention to detail puts them at the top of the flagpole. Years and years of honing their craft in every facet of the hospitality industry is yielding its fruits. Sotto sits number one in the city and a blip for Cincinnati in the national picture of great eateries.
So yes, every once in a while I indulge.
The bar program over at said behemoth BRG is under the creativity of one Aaron Strasser. Aaron has been in the bar life for some time. He has basically grown up in the explosion that is Cincinnati overdevelopment, is extremely well read, and if you catch him behind a bar is known to enjoy the theater of it all. Light. Stage. Flame. There are many types of bartender. Some play to the hordes on gameday, some are your best friend, others see all the moving pieces and want to build on those pieces to make something unique. This is where you will find Aaron, a tinkerer that can truly craft for an audience with a large swathing greatest hits collection.
To go with my “don’t you dare touch my pasta” plate of the moment I went out of my wheelhouse and ordered, a gin sour. A simple palette pleaser, a sour can wet your appetite for a meal. Crisp, tart, hopefully on the dry side, a proper sour can be the most crushable thing on a drink menu. Perhaps I should rewind here.
“What’s a sour???”
Classically, equal parts fresh lemon juice and simple syrup with 2 parts [insert spirit here]. To those still confused, you’ve probably been calling it a Lemon Drop. Many people get held up with the “fresh lemon” part. Thats understandable. Fresh lemon juice prices vary more than gold. Just ask the cartels that manage the amount of citrus that comes in and out of the country. Then there’s the labor cost, fine straining, bottling. It’s a hassle, especially if you do any sort of volume </sarcasm>. But lemon juice is the character of your drink, so making sure it is fresh (within certain time frames beholden to its pH levels that is) is imperative to the success of your sour. For the tartiest of lip puckerers, you need it right out of the rind. The store bought plastic Easy-Bake-Oven set of lemons use citric acid as a preservative, and those add an astringency to the drink that is tough to fend off. Oft times, the combo of less than desirable ice (we will address this eventually), “real” lemon juice™, and an absurdly large coupe glass will give you the optimal balance you are looking for, with an unfortunate side effect: cottonmouth.
Okay back to the drink in question. A Sicilian Smash. To be honest, I haven’t the foggiest idea why I ordered this. At most bars, a sour is fairly one note. There’s a “wildcard” ingredient that can send it into an interesting direction, but for the most part…it’s sour. Literally the most blind-siding, flavor hiding, inane thing you can do to a spirit, is a sour. It’s a fine entry level cocktail, or if you are looking to just pound overproof vodka, but I basically drink pureed dirt on the regular, so a sour won’t typically hit any high notes with me. Maybe it was the name, a smash?
“Ok so what’s a smash?”
The debate can range here, but in my mind, a smash is a julep, but a julep is not a smash. Huh? Sugar, water, herb, spirit, seasonal fruit…and ice. Basically picture putting a bunch of stuff at the bottom of a glass, and smashing a heap of ice on top of it. Then garnish with a fruit. Smash. It definitely puts you in a different mindset. An alcoholic sno-cone if you will. When looking at our Sicilian Smash we have: Artichoke, Lemon, Thyme, Cynar and Gin. Iiiiinteresting. A smash with artichokes. I could get down with that. The artichoke and Cynar (Chee-Nar..say it with me people) thing is a little redundant, but still.
Presentation-wise, however, we have what many would see as a sour. A lemon forward bright gin number with herbal thyme aromatics. It’s dry, and botanical. I put this fully on the Bluecoat gin which has 4 base grains, all of which you can taste. Highly recommend adding this gin to your shelf. What I find curious is the lack of artichoke, not to mention the color of the drink is especially yellow hued as opposed to, well, anything with Cynar in it. It’s probably just a touch to stretch the finish of the drink. I still want to see this in julep form and flipped with a stronger Cynar 70 octane boost. The drink is fine as it is, I’m sure the bar even gets it’s fair share of “Can I get this with vodka instead of gin”1 requests, but would love to see more vegetal notes of artichoke just to add a little more complexity. Then, drop it into an ice cream maker and churn out some baller sorbet.
Bartenders have a great many tricks up their sleeve, and none more powerful than, perception, perception, perception. Like any job, working under certain brands can be a benefit, giving you a little leeway with many a folk, while being held under a microscope to others. Either way you still need to flex that muscle. Sotto’s The Sicilian Smash is a people pleaser, balancing that line between slightly adventurous and approachable. I dare to find anyone that would send it off to the dreaded spill tab.
1 side note #1. Stop with the "Can I sub vodka for......." requests. Okay. We get it. You live a riskless life with no foundation to reach out of your comfort zone. You drink vodka because it's all you have ever drank since the age of 16 when your rebellious self thought it was cool and your boyfriend handed you a glass with something resembling either Kool Aid or Country Time Pink lemonade in it, and now that you are "older" and "wiser" you have simply moved on from the sugar stuff to the more palatable? vodka waters. STOP. Vodka is neutral. Meaning it's strictly just tastes like alcohol. You are all in some kind of sadistic mindset if you think for a hot second that subbing vodka in for anything makes it more palatable. And don't give me the diet excuse either. Cause then you should just flat out not be drinking AT ALL.
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