Hey, hey, happy Friday (if you’re actually reading this on Friday, as opposed to reading it some other day. If the latter is the case, pretend it’s Friday, or dream it’s Friday . . . you know, whatever makes you happiest). While I’m happy it’s Friday, too, and have the phonograph needle poised over the proper Loverboy song, I can’t but be a little wistful for last Friday, when prince o’ bartenders Andrew Bohrer was tending bar at Vessel (as opposed to Naga. See, he stepped in to help out because the other dandy Vessel bartenders were at Tales of the Cocktail, which we’re not gonna talk about since I didn’t get to go. And yeah, I’m bitter). Because of the occasion, and because Vessel’s just a few steps from the salt mine I spend my workdays at, co-miner and pal Andrea and I skipped over to said Vessel after work last Friday, leading to the wistfulness above. Wow, that’s was a long explanation. Anyway, Andrew made us some Captain Handsomes first, but the real hit was his special Sazerac:

Instead of just coating the inside first with absinthe, he went absinthe and Champagne (ou la la), and then had brought in some homemade bourbon simple syrup to use. Holy boozey, friends and neighbors, that was one swell drink. Maybe if I/we beg him, he’ll give us his exact recipe with bourbon syrup recipe tucked into it in the comments. We’ll see. He is a busy man. Check out how focused he is while I moon for the camera:

That’s a busy man. Hanging with Mr. Andrew and pal Andrea is definitely one swell way to while away a late Friday afternoon, and the perfect prescription for forgetting about the busy bee work week, as well as the right-on recipe for rolling into the weekend (and if you can mash more metaphors into a sentence, then more power to you). Just look how happy Andrea is sipping her medicine:

Now, go off and enjoy your evenings, mornings, and afternoons guys and gals (but as Sergeant Phil Esterhaus says, “Hey, let’s be careful out there.”)

I wanted to call this post “Drinking Cats” as a balance to the below two cats drinking, but then I figured I’d get all kinds of weirdo traffic flowing in (instead of the regular weirdo traffic–ba-dump-bump. I kid, I kid). And who knows if that weirdo traffic would enjoy this newly minted (or, at least, fairly newly shaken) combination of gin, absinthe, pineapple juice, and a touch of simple syrup, accented by a lemon twist if you’re feeling it. And I’m feeling it, so you should be too (said in my drunken-two-year-old voice). I say hit up the Aviation gin here if you can, cause House Spirits rocks the party. Oh, and it tastes freaking great, like a springtime daydream. I used Lucid absinthe, which is pretty darn swell, too. But if you want to play around with other gins (Bluecoat might be interesting, and Dry Fly) or absinthes (like the mighty Marteau) then start experimenting with your Panther’s Paw. It won’t bite. Though after a couple, you may feel slightly paw’d. But maybe you like that? Wait, I know the answer to that question already.

Ice cubes

1-1/2 ounce Aviation gin

1 ounce Lucid absinthe

3/4 ounce pineapple juice

1/4 ounce simple syrup

Lemon slice, for garnish (optional)

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, absinthe, pineapple juice, and simple syrup. Shake well.

2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon slice if that’s what makes your panther purr.

I was lucky enough (being a drink-writer has its benefits–and I’m not just talking about taking booze purchases off taxes, or being heralded by slobbering boozers, or being able to have random people, taxi drivers, stewardesses, policepeople, look at you incredulously when you tell them what you do) last Sunday to be a judge at the very first Iron Bartender competition here in Seattle, held at the TigerTail. They sorta had to let me be a judge, cause I proofed the press release, but I’ll take what I can get. That said, it was awfully fun and a little messy, and I got to sip some tasty new mixes, which is always a worthwhile thing to do on a Sunday evening.

Here’s the basic overview (I’m not going to get into every teeny-tiny particular, cause I want to get to the photos). Two hot shot bar-slinging trash-talking contestants (the affable Dallas Taylor and the mighty nice Mike McSorley) battled it out over three 7 minute and two 10 minute “bar rounds.” Well, it only ended up being one 10 minute round, but that’s okey-dokey. We had a bit of a back-up in starting time, so it worked out. In the three shorter periods, the contestants used a “secret ingredient,” which I can now tell you was scrumptious Marteau absinthe, and any complementary products that they could find to create a series of drinks (the first two matching up with TigerTail menu items): aperitif, entrée, bartender’s choice, while in the two(*one in real life) longer rounds the contestants whipped out a series of drinks ordered by the crowd. The winner was crowned by a team of three alco-judges (me, awesome Andrew from Liberty, and delightful Kelly O, Drunk of the Week columnist for the Stranger, who also took the photos I’m posting here–thanks Kelly), who scored contestants on the use of the secret ingredient, the overall excellentness of the drinks, drink-making technique, style, wherewithal, and bar sense (or lack there of) demonstrated throughout the competition as well as anything else we felt like grading them on. Good spirited times. No pun intended.

Here are the incredible judges getting ready to use the gong (and drink up the drinks):

Here are Dallas and Mike in the beginning, before the divisive spirit of battle took hold:

And here Mike’s bringing the heat with a flaming absinthe spray:

While Dallas exhorts the crowds into a drinking frenzy:

Sadly, only one winner could be crowned (both of the bartenders brought it pretty well), and that winner was . . . Mike McSorely:

Okay, I realize I didn’t bring up exactly what they made, or even close-to-what-they-made, but rest assured the drinks were good, and absinthe-y, and utilized things like aloe syrup, celery, and lots of gin and fresh juice. I somehow misplaced my notes (hmm, why is it that drinking and note-taking never works out, but drinking and note passing is so much fun?), but when I find them, I’ll try to remember to give an Iron Bartender drink rundown (I do know the drink pic at the top of this post is one made by Dallas called I think the Dear Girl, which was pretty darn good). The word on the street is that they’ll be more Iron Bartender competitions soon, and I, for one, can’t wait to see the bartending badassery and liquor-y chaos unfold again.