#56: The Blind Pig Pub

The Bar

The Blind Pig Pub. 317 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 2/28/17 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

Gin and tonic. Taaka gin, tonic. $4.

When my bartender kicked my standard question back to me, I barely hesitated before requesting my favorite. A gin and tonic has been my go-to order from the dawn of time, since the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Not that my memory after a few G&Ts can be fully trusted, but even if I might have mistrusted gin at the start, once I let it into my heart it never left me. It's a drink that's almost impossible to ruin, even with a bargain gin like Taaka. I have fond college memories of Taaka, which faithfully fueled many an evening with the few friends of mine who had developed a tolerance for gin. It won't ever win any awards for flavor, but it still tastes like fun to me and a few other brave souls out there who can look past its price tag. It's apparently owned by the Sazerac Company, of sazerac fame, and so hails from Louisiana by way of Kentucky, where the gin is physically distilled. It's not top shelf, and I won't be as florid in my praise for the humble gin and tonic as Douglas Adams was in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it's a drink that's plenty good enough for the common man.

The Crew

Vince, Davis, Aaron, Sonali, Travis, Rome.

Notes

The Blind Pub is eerily similar to Maggie Mae's right next door - both are large two-story music venues with rooftop bars and several different semi-enclosed spaces, offering cheap drinks and live music. The layouts are slightly different, yet share enough of a resemblance enough to be slightly disorienting if you've been to Maggie Mae's a bunch but have never visited here, like me. We showed up early on the night of Mardi Gras. Maybe too early, as the vibe was oddly subdued, to the point where we were the only people with beads, and very nearly the only people period. I was expecting to see more of the younger crowd that flocks to bars like this, enticed by cheap weekday drinks and the promise of public nudity, yet it was nearly a ghost town. The sole excitement we had was watching some poor woman try to save her car from being towed - it was in the process of being hoisted up onto the tow truck when she ran out to engage in the rapid denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance process. Luckily she managed to save her car. I won't claim that our helpfully yelled advice from the rooftop directly led to her victory, but you can't prove that it didn't! If God is a shout in the street, then surely we performed a miracle.