Ever since Rock Town Distillery relocated to their new space, the tap room has been a destination unto itself. The new space allowed Rock Town to expand not only the seating but the entire bar program providing a full cocktail menu and experience for people alongside the retail opportunities. As vaccinations become more widely available, Rock Town is unveiling their newest cocktail menu Today (March 16) to showcase complex but not complicated cocktails using the full range of their products. The existing classics are still there with Old Fashioneds, Negronis, Mules, and more but the literary themed specialty cocktails showcase the creativity of Rock Town’s spirit guides. In addition to the drinks like the Wuthering Heights, highlighting a housemade raspberry-mint shrub and red wine, or the James & the Giant Peach using Peach Lightning in a Pimms Cup, these drinks showcase the Rock Town Distillery spirits without being complicated allowing someone to taste all of the spirits used.
Once Upon a Thyme
Combining Brandon’s Gin with a housemade thyme syrup, lemon juice and velvet falernum, this is a summer gin drink for everyone. The thyme syrup plays a strong role giving the drink an herbaceous quality and flavor leaving the gin’s juniper to play a supporting role. The drink is surprisingly delicate and highlights the botanicals in Brandon’s Gin rather than the juniper. This is a cocktail for both gin lovers and people who are not sure whether they like gin. The thyme sprig garnish adds a mature element to the drink as you get a beautiful smell of the thyme as you raise the glass.
Goosebumps
The green color perfectly encapsulates what many people remember about the Goosebumps series growing up and demonstrates the creativity and skill of the Rock Town spirit guides. Using Rocktown Vodka as a base, this sour derived cocktail adds Midori and Ancho Reyes with lemon juice and egg white for structure before topping it with a dusting of dragon fruit powder. The combination is both sublime and fun – the chili notes from the Ancho Reyes are sharp on the nose and wake you up as you raise the glass before tasting that spicy bite tamed by the rich feel of the drink and the slowly growing melon flavor.
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden makes great use of the refreshing flavor of cucumber by infusing it into Rock town Basil vodka. The drink is rounded out with a rose petal syrup and ice cubes frozen with edible flowers. The menu’s refreshing theme for spring continues here as this drink is light and intensely floral when you smell and when you sip it. The drink really opens up over time making it pleasant to sip and possibly the prettiest of the cocktails to look at.
Sorcerer’s Stone
This incredibly smooth whiskey cocktail uses the Rock Town Golden Promise whiskey augmented with Rock Town Triple sec, a lemon oleo-saccharum, and bitters. By extracting the lemon oils into an oleo-saccharum, this cocktail brings the citrus flavors forward and accents the Golden Promise whiskey like no other drink. The Golden Promise is a malted bourbon and has a sweetness more like a honey that contributes to the smooth flavor profile of the Sorcerer’s Stone. This is a light and refreshing cocktail even with the whiskey base.
The Illustrated Man
The Illustrated Man is a strong drink both in flavor and in heft. Using the Rock Town Chocolate Malt Bourbon with Orgeat and both Peychaud’s and Xocolatl Mole Bitters, this drink is redolent with chocolate when you take a whiff. The body of the drink itself is surprisingly light as the nuttiness of the orgeat plays against chocolate notes of the Bourbon. This is a combination of powerful flavors that will leave a definite memory when you step away from the glass.
Catcher in the Rye
a rye whiskey base, the Catcher in the Rye is an assertive drink. Using Benedictine as an accent to provide additional complexity like a Manhattan that is tamed with the addition of a honey syrup and accented with Orange Bitters creates an embodiment of the complex without complicated ethos of the menu.The spice of the rye whiskey is prominent, but not overpowering, and the sharp edges of the rye gives room for the herbal and spice qualities of the Benedictine to come out.
