Braving the more mysterious drinks of Santa Fe takes just a little bit of moxie. There are drinks that sound too sweet, too sour, too boozy or too brash for those who don’t want to get a little adventurous with their evening hooch. They’ll stick to their boring gin and tonic, and you can go to hell with that fancy/strange/crazy boozenado, thank you very much. SFR understand your alcoholic trepidation. That’s why we’ve taken one—or in this case four—for the team. Eight of us hit the town in search of some of the craziest drinks we could find. Here’s how it went down:
Drink One: Sake Bombs at Izmi
(105 E Marcy St., 424-1311) Happy Hour: Beer $3, Small Sake $3
When most people think of drop shots, hazy memories of Jagerbombs and moonlit pledges of "I love you, man" may be pushed from their memory, after a short retch. This is not necessarily incorrect, as most of the time any drink with the noun "bomb" in it is the beginning of the end. Not so with Sake Bombs from Izmi. You won't even find them on the menu, because owner Brent Jung doesn't want people to get rowdy. It's not the drink that's important, though, as is the ritual. Warmed sake is balanced on chopsticks over the lips of half-full pint glasses of Sapporo beer, all lined up in a row down the table. All it takes is one karate chop, and all of them dive headlong into the glass. Then you chug with all your affected frat brother might. You don't taste the sake, and it's actually fun. Round two on our trip brings giant bamboo poles across all glasses in place of chopsticks. Sake Bombs at Izmi are all about the presentation.
Drink Two: Spicy Secreto at Secreto Lounge
(210 Don Gaspar Ave., 983-5700) $11
The Spicy Secreto is what you might think of as a sophisticated cocktail. That would be because it kind of is. According to Secreto's menu, full of creative mixology and classics with twists, the signature drink won the 2010 "Shake It Up" competition in Las Vegas, Nev. With cucumbers, cane syrup, Novo Fogo Organic Cachaca (sugarcane booze, essentially), elderflower liqueur and a spice rim of chile (and salt), the taste is rummy and multilayered, with the cucumber taking point and surrendering to the sweetness on the back door. It's definitely sex in a glass, and there's no wonder as to why it's an award-winning libation.
Drink Three: Blood Orange Negroni at The High Note
(132 W Water St., 919-8771) $12
Just around the corner, we learn that negronis are considered an aperitif, which means "before dinner," for those of you who have managed to avoid black tie affairs for this long. So we screwed that up. This version contains Campari grapefruit liquor, sweet vermouth, blood orange and Campari dust. Anyway, the blood orange and Campari take no prisoners in this glass chock-full of tart. Too tart; it would seem like there's no room for any other taste, and more's the pity. Served in a martini glass, it looks and smells like it would be delicious. But it isn't. Not that it's bad, but hey, don't ask us; we're already a few drinks in.
Mistake Four: The Volcano at Jinja
(510 N Guadalupe St., 982-4321) Small $20, Large $30
There's no better way to proclaim to the entire world that you're about to make some horrible decisions—and that you would rather not be around for the end result—than a drink that's on fire. And that's exactly what you get when you order the Volcano. The contents of this potion are Bacardi light rum, Meyer's rum, and on fire in the center with some 151 (of course), some sour mix, a couple of juices and grenadine. It's not meant to drink without a team to help you out, and that wouldn't be advisable—even if you were Mickey Rourke from Barfly. For such an expensive drink, it tastes like it's made from a bunch of well booze. This would be a bad thing if you were still sober enough to taste it. But you're not. Thank goodness, too. The hostess might be rude when you and your crew roll up to order this drink absent a fancy dinner. Don't sweat it. You'll be too gone to care.
Santa Fe Reporter