Cocktails and Spirits

Cincinnati has never had so many drink options. From new distilleries throughout the Tristate to bars specializing in craft cocktails on every corner downtown, any night can be a great night out in the Queen City.

Ready to start exploring but don’t know where to start? Consider this your introductory guide. You’ll meet some of the region’s best bartenders, learn about the region’s distilleries

Signature Cocktails Mutiny on the Bay at Pontiac BBQ, OTR

and even learn how to make a cocktail yourself.

So clear your schedule and get ready to try something new; we’re exploring Cincinnati’s ever-expanding

This refreshingly, fruity drink is

cocktail-and-spirits scene.

made with guava, rum, coconut and lime. w w w.

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Ask a Bartender MOLLY WELLMANN ANSWERS THE QUESTIONS WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN TOO EMBARRASSED TO ASK OUR BARTENDERS

By Corinne Minard Molly Wellmann knows a thing or two about making cocktails. Wellmann, the owner of Japp’s Since 1879 in Over-the Rhine, was recently named the country’s Best Bartender-Owner of the Year by Nightclub & Bar Media Group and has been serving drinks in Cincinnati since 2008. And there is nothing Wellmann loves more than sharing that knowledge with others.

So we at Cincy Magazine came up with a list of cocktail questions we’ve always found too shameful to ask and challenged Wellmann to answer them. What we learned? Don’t ever be afraid to ask, especially when you’re asking someone as knowledgeable as Wellmann.

Q

: If someone doesn’t know what to order, what about their personal tastes should they tell the bartender to help them pick a drink?

A Molly Wellman showed us the best way to mix our cocktails at Japp’s Since 1879.

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: It is helpful to know if you have tastes like not too sweet, we get that all the time. That is totally OK to ask and good to know. Because when you’re making a well-made crafted cocktail you have the ability to adjust sweetness. And the strength as well. “I love having a cocktail but I really don’t like tasting the liquor.”

No problem, we can make that happen.

Just be open with your tastes, I think that’s really important.

Any good bartender will appreciate that and any good bartender … should have a whole Rolodex of different cocktails in

their head to be able to create something.

That’s what a bartender does. It’s not just about, “What’ll you have?” That’s the old way of doing it. In today’s bars it should be, “Let me find out what you like because we can make it.”

Q

: If someone orders a drink, like a bourbon and soda, and is offered different brands of liquor, what should they ask to help them pick?

A

: What brand do you normally drink when you go to the bar? At this bar, I could tell you everything about bourbon, I drink enough of it to know every taste.

I can introduce something new for you to try [based on your usual]. Any good bartender who does their research… here, that’s something that we do. I’m very particular about everybody knowing what’s on the back of the bar and how to sell it.

Because at the end of the day we are all sales people, we sell liquor. We should know our product. It’s not just about putting a drink together and handing it to you.

It’s about giving you choices and selling something new to you to try, to broaden your drinking horizons.

Q

: What terms should people know when they’re ordering a drink, such as a martini?

A

: Whenever anyone says, “I’d love a martini,” first question is, “Gin or vodka?” Dirty or clean? Dirty meaning there’s going to be some olive brine in it.

Clean means there’s not going to be any brine in it and I’m probably going to express some lemon on top of it so it’s fresh and it’s bright.

Everybody says I want extra dry. That doesn’t matter. I’m going to put vermouth in it one way or the other because it’s not a martini unless I put vermouth in it.

It’s always stirred if it’s a martini. Now if you want something that’s shaken, you want it really cold, you want an ice rink on top of it, that’s fine but it’s no longer a martini. We can still do it. Big nerdy bartender thing—it’s called a Bradford then. Clean or dirty, some people like it extra dirty, some people like it just a tad dirty, slightly dirty, so we know how much brine to put it. And then whether you would like it up or on the rocks. Up means it’s being stirred and put into a martini glass with no ice and then on the rocks is on [ice]. I drink my martinis on the rocks, I like what the ice does.

Q A

: What questions have people asked you before?

Q

: What does lighting an element like orange zest add to a drink? Or is it just show?

A

: Both. It’s for show where everybody is looking at us definitely at the bar.

Every movement counts behind the bar because everyone is facing you. Everyone is looking at you. So be a show.

Lighting something on fire definitely gets people’s attention. Yes, it also does [add f lavor]. There’s oil in citrus, the orange has the most, that will ignite on fire and kind of give it almost like a toastiness rather than just expressing the fresh orange. It’s really dependent on the drink I’m making whether I’m lighting the orange or not. Sometimes I really like the fresh and not something that’s been ignited on fire.

Signature Cocktails

: People ask questions all the time. People ask what’s the difference between a bartender and a mixologist. The answer is I’m always a bartender. I’m always tending the bar first. That’s the most important job.

[As] a mixologist you take it one step further, studying old drinks, studying spirits, studying where they come from, the history behind them, techniques, everything, from over 100 years ago. But I always say I’m a bartender and if you want just a Bud Light I really know how to serve that and I’m very happy to do so! n

Lemon Basil Martini at Padrino, Milford Padrino doesn’t have a regular cocktail menu, but ever since this drink was offered as a special it has become a secret menu item loved by frequent diners. It gained popularity purely through word-of-mouth and is one of the most popular cocktails at the restaurant.

FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FREE You don’t always have to head out to a bar to have a quality drink. You can even make them in your own home. Molly Wellmann, owner of Japp’s Since 1879 in Over-the-Rhine, shared this recipe for a classic cocktail, the Fancy Free, so you can have a good drink wherever you are.

The Fancy Free 2 ounces of bourbon 0.5 ounces maraschino liquor 2 dashes angostura bitters 2 dashes orange bitters orange twist

Mix together in a mixing glass and pour in a glass over ice. Garnish with an orange peel. w w w.

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Molly Steele

Fiery Hen, Downtown

Rising Stars

THREE UP-AND-COMING CINCINNATI BARTENDERS TELL US ABOUT WHAT DRIVES THEIR PASSION FOR COCKTAILS

By Kevin Michell

Signature Cocktails The Liquid Knowledge at Coppins, Covington This variation of a Kentucky mule is served in a Rookwood Pottery mug. The name of this drink comes from the restaurant’s nameske, John Coppin, whose bet on a horse named Knowledge enabled him to open his department store.

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Molly Steele has seen a lot in her bartending career, including the transformation of the food and drink scene in Cincinnati.

Fifteen years after first bartending shift at Dewey’s Pizza in Newport, she is one of the lead managers at Fiery Hen, a recent addition to the group of bars and restaurants on Court Street between Race and Vine.

Steele tends bar there every Wednesday through Saturday.

Slinging drinks is how she paid her way through college, where she gained associate degrees in applied science and cosmetology as well as a bachelor’s in entrepreneurship from Northern Kentucky University and Gateway Community and Technical College. But a continued education in wine and spirits, combined with the money to be made, created a compelling argument to stay in the bar industry.

“I realized immediately that when I got out of school,” Steele says, “I wasn’t going to make as much money as I would bartending.”

The craftsmanship of cocktailing is what Steele loves the most about working behind the bar, where she’ll gladly transport guests to New Orleans with her favorite drink to make—the classic Ramos gin fizz.

“I feel like drinks are just like food,” Steele notes. “If you want to have a nice dinner, you have to have salt, you have to have acid, you have to have sweetness.

It’s a built dish and drinks are very much the same.”

Scott Augsburger

Wiseguy Lounge, Over-the-Rhine & Covington

Like many bartenders in Cincinnati, the current resurgence of the bar scene is a case of “right place, right time” for Scott Augsburger.

In 2015, Augsburger landed a job at the Wiseguy Lounge attached to Goodfellas Pizza in Over-the-Rhine. It was there that the appeal of working at a bar with a wide array of cocktailing possibilities hit him.

“The reason why I got a job at Wiseguy was because I was a regular here,” Augsburger recalls. “I used to sit at a barstool right next to the window all the time. What caught my eye was how many people were interested in this craft. They made it look so cool.”

Both Wiseguy locations are the sort of venues where inventive cocktails meld with detail-oriented mixology. That sort of showmanship and meticulousness draws the attention of everyone around the bar when a drink is being whipped up.

“Sometimes you look like you’re working on a science experiment,” Augsburger observes with a smile.

But it’s the spirits that have kept Augsburger honing his craft. Whether making a rum-based riff on a Manhattan cocktail called the El Presidente or introducing guests to the joys of Boulevardiers, Augsburger is focused on providing the full package to visitors to Wiseguy Lounge on Wednesdays and weekends.

Bennett Cooper

16-Bit Bar+Arcade, Over-the-Rhine

Though retro arcade cabinets and colorful drinks may be the main draw, Bennett Cooper is another compelling reason to visit 16-Bit Bar+Arcade. The seven-year veteran of bartending in the city has been familiar with spirits ever since growing up in a home with a full bar in the basement. Since cutting his teeth slinging drinks at Milton’s in Prospect Hill, Cooper’s helped open Taft’s Ale House and 16-Bit, finding a home at the latter ever since.

“I’d been seeing things about it in Columbus,” Cooper says, “and I was like, ‘Videos games and alcohol together? I need to be there.’”

He loves his job at one of the most popular bars in the city—where the large space often fills up quickly and stays that way until closing time—because of the variety each shift brings. “You’re going to have a different day every day,” Cooper observes.

The back-to-back third-best bartender in CityBeat’s annual Best of the City and 2016 long pour champion at Video Archive’s bartender skill competition, Cooper will whip up a Carrie Fisher or Lisa Frank cocktail—two original favorites on 16-Bit’s drink list— with flair and a winning smile for guests when he’s working Fridays through Sundays. w w w.

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Spirits of the Tristate

LOCAL CRAFT DISTILLERIES EXTRACTING A TASTEFUL COMEBACK

By Eric Spangler

A

s the craft brewery business continues to boom across the Tristate, local craft distilleries are starting to enjoy resurgence as well.

Karrikin Spirits Co. Opened: 2018 Hours: 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-12 a.m. Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday Address: 3717 Jonlen Drive, Fairfax Phone: 513-561-5000 Website: karrikinspirits.com

One of the newest distilleries is Karrikin Spirits Co., a grain-to-glass distillery and restaurant in Fairfax that opened its doors to the public in December, says Jessica Rilling.

“We pride ourselves on house-made spirits and beverages including vodka, gin, agave spirit, rum and fruit brandies as well as hard sodas, non-alcoholic sodas and beers,” she says. “In addition to beverages, the restaurant offers a menu full of house-made dishes cooked on a wood-fired grill.”

Founders of the distillery include Jeff Hunt, founder of MadTree Brewing; Mike Florea, former executive chef and operating partner at Maribelle’s Eat+Drink; Jeff 46

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Reichard, president of Holt & Reichard Inc.; Dan Hueber, owner of The V Collective; Mike Powell, former vice president of operations at Panera Bread; John Pattison, creative director at Unscripted Ideas; and Eric Baumann, former vice president of Moerlein.

New Riff Distilling Opened: 2014 Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday Address: 24 Distillery Way, Newport Phone: 859-261-7433 Website: newriffdistilling.com

One of the most well known distilleries in the area is New Riff Distilling in Newport, Kentucky. Founded in 2014 by Ken Lewis, a Kentucky liquor retailer and entrepreneur, New Riff is crafting a range of whiskeys—bourbon, rye and a host of specialty recipes—as well as Kentucky wild gin, says Zach MacMillian.

New Riff Distilling’s mission is to someday be counted among the world’s great small distilleries. The company starts with water that is pumped from a private well 100 feet deep in an aquifer beneath New Riff Distilling’s land.

Karrikin Spirits Co. in Fairfax specializes in spirits like vodka, gin, rum and fruit brandies.

That water contains as much as four times the amount of dissolved minerals that are found in the typical municipal water supplies because of the limestonepacked hills to the south of the distillery.

And because yeast likes minerals, the water used in New Riff Distilling’s process is a great place to start the distilling process.

Everything produced at New Riff Distilling, aside from its Single Barrel Program at barrel proof, is bottled in bond. Congress

passed the bottled-in-bond law in 1897 to ensure the product a consumer was buying was true whiskey, according to a standardized definition.

That bottled-in-bond law requires the whiskey be the product of one distilling season from one distillery, aged in a federally bonded warehouse for at least four years and bottled at 100 proof. New Riff takes it a step further by bottling without chill filtration.

It’s all part of New Riff Distilling’s mission to become one of the world’s great small distilleries.

OTHER LOCAL DISTILLERIES INCLUDE: Shumrick and Leys

Northside Distillery

Opened: April 2017 Hours: 4-10 p.m. Friday; 1-10 p.m. Saturday Address: 2810 Highland Ave., Norwood Phone: 513-429-5657 Website: shumrickleys.com

Opened: 2015 Hours: 4-11 p.m. Thursday; 4 p.m.-midnight Friday; 1 p.m.-midnight Saturday.

Also available for private events.

Address: 922 Race St., Downtown Phone: 513-413-7477 Website: northsidedistilling.com

Second Sight Spirits Opened: February 2015 Hours: Tours available at 12:30, 2 and 4 p.m. Thursday; 12:30, 2, 4 and 6 p.m.

Friday and Saturday Address: 301 B Elm St., Ludlow Phone: 859-488-7866 Website: secondsightspirits.com

Boone County Distilling Co. Opened: Oct. 15, 2015 Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday Address: 10601 Toebben Drive, Boone County Phone: 859-282-6545 Website: boonedistilling.com

Boone County Distilling Co. resurrected one of the original distilleries in Kentucky—the Petersburg Distillery—that was founded in 1833, says Kurt Seipel. At the height of production in 1897 the Petersburg Distillery was producing 4 million gallons of whiskey, making it one of the largest distillers in the nation.

The Boone County Distilling Co. today is crafting traditional bourbon whiskey and placing Boone County back in the historical conversations of Kentucky bourbon history.

Woodstone Creek Opened: 1999 Hours: 2-7 p.m. Saturday. No tours Address: 4712 Vine St., St. Bernard Phone: 513-569-0300 Website: woodstonecreek.com

Signature Cocktails Good Old Fashioned Bondage at The Mercer OTR From the cardamom bitters to the demerara simple syrup, every ingredient is unique in this bourbon-based drink.

An ice cube made from Constant Comment tea makes the drink taste even better as it melts.

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