#169: The Venue

The Bar

The Venue. 516 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/12/20 @ 11:30pm.

The Drink

Peach cocktail. Deep Eddy peach vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, pineapple juice. $8.

This was sort of a cross between a Fuzzy Navel and a Sex on the Beach. Peach is one of Deep Eddy's newer vodka flavors. I am a BIG fan of their lemon vodka, though the lime flavor is also excellent if I'm wanting something less sweet and more tart. You might think that peach vodka + peach Schnapps would be too much, but it was not at all. Back in college I had one of those awful night where all we had to drink was peach schnapps, but it did not lead me to hate the drink the way that the infamous tequila nights did for so many. The more peach the better! Thus this drink, which lives up to its name perfectly.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

The Venue ATX replaced Clearport quite a while ago, but I didn't really notice because Clearport was  essentially a concert venue that you could walk up to and drink at on off nights, so it wouldn't really be part of a normal person's drinking rotation even though it did fulfill the function of a regular bar. Sadly tonight was not an off night, and I had the choice of either paying a $15 cover for the Rob Knowledge EDM show that was going on or walking away and trying again on a night without a show. Well never let it be said that I don't suffer for my audience, so I opened my wallet and went in (also, they are only open 2 or 3 days a week for some reason and I didn't want to have to figure out the complicated logistics of timing my return right then and there). 

The physical layout of the venue (ha) is essentially identical to how Clearport had it, with upper catwalks overlooking the concert stage and dance floors, so I didn't have much recon to do. Instead I just sat and grooved to the music while I drank my cocktail and people-watched. In high school I listened to a lot of trance/electronica and went to a decent number of raves, and I find the evolution into EDM culture to be pretty interesting, both in how the music has evolved (or not) and in how its greater popularity has pulled in a different crowd. There's plenty of literature on the sociological aspects of techno out there, likewise the economics, but I like that Austin's live music scene has room for everything.

#168: Bijou Lounge

The Bar

Bijou Lounge. 415 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/12/20 @ 11pm.

The Drink

Green tea shot. Jameson whiskey, peach schnapps, Sprite, sweet & sour. $8.

In much the same way that the Flaming Dr Pepper shot contains no actual Dr Pepper, the green tea shot has no green tea in it at all but contrives to synthesize that flavor by the interaction of the actual ingredients. This was the third time I had been served this shot, after Lux and Voodoo Room, and I was curious why all of the renditions contained Jameson whiskey - it turns out that the shot was supposedly invented by Jameson themselves, no doubt trying to help you out by providing you more ways to drink your Jameson. This contained exactly the same ingredients as the other renditions so it tasted exactly the same: namely, like a refreshing dose of green tea that's alcoholic for some reason. Not a bad drink for a whiskey company!

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Bijou Lounge quietly replaced Big Bang, one of the chain of TV show-themed bars on this stretch of the street, back in August of last year. In fact, the replacement was so quiet that I only noticed that the bar had changed after the new joint had been open for over a year. I don't know what the deal is there, but the new location struck me as being almost indistinguishable from the old. That might be due to the cramped layout it inherited from its ancestor - there's only so much you can do with a long floor that's essentially the width of a lane of highway - so instead of trying to suss out the minor altered details I will just remark that it was a perfectly fine dance club bar. Even though I myself hardly ever go to those bars by choice because they're inevitably way too loud, I try not to dock them points just for being what they are, which is a very popular way to drink, dance, and look hot to other people, your hearing be damned. For some reason there were not too many people when I was there, so the DJ was merciful on us and was playing at less than maximum Disaster Area volume. Not bad for what it is!

#167: Moonlight

The Bar

Moonlight. 309 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/12/20 @ 10:30pm.

The Drink

Sour skittles shot. Vodka, cherry pucker schnapps, pineapple juice, sweet & sour. $7.

"What's your favorite Skittles flavor" is classic listicle bait, but the correct answer, according to the company, is that red is the most preferred while yellow is the least. That's the flavor Nook wisely decided to go for, and I am happy to report that it does in fact taste like a red Skittle: cherry sweetness from the schnapps with a bit of tartness thanks to the pineapple juice. Fancy shots at Dirty Sixth bars are designed to be ripoffs, so this is not a bargain in absolute terms, but in relative terms this is a decent shot at the price you'll be paying anywhere else. In fairness, this does represent the bar fairly well, so a I give it a begrudging thumbs up.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Moonlight used to be Nook, but you'd be forgiven for not really seeing much difference in the new establishment. Interestingly, rather than simply rebranding the property to keep it in the same family as Pop, etc, the ownership sold it off entirely. The new joint now has the same ownership as Thirsty Nickel, Chupacabra, Mooseknuckle, and Jackalope, so it's in solid hands; it's just another example of the business of Sixth Street behind the scenes. In front of the scenes, Moonlight offers a very similar Dirty Sixth experience to the other bars it abuts - loud dance music from the DJ in the corner, muted colorful lighting casting subtly mystifying illumination upon the strangers you might be talking to, people talking to each other everywhere. If you didn't know any better, you might think it had been here forever.

#166: Gnar Bar

The Bar

Gnar Bar. 219 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/12/20 @ 9:30pm.

The Drink

Method Mule. Ketel One cucumber mint vodka, ginger beer, lime. $7.

Yet another one of the drinks that I have developed a permanent allergy to ever since the incident at Unbarlievable. As Moscow Mules go this one was done right, but ever since being forced to drink a half-gallon of Mule I just can't bring myself to write much more about this now-hateful cocktail. It's a good value for what it is, so if you like Moscow Mules, you will like this. 

360 Turndown. Dripping Springs gin, blackberry liqueur, lemon juice, agave syrup. $9.

I enjoyed my second drink much more, although I foolishly did not manage to get a picture of it due to all the excitement happening. Lemon and blackberry is a winning flavor combination, and this was the downscale/affordable version of the similar lemon blackberry cocktail I got at Drop Kick, minus the Solerno blood orange liqueur. A little sweet, a little tart, a lot of gin - this is a great drink at a great price.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

I found out about this place due to an insider tip from the bartender at Devil May Care. Gnar Bar replaced Chuggin' Monkey fairly recently; they'd been open barely a month when I visited. Despite Austin's strict rules for historical preservation limiting what they could do with the layout of the interior, I was very impressed with how they'd spruced up the place: the grime of 15 years of college students been sandblasted away and replaced with skateboards everywhere, in keeping with the new owners' "Ride Eat Drink Destroy" BMX/action sports aesthetic (the first word of the bar's name is of course short for "gnarly"). The multiple levels still offer plenty of room to gather with your drinking crew, and the outdoor patio is still the same old quasi-oasis, where you can escape the noise of the inside yet never be too far from your next round. The highlight of my visit was watching the incredible end of LSU @ Florida (I've been watching college football my whole life and I've never seen a game changed so dramatically by a shoe) and doing a round of shots with the owner to celebrate. 

#165: Astoria

The Bar

Astoria. 702 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/12/20 @ 9pm.

The Drink

Old-Fashioned. Bulleit bourbon, simple syrup, bitters, orange. $10.

The 12th Old-Fashioned! This is actually quite similar in composition if not in execution to the 11th Old-Fashioned that I got at Verbena, so using that same rating system, let's see how this stacks up:

• Base liquor: 8/10. I have no strong or consistent preference for bourbon over rye, so Bulleit's bourbon gets the same grade as their rye.
• Other ingredients: 8/10. Yup, Angostura bitters again. No complaints about the simple syrup or the orange either. No cherry, which kind of sucks, but on second thought I have gotten a lot of Old-Fashioneds without the cherry, and the bourbon version needs the extra sweetness less than the rye version. According to Wikipedia the cherry didn't start to become expected until about 40 years after the drink was first crafted, but it was a good innovation.
• Preparation: 7/10. Something about getting an Old-Fashioned in a plastic cup feels wrong. The bartender getting getting called off to do other things before he was able to serve me, the center of the universe, and I don't fault him for that at all, but this is undeniably a no-frills rendition. And, after the excessive ice of the last Old-Fashioned, I actually liked the fact that I got the ice you'd expect in a jack and coke. 
• Value: 8/10. $10 is a perfectly fair price of an Old-Fashioned, and if this isn't the most luxe iteration you've ever had, it still does the job nicely.

I would not say this perfectly represents the bar, but an 8/10 is not bad, not bad at all. 

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Astoria is directly above, owned by, and operated by the exactly same people as Buford's downstairs, so I struggled a bit with whether to count this as a separate bar or not, especially since they're a bit coy about advertising it as much as Buford's. I was eventually won over by the fact that when you close your tab here, the receipt says Astoria, whereas downstairs it says Buford's. Case closed! Astoria felt like much more of a chill lounge than its more public sibling at the foot of the stairs, even though their Instagram is packed with folks getting lit and loud. I am not actually sure what the disconnect is, because at 9pm on a Saturday, the place was full of folks being comfortable, and in fact if I had to sum up Astoria in a word I'd say it's homey. Attractive wood paneling, great icicle lighting, and a nice balcony - I felt like staying a lot longer. They've been open for 2 years and according to the owner, who I briefly chatted with, have a few ambitious plans for the future, like taking over the Ranch next door and building a 3rd story. It's always nice to see a bar that's looking to the future.

#164: Devil May Care

The Bar

Devil May Care. 500 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/11/20 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Espresso martini. Absolut Elyx vodka, Licor 43, chai, cardamom, well cold brew coffee, whipped cream, chocolate chips. $16 ($8 at happy hour).

I know that this is basically a dessert in a glass, which is kind of cheating, but it was absolutely delicious, one of the best cocktails I've had. Cocktail purists are correct to note that this is really not a martini at all, given the absence of both gin and vermouth as well as the presence of a whole raft of extra ingredients, but allowing for a certain bit of linguistic and conceptual flexibility, surely we can agree that something this tasty is a natural post-dinner cocktail. Some notes on the alcoholic main ingredients:

• I hadn't heard of Licor 43 before, but it has an amusing and surely fraudulent history of being a 20th century descendent of a 3rd century BC Carthaginian alcohol called "liquor mirabilis" that was banned by the Romans for being too powerful. Over 2 millennia later it is now Spain's most popular liqueur.
• Absolut Elyx (Elixir + lyx, which is Swedish for "luxury") is a newish vodka with some chocolaty flavors.

It's hard to give tasting notes on those two alcohols specifically since they were dunked in a bath of coffee and chai and then swathed in chocolate and whipped cream, but trust me, the overall effect is quite nice, if a little nectarous. I would have loved it even at full price; at happy hour it's a steal, even if one of them is plenty.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Devil May Care replaced Sophia's late in 2019. The new joint is an upscale lounge/club/restaurant concept that has a reputation for excellent seafood. As much subterranean as Mediterranean, I really liked the interior vibe: the cool blue and electric pink lighting is intimate without being gloomy, with stout brick pillars subdividing the dining areas into cozy but not cramped nooks. Every time I looked around I kept thinking that this would make for a terrific date night spot, since everyone loves high-end food and live music in a setting like this. They have an open-air patio upstairs as well, but underground is clearly where it's at. The staff was really helpful as well; when I explained why I was scribbling notes like a weirdo they cheerfully recommended me other new places that I had not heard of, complete with names of the owners. This place is great, with far less insouciance than its name implies.

#163: Verbena

The Bar

Verbena. 612 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/11/20 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Old-Fashioned. Bulleit rye whiskey, Angostura bitters, simple syrup, orange. $13.50.

This is the 11th Old-Fashioned I have been served so far, which raises the question of if I need an Old-Fashioned-specific rating system. Let's see:

• Base liquor: 8/10. If you're going the rye route instead of bourbon, Bulleit is a great choice. 
• Other ingredients: 8/10. Since 1824, Angostura remains the undisputed king of bitters, a selection which cannot be improved upon in the context of a by-the-book Old-Fashioned. The simple syrup they had did the job, and the orange was solid and unremarkable.
• Preparation: 8/10. This is not really to fault the bartender's technique, which was perfectly serviceable. Getting the full Cocktail flair would be extremely obnoxious in real life. Only Ruth's Chris would get a 10/10 for their diligent yet spectacular craftsmanship of their Old-Fashioneds).
• Value: 5/10: Normally a single ice cube is the way to go with an Old-Fashioned, as opposed to chips or, god help us, Sonic pellets, but this was just too large, consuming easily 75% of the volume of the glass. It dominated the drink like an iceberg, making me feel like one of the first-class passengers on the RMS Ryetanic every time I took a sip of my overvalued cocktail.

So while perfectly tasty, it gets a 7/10 overall. If someone else is buying, knock it up a full point. I should point out at that they do have a happy hour from 5-7pm with $6 martinis, which in hindsight I should have tried to Jedi mind trick her into making me instead. 

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Verbena is a restaurant on the ground floor of the Canopy By Hilton hotel, with is one of the "Upper Upscale" brands in the Hilton portfolio. I have no idea why hotels maintain so many different brand tiers, but just know that if you stay here, you are a better person than someone who slums it at a mere Upscale Hilton property, but lesser than someone who can shell out for a stay at a Luxury Hilton. Choose wisely! If, like me, you're just here for the drinks, you can admire the cool decanter collection by the entrance near the exposed kitchen, and the immaculately arranged bottle collection behind the bar, which was so clean and orderly it reminded me of a science-fictional bar, like Quark's. I didn't eat anything, but the food looked REALLY good. Overall if I were an "upper upscale" individual actually staying here I would have no problem expensing some meals on the company dime at this establishment. 

#162: Play On West 6th

The Bar

Play On West 6th. 620 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 11/22/20 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Playdialyte shot. Vodka, sweet & sour, lime juice, Sprite, Pedialyte. $9.

I had just consumed a shot at WYLD only a block away merely a few minutes prior, but I drink what they tell me to. As the bartender was telling me about the ingredients in the shot she mentioned that there's been a trend of including Pedialyte in cocktails to get ahead of the game on hangovers, which Pedialyte is supposed a big cure for. There is no such thing as curing an existing hangover, as we know, but it never hurts to hydrate while you're drinking, and to that end I'm sure the splash of Pedialyte in my shot didn't hurt. The shot itself was fine; she mixed it over ice, which I appreciated, and she tried to comp it when I told her I was blogging it, which I appreciated even more.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Play replaced Lux at the start of the year. At first when I walked in the two seemed identical in my memory, but then I just realized how drunk I must have been, since the two aren't very similar in decor or vibe at all. Yes they both cater to more of a high-roller clientele, but whereas Lux was a reserved lounge with understated decor, Play is an "upscale sports bar". I would personally consider that phrase an oxymoron, but they were really dedicated to it - one the one hand, the staff were conflicted about me just walking in and wanted me to make a reservation so they could have me spend a lot of money on bottle service and so forth; on the other hand, they were all dressed in sexy referee uniforms, which made it hard to feel too threatened. I've already discussed how weird the breastaurant market niche is, but it has its upsides - after they'd decided I was on the level thanks to my noble vocation of freelance  alcohol blogging, they tried to comp my shot and insisted I take my standard drink consumption picture on the gilt throne you see above. So I take it all back! I am not sure what the ownership situation is but it doesn't seem like it's the same as Lux.

#161: Wyld

The Bar

Wyld. 706 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 11/22/20 @ 6pm.

The Drink

Gummy bear shot. Vodka, sweet & sour, DeKuyper Razzmatazz liqueur, Sprite. $5.

The bartender had some good patter about what a good cocktail bar WYLD is, but what she ended up making me was a shot. You can probably guess how it tasted. Not that I'm complaining: when it comes to shots, short and sweet is the way to go. I have been a regular patron of DeKuyper products since college, both for good and for ill - one of the lowest points in my drinking career, and quite possibly the entire 326 year history of the DeKuyper brand, was splitting nothing but a handle of their peach schnapps with a friend when we didn't have any other alcohol on hand. If nothing else, you can always rely on DeKuyper to add some sugar to your drink. 

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

In June WYLD replaced Brew Exchange, whose business model of constantly fluctuating beer prices was perhaps better suited to a less results-oriented drinking culture, or at least an environment where patrons are more willing to play minigames to order a beer. In contrast, WYLD is a more straightforward West Sixth bar, with the added twist that it's 18+, which is an interesting choice for a bar in this part of Sixth Street. There didn't seem to be any underage patrons when I was there, which is perhaps for the best: what would you even do at a bar if you couldn't drink? WYLD has a mechanical bull in the middle of the bar, which could be entertaining if you've never seen it before, and aren't into the poker lounge in the back. For myself, I watched the unexpectedly entertaining end of Cowboys @ Vikings along with the bar staff after finishing my shot, buying another round in celebration with them. 

#160: Qi Austin

The Bar

Qi Austin. 835 W 6th St Unit 114, Austin, TX 78703

Visited 11/22/20 @ 4:30pm.

The Drink

Wild Orchid. Gin, beet and lemon simple syrup, Cointreau, coconut cream, Sichuan peppercorns, lime zest. $13.

"Balance" is a subjective but valuable quality in a cocktail, whether it's the result of distinct flavors harmonizing with each other or the individual voices blending smoothly together. The Wild Orchid leans more to the first tendency, with multiple discrete sweet ingredients counterposed against the botanicals in the gin and the Sichuan peppercorns. In a town like Austin jalapeños are the typical go-to source for adding heat to a drink, but naturally the bar of a scrupulous restaurant like Qi would lean on something a little closer to home, even in a drink like this. Sichuan peppercorns, which have been used in cuisine for millennia, are genetically unrelated from chili peppers like the jalapeño, and so its distinctive numbing effect on the mouth works via a completely different mechanism from capsaicin's heat. I appreciated when that familiar tingle appeared as I drank this cocktail at the same time as the rest of the ingredients cooled and sweetened against it, the different tendencies working perfectly together. Even a simple gin and tonic fan such as myself can enjoy a cocktail like this. It looks great too.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Qi is a new restaurant in the shadow of Whole Foods from the same folks who brought us Lin Asian Bar further west down the street. Much like its older sibling, Qi serves excellent Chinese food, but while Lin is focused on dim sum, Qi is more high-end, so expect to see more truffle fried rice and scallop caviar than egg tarts and fried bao, though Qi also does dim sum as well. I had salt and pepper tofu at the bar and it was fantastic. In terms of ambience Qi feels exactly like a nice Asian restaurant, with clean exposed wood cross-braces amid attractive red and yellow floral patterns everywhere. I wouldn't go here to get drunk, but I will definitely come back for more drinks when I eat.

#159: Happy Chicks

The Bar

Happy Chicks. 214 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 9/4/20 @ 11:30pm.

The Drink

Vodka soda. Vodka, soda. $8.50.

You can't get more basic than a vodka soda. As you know, my normal go-to drink is the gin and tonic, but a vodka soda is so similar that it fulfills essentially the exact same function. As gin is merely vodka with flavorings, tonic is merely soda with quinine, and so a vodka soda can be thought of as an even purer way to fulfill the implied request of "give me an alcohol plus a non-alcohol so that I'm not effectively just drinking straight out of the bottle". $8.50 is a steep price for a well vodka soda, however, so I wouldn't recommend ordering this over one of their specialty drinks, which are actually fairly solid. This is not a good bar for shot-and-a-beer regulars.

The Crew

Geoff, Aaron.

Notes

Happy Chicks replaced the Austin outpost of Gino's East, the Chicago deep dish pizza chain. The Gino's location was operated by Doug Guller, who not only owns this new venture but also Bikini's/BBG's and Pelons, and so seems to be in an empire-building mode. This new fried chicken joint opened back in 2018, and I actually visited here a few times in non-blog mode before I was able to fully capture it for the blog. Their chicken is actually pretty good, in the upper reaches of the Buffalo Wild Wings tier, but the sauces are where it's at, with over a dozen to choose from. It's no deep dish pizza, but it's a lot easier to go on a Sixth Street drinking binge after some tendies than deep dish, even if the value-conscious consumer is advised to do their drinking elsewhere at an actual bar.

#158: La Holly

The Bar

La Holly. 617 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 6/12/20 @ 8:30pm.

The Drink

La Sancha. Del Maguey Vida mezcal, triple sec, hibiscus syrup, lime. $12.

Much as I generally dislike most frozen drinks aside from Violet Crown's excellent iron whips, I do occasionally find one that I begrudgingly approve of. Interestingly, I had almost the polar opposite reaction to this cocktail than to the nearly identical one that I had at the regular location of La Holly further east, even though this is also a house special and in fact is essentially identical to that one (the Jamaica y Mezcal) except for the type of mezcal used and the lack of garnish. One reason for my different reaction might be that mezcal is a base liquor that can defy the usual tendency of frozen drinks to blend flavors into an icy mush. They used Vida mezcal for this one, which is a generally highly rated mezcal that's also affordable enough to be the mezcal of choice for bars. The La Sancha has more more actual liquid and less ice than most frozen drinks (including the Jamaica y Mezcal), which helped to bring out the sweet fruit flavors of the other ingredients as well as the superior taste of the mezcal itself. 

Or maybe I actually just don't hate frozen drinks as much as I think I do, for whatever reason, and you should ignore me when I start to complain about them. In any case, cold + smoky + sweet + tart is a good combination for the end of a typically hot summer afternoon, so I approved of this cocktail, consistency be damned. 

The Crew

Karen, Aaron.

Notes

Your eyes do not deceive you - Key Bar has been rebranded as a new location of the very same La Holly mezcal bar that's all the way down at the other end of Sixth Street. It's a joint project between them and Taco Flats, another very solid local institution which happens to be owned by the very same guy, Simon Madera. I am not sure what sort of deal he worked out with Key Bar, but I was told by the bartender that this was sort of a temporary thing. My guess is that the new Taco Flats food truck that's also on premises is here to both provide additional cash flow as well as get the percentage of revenue from alcohol sales under the magic 51 percent figure which distinguishes a bar from a restaurant in the eyes of the TABC, whose regulations which bring so much joy to all of our lives. Aside from the food truck and the updated signage there is not much to physically distinguish the new arrangement from the old, so time will tell if the addition of a broader array of mezcals to the Key Bar cocktail menu has an effect on its clientele, a few of who were out this evening. One reason for me to refrain from trash-talking the kind of people who go to West Sixth bars is that I have been to literally all of them, technically making me the ultimate West Sixth Person, so all I will say is that I am glad that this bar is open, whatever form it takes.

#157: The Belmont

The Bar

The Belmont. 305 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 6/12/20 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

Music City Mule. Maker's Mark whiskey, ginger brew, lime. $7.

Of COURSE the very next bar after Unbarlievable would recommend almost exactly the same drink that made me swear off Moscow Mules entirely. Lightning strikes, not once but twice. This gave me a real moral dilemma, since it's one of my rules that I always the bartender which drink best symbolizes the bar - do I ask them to try again, even though they've given me dealer's choice? Or do I gag down another rendition of the horrible concoction that gave me a permanent distaste for ginger beer just 2 weeks ago? Since the bartender had no way of knowing he was triggering the alcoholic equivalent of PTSD, I let it stand and drank what he made me. This version had whiskey instead of vodka, which was different enough that it was merely unpleasant instead of unbearable, and if I hadn't been suffering from booze flashbacks, it would have been a fine Mule variant on its own due to Maker's Mark being a pretty solid bar whiskey. This is the 8th version of a Moscow Mule I've been served so far, and hopefully the last.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

I had known The Belmont as an entertainment venue (a friend of mine had their wedding reception there, they do SXSW and regular concert shows, etc) and not as a bar, so I had marked it off my Sixth Street Complete list, since another rule of mine for this project is that you have to be able to wander into a place and just order a drink without having to buy a ticket or something. Well, desperate times make for flexible business models, so The Belmont had just decided to pivot to being a regular bar when we were walking by and saw a chalkboard notice saying that they were open for business. Alright!

I've already talked enough about the perception of West Sixth bars, so I won't rehash those here; given that The Belmont had only been open as a regular bar for like a week, it remains to be seen how it finds its place as a regular nightlife spot. But it has plenty of room to be a real megabar if it wants to be one. since between the interior, outdoor patio, and rooftop area it must have capacity for about a thousand people. We were the only people there at the outset of Friday night, but I can see this venue eventually providing a valuable link between the bar cluster that tapers off after Devil May Care/Maiko and the one that begins around the intersection with Congress.

#156: Unbarlievable

The Bar

Unbarlievable. 513 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 5/29/20 @ 8pm.

The Drink

Elephant Mule. Kruto Vodka, Owens Ginger Mix, lime. $50.

I'll say it: 96 oz of Moscow Mule is too much Moscow Mule. Actually, 96 oz of anything is a great way to ruin a drink for yourself forever, the way people did back in college with the infamous "tequila nights", where for years afterwards they'd physically recoil at the mere mention of the dreaded liquor. There's a famous quote about law school that "it's a pie-eating contest where first prize is more pie", and this drink is an endurance contest that is so grueling that by the end you're practically begging for a swift drunken death. Unbarlievable makes a decent Moscow Mule, though they lean as heavy on the ice as Sonic does, but it becomes more and more hateful by the drop. It took the two of us nearly two hours to drink, but eventually we retired in defeat, drunker but sadder. 

Incredibly, they also sell an even bigger version: 196 oz, for double the price. The "small" version we got works out to $0.52/oz, so by getting the ludicrous size, which works out to $0.51/oz, you're saving an unbelievable $0.01 per fluid ounce. Act now while supplies last! A regular Moscow Mule copper mug is usually 12 oz, and prices for a Moscow Mule on Sixth Street have ranged anywhere from $5 ($0.42/oz) to $10.50 ($0.88/oz), so if you're looking for an affordable rendition of the last Moscow Mule that you'll want to drink for years, possibly ever, this place does an alright version. Speaking of college memories, if you were thinking of indulging your inner undergrad and absconding with the admittedly pretty cool gigantic copper mug, just know that they make you give them your ID when you order one for exactly that reason. As for me, it'll be a long time before I can even think of a Moscow Mule again without shuddering in horror. This is one of the rare occasions where I do actually resent the bartender for their choice.

The Crew

Karen, Aaron.

Notes

Interestingly, this spot was originally supposed to be another location of the Goodnight, but it appears that coronavirus changed those plans. Unbarlievable was originally a Rainey Street bar, and its new outpost on Sixth had only been open for a week when we spotted it on foot as we were trying to go somewhere else. I've never been to the Rainey location (though I have learned of its owner's charming reputation), so I can't speak for it, but the Sixth Street location is... fine. Unbarlievable leans heavily into the circus/carnival theme, so you'll see lots of big knickknacks strategically placed so that people can take selfies with a big elephant and so forth. It's got a solid patio, and an interior that I bet gets really lit around midnight. 

In terms of culture, it was hard to say how "Rainey Street" it was since so few people were there when we were. Rainey has a very distinct reputation in Austin (I've heard it compared to Uptown Dallas more than once), just because of the yuppie/arriviste/new money bro crowd it attracts, though frankly many bars on West Sixth also have those same vibes to me. Rainey Street has mutated spectacularly in an extremely short amount of time (the inimitable Fed Man Walking's 2012 guide makes for a fascinating time capsule), and while most people probably aren't excited about this particular bar planting a colony on Sixth Street, it honestly didn't feel much different than the bars near it. Oh god... am I a Rainey Street person?

#155: The Iron Bear

The Bar

The Iron Bear. 301 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 5/29/20 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Frozen swirl. Rum punch, blue raspberry vodka lemonade. $6.

I hate frozen drinks, but if you make it sweet and (more importantly) cheap enough, you'll have a a happy hour drink I can grudgingly get behind, especially if the temperature is bumping up against 90 degrees like it was that day. The red swirl is the rum punch, with the blue raspberry lemonade entwined. I've been a big blue raspberry fan ever since I was a child, and I'll drink just about anything with that flavor. I didn't know that it wasn't invented until 1958. The highest compliment I can give a frozen drink is that I'm not disgusted with it by the time that I finish it, and I would put this in the upper echelon of the frozen drinks I've been served.

The Crew

Karen, Aaron.

Notes

Replacing Austin Ale House at the corner of Sixth and Lavaca, The Iron Bear is a gay bar that moved to this location due to the redevelopment of their old location on Eighth. I never went to the old location and quite frankly I didn't actually get to see much of the new location since we spent basically the whole time people-watching on their patio, but in the brief moments I was inside it seemed pretty understated and almost divey compared to the other gay bars I've been in, and I understand that this is a deliberate choice on the part of the proprietors. I can't really evaluate it well in terms of its function as a gay bar, but it was a fairly chill spot to hang out and just drink, which is good enough for me.

#154: The Lucky Duck

The Bar

The Lucky Duck. 1300 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 3/7/2020 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

Mezcal Old-Fashioned. Ilegal Joven mezcal, agave, Angostura bitters. $11.

For a drink whose name literally translates to "out of date", the number of variants on an Old-Fashioned I've encountered is truly amazing; as I keep saying, it's far and away the most-recommended drink I receive. But there are still plenty of surprises to be found in such an antique framework, including what's even in this variant. I am still not sure exactly what the mezcal was; I was told that it contained "El Silencio Ilegal", but since that's impossible (those are two completely different brands), I think that it's most likely it's Ilegal Joven, since they list Ilegal on their drink menu in their watermelon punch, and it's most likely to be the Joven variety specifically since it's unaged and therefore cheaper. Using a rawer and less polished liquor in a cocktail isn't a crime if you know what you're getting into, and the bartender did tell me that this was sort of a second choice since she had run out of an ingredient for the drink she really wanted to make me, so all's well - the drink would have been better with a nicer mezcal, but that's true of every drink, and the agave helped to take the edge off of the youthful roughness of the mezcal quite nicely.

The Crew

Kathryn, Neil, Aaron, James (not pictured), Geoff (not pictured), Karen (not pictured).

Notes

The Lucky Duck replaced Attabar, to my regret (which in turn replaced Sputnik, to my even greater regret), but the latest bar in this spot is a good general everyman bar, with enough cheap drinks to lure casuals and enough high-end but not TOO high-end cocktails to satisfy people who want those instead. The vibe is friendly, with the same solid dance-friendly but not dance-mandatory floor, and the outdoor patio is still spacious and welcoming. There's now a machine where you can acquire cute little rubber duckies to play around with, which turns out to be irresistible fun even to people in their 30s. It was my last official stop for the night, but we actually ended up coming back here many hours later after we had a long bar crawl to celebrate James's birthday the day prior, so clearly The Lucky Duck was good enough to make a solid immediate impression on all of us as both a good intermediate stop and as a later stop. It's always a little puzzling to me when a location can boast multiple bars that are all individually excellent but end up always going under, but there's a lot to a bar beyond just having strong pours that you as a patron don't see; a bar can look very different on the other side of the register! Here's hoping The Lucky Duck lasts a little while longer, because there's no such thing as having too many solid all-purpose bars.

#153: Lolo

The Bar

Lolo. 1504 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 3/7/20 @ 6pm.

The Drink

2018 Lirondo Verdejo white wine. $10.

I've talked before about how I feel like I have a less developed palate for wine than I do for beer, and that seems odder and lazier the more I think about it. Flavors are flavors, no matter where they come from, so why should you be less able to discern the subtleties of a grape alcohol vs a grain one? When I drank this, the sum total of my tasting notes were "drier, not sweet", which is... not exactly insightful. Awesome work, dude! Compare this to how one website describes it:

Tasting Notes: Salty, a touch yeasty but with such a refreshing citrus and pineapple springtime glow. A light maceration gifts the wine a bit more structure in the palate.

Another site describes it very similarly:

Verdejo is usually a simple, easy-drinking, fresh, fruity orange wine. A natural wine from the Rueda region just north of Spain, it's made in a style that gives it funky, floral, spicy flavors. It is made without any sulfur and with some grape skin contact to the juice, which makes the wine cloudy and a bit dark in color.

Even if both of those places are working off of the same vineyard advertising copy or something, I either just didn't notice or didn't care about the details, which is not great. Then again, perhaps some of the subtleties become apparent only with time in the same way that a seasoned beer drinker can tell if a beer is dry-hopped specifically or just really hoppy, so I need to keep working at being more of a Wine Person if I want to pick up on those things. Either way, I liked the wine, and I commit to doing a better job at trying to actually taste my wines in the future.

The Crew

Aaron, Kathryn, Neil.

Notes

Lolo replaced Gypsy Lounge, an alright but fairly unmemorable bar that I hadn't been to in years before this project started. Its replacement is valuable: the only other wine bar on Sixth is The Grove all the way over near Lamar, so it's good that wine fans out east have someplace a bit closer to them. Lolo isn't really positioned as a bar specifically for oenophiles though, instead they pitch themselves as more of a place for wine dummies such as myself to elevate my understanding of the product, with a heavy focus on natural wines (i.e. wines that don't have lots of sulfites). Wine is a famously snobby drinking subfield, where it can be difficult to consume intelligently even if you've got an open mind and an eager palate and you know what you're doing, so it was nice to visit a place as welcoming as this. Even their logo looks a bit like the smiling Mac OS Finder logo. I'd definitely recommend them as a place to drink wine and hang out, even if you're already a seasoned wine fan, since they have a nice artsy contemporary interior and a solid back patio. If you fall in love with a particular bottle they'll even sell more of it to you, so you basically can't not be a fan.

#152: Drop Kick

The Bar

Drop Kick. 1630 E 6th St #100, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 3/7/20 @ 5:30pm.

The Drink

Elephants On Parade. Solerno blood orange, muddled blackberries, lemons. $13.50.

Sometimes it can seem like the "craft" in craft cocktails just means that the ingredients are expensive. Not here! The bartender was excited to both offer and make one of their house specialties, and I have to say that I have never seen more lovingly muddled blackberries or more carefully wedged lemons in my life, each citrus slice carefully arranged like a little mosque tile or something. The result of the  blackberry + lemon + orange poured over the ice was delicious, like the adult Froot Loops of your dreams. It was a nice cool afternoon so its effect was a bit muted, but on a hot summer patio afternoon this would be perfect, though unfortunately this place doesn't have a patio.

The Crew

Kathryn, Neil, Aaron.

Notes

Drop Kick is one of the new fancy high-end craft cocktail bar/eateries that have lately been sprouting like bluebonnets after a spring rain on this portion of East Sixth. It had just opened when we stopped by, and the bartender was eager to talk up the provenance of the food (the chef had been all over the place; the fare is fancy bar food) and how happy she was to be working there (her enthusiasm was contagious, as you can see in the picture of us). We didn't eat, instead concentrating on our drinks, but I could easily see this place neatly filling the "after work neighborhood bar" niche (as opposed to sports bar, date night bar, etc) for a bunch of the new places around here.

#151: J. Stephens Bar

The Bar

J. Stephens Bar. 214 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 2/22/2020 @ 11:30pm.

The Drink

Roses are red, have three of these and you'll be dead. Everclear, St. Germain, yellow chartreuse, simple syrup, lime juice. $14.

Apologies for the extremely red photo - it's a red drink under red light, and so even a skilled, sober photographer would end up with this scarlet smear. But it was appropriate for the Valentine's Day season, because the extremely long name is just a poetic way to describe an extremely alcoholic version of the cocktail known as the love potion. Instead of vodka, sub in Everclear; for grenadine, replace with St. Germain; rather than cranberry juice, try yellow chartreuse; bit by bit you have transformed a reasonable update on the humble cosmopolitan which would be suitable for date night into a powerhouse booze delivery vehicle that, even if it didn't deliver on its name and kill you after you had 3 of them, would at least leave your date worried about your risk of alcohol poisoning, and what could be more romantic than that? However, before they abandon you face-down at the table they should make sure to try a sip of the drink, because it's not nearly as harsh as I've made it sound - St. Germain is the premier elderflower liqueur, which gives the drink floral notes; yellow chartreuse is the sweeter, mellower sibling of green in the chartreuse family; and there's enough lime juice and simple syrup to smooth over any remaining rough edges. I only had 1 of these, but I'd still go home with me after 3.

The Crew

Travis, Brent, Aaron.

Notes

At first I wasn't sure if this place was eligible for my quest - it has a Sixth Street address (in fact the very same one as its sister bars Happy Chicks and BBG's), but it's not on the street at all, you have to get to it via the alley in the back. Well we shouldn't neglect the alleys of Austin, as Michael Martin Murphey would remind us, and I'm not about to start an argument with the Post Office, so if you head up San Jacinto, duck into the alley, and head about halfway to Firehouse Lounge, J. Stephens is the unassuming entryway on your left. Inside is the dim, dank, snug atmosphere that's the signature ambience of a speakeasy, although this place doesn't make you jump through as many hoops to get in as Midnight Cowboy or Floppy Disk Repair Co., which I appreciated since life is too short to futz around with passcodes and other nonsense. You get the cozy convivial vibe of an exclusive establishment without the hassle, so if you're looking for a craft cocktail lounge off the beaten path that won't make you solve these riddles three in order to get into a goddamn bar, J. Stephens is a solid choice.

If you're curious who the bar is named after, I would be remiss if I didn't relate the backstory, which your valentine might appreciate:

Owner Doug Guller based the name of the bar on the story of a man, John Waller Stephens, Jr., who had been the bookkeeper of a furniture store at the Sixth Street space in the 1920s. After being accused of embezzling money from the business, he committed suicide. Over the past ten or so years that Guller had operated restaurants in the building, employees reported strange things happening, like water being randomly turned on. He named the bar after Stephens, Jr., as a way “to make peace with him and get him on our side,” he said.

We didn't run into any ghosts when we were there, so I think it worked. 

#150: TenTen

The Bar

TenTen. 506 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 1/31/20 @ 9:30pm.

The Drink

Yuzu picante. Tequila reposado, sake, yuzu, grilled pineapple, serrano. $13.

Now this is a great craft cocktail, named after its star ingredient. The citrus family never ceases to impress with its diversity. The yuzu is a Chinese (by way of Japan) variety of citrus that brings a much more noticeably tart and floral scent to a drink than the more familiar citrus varieties like lemon/lime/orange/etc, although there are enough ingredients that it doesn't overwhelm everything else (you can't really see the dried yuzu slice in the picture but it's there). I foolishly did not ask for the exact brand of tequila that they used, but according to this guide on how to replicate the drink that I found, they infused the tequila with pineapple as well as having additional pineapple flavoring, so it would make sense to just use any reposado ("mildly aged") tequila as a base. You probably wouldn't normally expect a tequila drink to be Japanese-themed, but in a world where Beam Suntory moves over a hundred thousand cases of tequila a year, anything's possible. This is TenTen's most famous cocktail and it deserves its renown.

On another note, that drink guide also describes the serrano as being included in the form of a "tincture", a word I always associated with Final Fantasy 6, but to my surprise is actually the correct word to use in this instance:

A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.

Yet another educational trip to the bar!

The Crew

Sonali, Karen, Kathryn, Aaron, Neil, Ryan.

Notes

After the first phase of birthday celebrations at Buford's, we significantly classed it up by moving to TenTen, a modern sushi restaurant that's a much more high-end joint all around. Traditionally there has been a big divergence in the marketing of Japanese cuisine as high-end compared to the lower-end presentation of other Asian cuisines, but the interior of this place was just fantastic, even in the gloom of nighttime cocktails. Since we had just gorged ourselves on pizza we didn't eat, but I can attest that the food looked top notch; evidently the guy who developed the menu has also been doing the same for some other nicer newer places. I can say that even though all we did was stand at the bar and order rounds, the atmosphere was never less than inviting. After enjoying ourselves immensely here, it was almost with regret that we retired to Garage Bar, which is sadly not on Sixth Street so I can't review it here, for copious servings of Austin's official cocktail.