#192: Secret Society

The Bar

Secret Society. 101 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 10/27/2023 @ 10pm.

The Drink

Birch old-fashioned. Tin Cup whiskey, demerara, birch tincture, applewood smoke. $15.

This was the 13th old-fashioned I've been served so far. Bars just can't resist putting a spin on this classic cocktail, and Secret Society's twist on the standard was to do a birch infusion, using both smoke as some other places have done with theirs (e.g. Lonesome Dove's Manhattan) as well as a tincture. Floral liquors are not uncommon in Europe (we discussed biska, a liquor with mistletoe), but birch is an interesting choice, as despite being a good old American tree, it was beloved by JRR Tolkien himself (here's more than you probably wanted to know). The drink used Tin Cup whiskey (no relation to the classic 1998 Kevin Costner/Rene Russo romcom), which was amusingly described as a "butch, not feminine" whiskey; it went well with the smoke, the birch tincture, as well as the extra sweetness of the demerara. I really liked it. Either the old-fashioned is simply an un-ruinable cocktail, or its basic structure is so resilient as to support an unending number of creative variations.

The Crew

Aaron, Elijah, Ishani.

Notes

Secret Society is located in the bottom of the Scarbrough building, which was Austin's very first skyscraper but is lately more famous as the new home of the nascent University of Austin/UATX (as a tribute to their more famous neighbor a few blocks to the north I think they should brand this campus as the Forty Ounces). The setup is kind of unusual for a Sixth Street bar: by day, this floor space in the building's lobby is an unassuming cafe called The Scarbrough which closes at 2pm; at 7pm it reopens as Secret Society, a nice cocktail bar with an upscale bar food/snack menu. It honestly surprised me that there wasn't already some sort of bar here, given the building's venerable place in the city's history (it was the first building west of the Mississippi to have air conditioning), but such are the vagaries of occupancy over this many years. Regardless, there's a good vibe to this space; it somehow combines the relaxed openness of an atrium with the intimate lounge atmosphere you want from a cocktail bar. 

We were the only ones here on this somewhat dreary Friday night, so we got to chat at the bar with the owner, Marco, about his overall strategy for the space in light of the slumping market for the city's commercial real estate. Since Secret Society is tucked in between Velvet Taco and Ruth's Chris at the SW corner of Sixth and Congress, it is front and center to all of Austin's issues with declining foot traffic as work from home becomes ever more popular. While downtown itself is more populated than it's ever been, its inhabitants are simply not the high-end barflies of yesteryear, which will have long-term consequences for the bar sector. There's a lot to say about how Austin's ever-shifting demographics interact with the economic realities of bar proprietorship, and how the positives of having more young, single, high-earning patrons balance against the negative cost pressures faced by post-pandemic service industry establishments, but they would be best discussed over a drink, and here would be an excellent choice.