#127: Sake Mama

The Bar

Sake Mama. 519 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/12/18 @ 9:30pm.

The Drink

Mango tango shot. Vodka, Monster Mango Loco. $6.

As with so many other cocktails, the exact definition of a "mango tango" is somewhat flexible, and in fact it might be better to think of the name as merely a flag of convenience under which a motley crew of any vaguely tropical ingredients at hand can sail. I know that most of the more famous versions of the mango tango use some variety of rum, yet vodka showed up in the smaller shotglass perched atop the chopsticks that separated it from the waiting vessel of Monster Mango Loco below. We were nowhere near the Dia De Los Muertos season that Monster Energy somewhat mystifyingly claims powers the drink, but I'm sure with enough sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate you can preserve just about any amount of spiritual energy you'd like for the winter holidays. The resulting shot was not particularly Japanese, but it got the job done. Like a lot of crowd-friendly shots, this one has a routine, where the employees pour you and your bros a row of precariously perched shots, he counts down from three, and then slams the bartop, causing the liquor shots to fall into the mixer, which you grab and then chug as fast as possible. Since I was the only person there, I bought the bartenders a few rounds and we practiced our technique. It takes a few to tango.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Shot bars make for a fun detour from your regular bar rotation because the focus is totally on you and your friends, not on the drink or even the bar. Since you can't really savor shots in the same way as regular drinks, and are in fact encouraged to pour them down your gullet as rapidly as possible, the drinking becomes a spectacle. Often at cocktail bars I find myself admiring the craftsmanship of the drink, even trading them with my friends, in order to share something of my individual experience with them. Not here! There is no such thing as an individual experience, it's all about the group, and nowhere else will the rounds system of drink-buying get you into trouble faster than at a bar where it takes half second to finish your whole drink. Sake Mama had only been open for 8 months when I stopped in, a sake bar concept that's apparently very popular in Japan having replaced an oddly-shaped convenience store. Since I was the only patron, the extra space that was formerly occupied with racks of products looked lonely, but you only have to look at how packed Cheers or Buckshot get to be grateful for the extra breathing room. One notable gimmick was that the employees have blinking LED nametags, which initially struck me as vaguely demeaning, but after a while you get used to being hypnotized as each round is poured and you wait obediently for your bartender to yell at you to drink your shot. Some bartenders are servers; these guys were drill sergeants. They also serve Japanese-style street food, which I didn't try, but which smelled delicious.