Old Sugar Distillery

Last night, after a long day at work and a couple hours working on a policy memo, Aaron talked me into heading over to the Old Sugar Distillery. We have seen their stuff at our local liquor store, but never tried any of it. I needed a break from working and its only a couple blocks from our apartment, plus there comes a point where the brain refuses to focus on a computer screen. Another plus is the distillery closes at 10 p.m., so it guarantees an early bedtime for someone facing the last weekend before finals.

We got there just early enough to snag a table away from the door, which was letting in the below zero wind every time it opened. This was our first time visiting, so we weren't sure what to except. We just knew it looked cool from the outside.

Inside, it is a small place surrounded with oak barrels. There is a big bar, some bar tables and a couple picnic tables. There's also a piano and it looked like a group had just finished playing live music when we arrived. Although they don't serve food, you can get your dinner delivered there, which is pretty cool (someone ordered pizza). Oh and no waiters here, you have to go to the bar to order!

Anyway, on to the most important part: the drinks. We tried four drinks from their cocktail menu. It was hard to decide because everything is tempting. We had just finished a greasy cheesy meal though, which meant we were looking for drinks to settle our stomachs... so we avoided the Gringo and the Chai latte, but they were definitely popular among the crowd.

Our first round was The Standard for me (their rum on the rocks with lime) and the Main Street for Aaron (whiskey, bitters, sugar, and ouzo). The first sip of the rum was a little off putting, but eventually it settled down and had a nice sweet aroma. I don't have much to say about the Main Street. I had one taste and didn't like how warm it was and how red it looked.

The next round, I opted for the Honey Cap, which was a lot of lime and sugar muddled with their Honey Liqueur, topped with soda water. The menu warns that it goes down easy, and it did. It was delicious, a little sweet and sour, and refreshing.

Aaron got the Whiskey Sour, which was also really good. Their use of real limes instead of bottled lime juice in each of the drinks was essential.

At this point it was past my bed time of 9:30, so we called it a night but plan on going back after finals are over to test the other drinks.