On a recent Friday night we went to FINO to pay a visit to Bill Norris. Bill, you may recall, is the winner of the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup semifinals, who went on to compete in the finals in New Zealand, on a team that placed second among some truly world-class talent. On this particular evening, however, it wasn't Bill's resume that drew us to FINO, but rather his promise of a showcase of Don Julio beverages which he was working on for a special promotion. By special, I mean that the fine folks of Don Julio were paying and we were sipping.

This post will be typical of many in which I take a bunch of pictures and no notes, and therefore have to sift through my tipsy memory to figure out what the hell we were drinking. Here goes:

This drink had Don Julio reposado and St Germain. And egg white. And something else. This drink was custom made for the evening's festivities, and I cannot recall the recipe. Perhaps Mr. Norris himself will fill us in.

Bill does a drink on the winter menu called the Sunshine Port, featuring white port, Dripping Springs vodka and Q tonic with house-made NOPA bitters

There is a Gazpacho Martini on the regular cocktail menu that I know they sell a lot of at FINO. It's made with Sauza Blanco tequila that they infuse with grilled tomatoes, cucumbers, chiles & bell peppers in a big jar. I sometimes get the feeling that this is a drink that Bill would rather not make, but it's so popular they can't take it off the menu.

I believe that this is a Southside cocktail

The Mediterranean Martini 2.0, if that's what this is, consists of Charbay Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka, Grapefruit Juice, and Grapefruit bitters.

Is this a Last Word?

Ultimately this is what we were hoping to get a taste of (no offense to your fabulous cocktail, Mr. Norris). It retails at $100+/bottle, and $30-something for a glass at a restaurant, so we had never had the pleasure. It's really a treat to partake of, very supple and buttery. Thank you, friendly Don Julio rep!

And when you've had enough cocktails and need to grub, you have two choices. The first is to eat at FINO, which has great food. But if you're on a budget, we recommend going down the street to Salvation Pizza and getting one (or two) of their bitchin' pies.

Since this particular evening, I have been back to try some brand new Bill Norris cocktails--highly recommended. I am particularly fond of the Irish Monks cocktail, which consists of Jameson, Yellow Chartreuse, and Earl Grey syrup. Go check it out during weekday happy hours and this beauty is only $7.

(Photos by Jenna Lane except where noted, by JW Walthall)

This weekend we hosted our annual Derby Day party, for the first time at Rainlily Farm. Bulleit Bourbon Mint Juleps were poured in abundant quantities.

We harvested the mint just a few steps away from where we were serving the juleps
(JW)

Bulleit Juleps in Bulleit glasses

The bar was staffed by Austin cocktail notables Bill Norris (left) of FINO, Mindy Kucan (right) of Hilton Downtown, and, when I wasn't too busy talking, myself.


Hollis Bulleit, daughter of founder Tom Bulleit, was in attendance.

Paul Michie of Alamo Drafthouse was generous enough to serve up his interpretation of the classic hot brown. Hollis proclaimed Paul's hot browns the most attractive she'd ever seen--and they tasted as good as they looked. RJ Spade of Blue Star Cafeteria rounded out the Derby Day table with Benedictine sandwiches and Burgout, the latter made with local grass-fed lamb from Loncito Cartwright, and venison from Mary Louise Butters.

Everybody looked so fabulous! Nicole Eeds and Charles Glenn
(JW)

Gals in their Derby Day hats
(JW)

Paula Angerstein of Paula's Texas Spirits with Paul Grosso, left, and Graham Wasilition, right

That is me on the left with my friend and colleague Jessica Maher of Spoon & Co

Rainlily proprietor Stephanie Scherzer (center) in the field with legendary organic farmer Larry Butler of Boggy Creek Farm

Paula with Addie Broyles (center) of the Austin American-Statesman

Amidst all the cocktails there was actually time to watch the race

At the end of the party, miss Hollis signed the leftover bottles
(JW)

Mr. Bill Norris is featured in a Statesman article today. The best quote is, "A jigger is a sign of professionalism not weakness."

David Alan, a.k.a. Tex, is featured in the Rare magazine nightlife edition out on stands now. Click on the third dot on the page to navigate to the correct area with the article.

Bill Hankey, of the The Goodnight, is also featured in this month's Rare magazine.

Good times, folks. We're off to more Tales of the Cocktail Going on!

This is a busy week for Tipsy Texan/Co-Op Coffee. If you're out and about this week you might find us at any of the following events:

Thursday--La Dolce Vita, the 20th anniversary of this spectacular fall fundraiser for the Austin Museum of Art, held at Laguna Gloria. Tipsy Texans serving specialty cocktails for the VIP pre-party and in the Scotch & Cigar Lounge. We will be debuting the new Brown Witch cocktail--a brown butter-infused Macchiato with Strega and St. George absinthe. I got a message yesterday that all 1800 tickets are sold out to this event.

Friday PM & Saturday AM/PM--Austin Stringband Festival, the 4th installment of this annual music festival put on by the Austin Friends of Traditional Music at Camp Ben McCullough (Co-Op helping people keep warm and awake with specialty coffee drinks)

Saturday AM--Tune into KXAN's Morning Show to see Tex mix up a new Treaty Oak Rum fall cocktail. At 8:30 am (yikes!)

Saturday AM--Co-Op Coffee at the Sunset Valley Farmer's Market, 9am-1pm every Saturday. Rolling out some new hot drinks for the cooler weather.

Saturday PM--HELM launch party, invite-only preview of HELM shoes, the latest venture of Progress Coffee's Joshua Bingaman

Sunday--Oyster Club at the Plant in Kyle, benefitting Rude Mechs

Dolce Vita was a raging success tonight with a sell-out crowd showing up for the 20th anniversary event. As far as crowds go, the Tipsy Texans entertained a sizable line of party-goers in the Scotch & Cigar Lounge, which was a $20 upgrade to the regular ticket--a steal, in my opinion, because that means you get to drink high-proof hooch instead of just wine.

We originally planned to do the Debonair Cocktail but there appeared to be a shortage of scotch, so we switched gears after the first hour and focused our attention on the case of Paula's Texas Lemon that they'd given us to work with. Tipsy came up with a refreshing Port punch.

I didn't get a glamour shot of the Debonair but Jennie Chen managed to catch me drinking one

Paula's Porto Punch
2 oz Paula's Texas Lemon
3/4 oz Port
3/4 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime
Angostura bitters
Shake all in a cocktail shaker and strain into a bitters-rinsed glass

We were also fortunate to have a guest barista at our table, none other than Dan Streetman of Cuvee Coffee. He brought his La Marzocco espresso machine and did some great coffees. We debuted a new coffee cocktail that I have been working on, a brown butter-infused Macchiato with Strega and absinthe:

The Brown Witch

The Brown Witch
1/2 oz Brown Butter
4 oz Whole Milk
1 oz Espresso
1/2 oz Strega
Barspoon (scant) St. George absinthe
Pour spirits into a demitasse. Steam the brown butter and milk, pour artfully into demitasse. Serve.

The Tipsy Texans have partnered with East Side Show Room bar manager Adam Bryan to present a special menu of classic and modern tiki drinks, every Monday night from 5-9 pm. Drinks are priced conveniently from $7-9. We've been poring through vintage books on what Jeff "Beachbum" Berry would call a Sippin' Safari. We've selected a short list of classic tiki drinks that we think many people have tried, but perhaps have never had a good one of. We've also sourced recipes from modern tiki enthusiasts such as "Kaiser Penguin" Stutz (Nutmeg Needle), and we even collaborated with Adam on a new tiki cocktail, "Back in the E.S.S.R.", a tiki-for-two (or more) that is served in a fishbowl. The tiki phenomenon represents an important and much-misunderstood genre in the history of American mixology. As we sail through the pages and bottles of tiki past, our understanding evolves, and so will our recipes and menu. See you at the Safari!

Note: The comments section of this blog is temporarily busted. No workey.

Last week we got to be a special guest on the Hilah Cooking show, part of the first anniversary celebration at HilahCooking.com. The subject for this segment is Punch. I made a variation on Philadelphia Fish House Punch, based on the recipe in David Wondrich's new book on the subject. This is a third of the normal recipe, so multiply it out if you're having a party. This was a nice little weeknight punch for four.

For the last several years, I have made the prediction that the current year was going to be "the year of the cocktail" for Austin. I meant it each time, and the last several years have been awesome for our bar and restaurant community. We've watched the opening of several fabulous places, some of which (Congress, Haddingtons, Contigo, Franklin BBQ) have been garnering national media attention. We even closed out the final year of our Wine & Food festival with such a bang that we attracted the attention of Food & Wine Mag, who will now help run an Austin festival. Our humble USBG chapter has grown, we've hosted some notable dignitaries from the bar world (Tony Abou-Ganim, Tobin Ellis, and many more) and we are hosting our holiday party at Franklin BBQ--Not having to wait for Franklin BBQ is definitely a signifier that you have arrived.

Not to break with tradition, I'm going to announce my early excitement for 2012. I got news this am that our pal Jason Stevens is going to take over the bar at Bar Congress next month.

More on this following the jump...