#141: Gin Bar

The Bar

Gin Bar. 1813 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 8/24/2019 @ 8pm.

The Drink

Gin martini. Plymouth gin, dry vermouth, twist. $15.

I've always been a proud gin drinker, so when I gave my spiel to the bartender about wanting the drink that best represents up the bar - a gin bar named Gin Bar - I felt like I couldn't lose. And I didn't - I got served the bar's rendition of the basic gin martini, which as we are occasionally reminded is the only real kind of martini. Gin Bar has dozens of different varieties of gin (and a handful of non-gins for those patrons who either got really lost or were dragged along unwillingly), carefully curated to give discriminating patrons the opportunity to experiment with new gins. 

I am all in favor of gin experiments. In college I once did some "gin science" with a friend, where we tried to make the ideal martini out of what we had on hand, to find the optimal synthesis of gin + vermouth. We tried each combination of Hendrick's, Bombay Sapphire, and New Amsterdam with both sweet and dry vermouth. The results of our experiment are lost for all time, since we quickly got stupidly staggeringly drunk, but Gin Bar is probably the next-best place to replicate those trials, though I would recommend a slower pace. My martini used Plymouth gin, a term which has the rare distinction of going from being a generic regional product name to a single specific brand instead of the other way around (like Xerox, Kleenex, or Q-Tips). My bartender mixed it at 5 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth, so nice and strong. It was basically a perfect martini, and if the price seems high, just consider it an investment in science. Ginnovation doesn't come cheap.

The Crew

Travis, Neil, Kathryn, Aaron.

Notes

Given my enduring love for gin, I've always thought it was interesting how little of a role it seems to play in the drinking portfolios of most people I know, and hence the city at large. Though Austin has plenty of bars with big gin collections, there's not a bar that makes gin its specialty - we have whiskey bars, vodka houses, mezcalerías, and so on, but no gin joints. But it's hard to imagine Rick Blaine sighing over a double IPA, and so Gin Bar has arrived to close the gap, although this rooftop bar couldn't be more different than the dark, dingy dive he owns in Casablanca. Gin Bar, which I can tell will absolutely dominate SEO for any gin-related search queries, is an open, friendly, airy bar that likes to educate people on the wonders of gin rather than just provide a stool to sulk at. Its placement at the top of the stairs gives both convenient access from the street as well as a better view of the surrounding area, with plenty of seating off to the side to chat with your friends at. There's something evocative about a rooftop bar that stirs the mind as you're standing at a side rail, sipping your cocktail and pondering the vista in front of you; Gin Bar is as far from Gin Lane as you could imagine.