#51: The Four Horsemen

The Bar

The Four Horsemen. 310 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 2/24/17 @ 8:30pm.

UPDATE: The Four Horsemen has closed.

The Drink

Black Death. Vodka, rum, gin, black raspberry liqueur, sweet and sour, Coke, lemon, liquorice. $7.50.

Our bartender was willing to play along; no shots or bottom-shelf beers or "I don't really know, what do you want to drink?" here. This number of different liquors in a drink reminds me of making trashcan punch for college parties, except that in college we probably wouldn't have used black raspberry liqueur. Or the liquorice, which I personally love but is an intensely polarizing flavor even for people who can stand similar liquorice/anise-based alcohols like Jägermeister, absinthe, etc. I enjoyed this drink, but the downside of using so many different liquors is that you blur them together, like a mixing too many watercolor paints together in one gray cloud, so the liquorice and raspberry liqueur brought back a bit of color. I also liked it all the more so because of its $5 happy hour price - yes, their happy hour runs this late. They have a number of other intriguing-looking drinks that I would definitely return for.

The Crew

Travis, Aaron, Nick, Kathryn.

Notes

Even though The Four Horsemen is fairly spacious, it feels like a cozy oasis. You get to it by going through the set of doors next to Shakespeare's from the street and heading up the flight of stairs, which open up to a landing with a layout that reminds me a bit of The Ranch, further west. The owner of the bar was a manager at Shakespeare's right next door, so good on him for not adding more than a jog up some stairs to his commute. There's plenty of room inside for pool tables, pinball, skee-ball, and the requisite Giant Jenga, or you can just chill on the side couches and chairs, which are well above average for Sixth Street. Most bars understandably try to maximize their floor space in order to cram in more drink-ordering patrons, so it's nice to see a good ring of relaxation around the main area. In the back is a brick-and-mortar outpost of the Quezzadillaville trailer, which serves upscale quesadillas and the like. We had already eaten, to fortify our livers for the night ahead, but were strongly tempted. And finally, the service was also excellent - even though we had ordered at the bar and were just sitting around, no sooner were our drinks nearing empty when the  server came up and practically demanded that we tell him fetch us more drinks. Well, okay! It's great to see spaces like this amid the crush of one of the densest concentrations of bars in the United States.