#170: Low Down Lounge

The Bar

Low Down Lounge. 1412 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 1/6/21 @ 5:30pm.

The Drink

Tropical Depression. Goslings dark rum, passionfruit, lemon, sadness. $9.

An obvious riff on the infamous hurricane cocktail, this drink drops one of the rums and adds the ingredient "sadness". Thankfully the sadness did not affect the taste, which was great. Passion fruit is not a common ingredient for some reason, but it should be - it has an excellent and unique sweet/tart flavor that's different enough from other fruit flavors that it should be a bigger part of the cocktail repertoire. I had thought that it was native to Asia, given its use in Southeast Asian dishes, but as it happens the fruit is actually originally native to Brazil. Sadness on the other hand seems to be endemic everywhere, but a few of these cocktails should take care of that, at least temporarily. 

We stayed here for more rounds discussing the late unpleasantness, and I can vouch that their other craft cocktails are also fantastic.

The Crew

Adrienne, Hans, Aaron.

Notes

Low Down Lounge replaced The Brixton in March, which is unfortunate because I quite liked the former establishment. It's always a drag when you discover that a bar you liked has closed, but one thing this project has taught me is that change is a part of life, and all you can do is cherish the memories of the old place while still trying to give the new place a chance. Low Down makes the transition easy by largely retaining the interior of the old place and adding a neat red-orange-yellow striped color scheme that reminds me of the Houston Astros-themed color palette that 8th Wonder Brewery uses, as well as maintaining a similar laid-back ambience. It makes sense that the new place would would be likeable, as the new owners also own the similarly good Sixth Street bars Shangri-La, The Liberty, and The Grackle, all of which I enjoyed. This early in the evening there were not too many people around, but the bartender had some cheerful banter with the other patrons, which is always a good sign. Next to quick service and low prices, a strong rapport with regulars is one of the best signs that a bar is going to be around for a while to come.