Saturday, February 18, 2017

#46: San Jac Saloon

The Bar


San Jac Saloon. 300 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 2/18/17 @ 5:30pm.

The Drink



Whiskey shot. TX whiskey, lemon. $7.

Yup, another whiskey shot. I'm torn about them. On the one hand, shots are getting old. I get it: they're a great way to get drunk really fast, they build camaraderie, they make for good pictures, etc., but I am pining for real drinks. On the other hand, I can't claim that shots don't represent the spirit of the bar: if a bar thinks that their single best drink is an unadorned one and a half ounces of a bottle of well liquor, who am I to disagree? In this case, it's not quite unadorned - a splash of lemon put it a half-step above the nadir of effort, and I actually quite liked the whiskey, which is from Ft Worth. I could see myself drinking more of it in the future.

The Crew


Randos, Rome, Aaron.


Notes


Of course, in some cases all of my complaining about the drink is besides the point, because a bar is more than just any particular drink; it's also the people. When I was envisioning this project, one of the things I was most excited about was the chance to go to bars I'd never been to before, and meet new people, which we haven't always done a good job with. My project has been great so far in terms of bartenders - free drinks, cheap drinks, good conversation - but we haven't often had a lot of interactions with our fellow drinkers, focused as we are on our quest. But that's exactly what happened here. As we were finishing up at Recess, the last bar, we met a few people: a guy from Austin, and two girls from Houston, one of who was celebrating her birthday. We invited them along and we spent a good deal of time chatting about life, Sixth street, the city, and all kinds of stuff, until we separated pleasantly. It's not like we became best friends or anything, but there's a lot to be said for the opportunity to turn around, start chatting to the person next to you, and strike up a good multi-hour conversation. Austin is a very friendly city, and I hope that we embody that spirit as we travel down the street.

San Jac Saloon used to be Malaia, one of the bars shut down in the Great Raid of 2012. It hosts a lot of Texas country music, which I love, and very Texas-themed in that way which would seem touristy if it weren't so clearly heartfelt. "Texas is a state of mind", as Steinbeck said, and although I will always feel like more of an Austinite than a Texan, I still have a fondness for the over-the-top state pride we have about our home. Texas means a lot of bad things to other-staters (we haven't sent a good politician to Washington since LBJ), but it means a lot of good things too. If Texas is the best of states, as many Texas would argue, then Austin is the best of Texas, and there's nowhere else in the state you could do a project like this. The saying is "in vino veritas", but I suppose deep truths can come from whiskey shots as well.

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