Going to Seattle? Go see McCracken!
Have you been to Seattle before? I recommend checking out this city. It's the great Northwest version of San Francisco and as it turns out, very welcoming to those from San Francisco. I had to make a business trip to Seattle and --here's how it relates to this blog, my last business trip before..."the arrival".
Prior to this trip Yardley made it up to this town and found his way to a bar, I'll call it the Blunt cafe. Scott deserves credit for finding this place, however I'll take the credit for turning it into a word of mouth phenomenom. To put it simply, if you are going to Seatlle --go see McCracken. By my own choice, I'm using a fake name for the bar as well as the bartendar that I met while I was in Seattle. I'll call him McCracken. McCracken is the barkeep who also can also boast as being rated as a top 5 bartender by Playboy magazine. Scott mentioned that I may like the Blunt as much as he did. He ended up meeting McCracken as well as the owner. They ended up in conversation and somehow introduced him to rye whiskey drinks. I think the two I remember him telling me were "the Admiral" and "the Liberal". As I write that I'm curious how well those stand up to "the one-legged duck" or "the corpse reviver"...
I found the Blunt online and mapped out how far it was from my hotel---one mile, perfect. I landed, cabbed to my hotel, and not knowing anyone...decided I should try to find the Blunt...
The Blunt is a local hang-out for Seattle bartendars. Of note: (If you go to a new city and want to find a cool place to hang out, stop by a few bars and ask the bartendars where they hang out. For example, if you land in SF, you'll probably be directed to the R-Bar) I knew I wanted a rye whiskey drink that Yardley spoke highly of, but there wasn't an available seat at the bar. I figured I'd order a pint and see if something opened up. As I was sipping on my suds and checking out the place, sure enough a party of two at the bar stood up and left. Now, I was in a prime location to swoop in and take that stool, but I did see some other lingering folks who might be interested in a stoo --NO! MINE! I think I'm lucky to be from the east coast and specifically Boston because we just take things some times. I don't even want to think of things I would've missed out on in life up to this date if I didn't jump at opportunities and make them mine. Here's how this opportunity ended up...
I sat next another guy who did the same fast swoop with me. It turns out he was a local bartendar (see...these seats were a premium!). He knew McCracken behind the bar and they starting rapping about some far off bottle of booze that they both got in recently. When I finished my pint, McCracken introduced himself and asked if I'd like another one. At this point as I was at the bar and could confess to why I was there. "I'm interested in learning about rye whiskey" I asked. To which McCracken replied "what kind of rye's do you like?". Not knowing anything about these, McCracken pulled down five (5) bottles of Rye whiskey from the very accessible to the not so very accessible --priced from lowest to highest. It turns out that the state of Washington does not make it very easy to get your hands on any type of booze you want. What's ironic is that its a great drinking town. Each bottle in front of me had about a half once for a taster. I was about to taste rye whiskeys like I was wine tasting in Sonoma.
Each Rye I tasted was very good and surprisingly not very strong. The Wild Turkey rye was the biggest shocker as I usually shudder at the sight of that damn bottle. Hutch still start the night with that? Anyway, I asked about price on them and McCracken went down the line.."5 , 10, 25 if you can even find it". I was really impressed that this bartendar took the time to teach someone off the street about this libation. When I decided on one, he made me a drink --I think it was "the one-legged duck". When he found out I was from San Francisco, he mixed up something with Fernet Branca of course. Sooner or later other people (quality patrons) started getting in on the conversation and talking to McCracken about drinks and mixing drinks. Particularly the Kerouac reader sitting to my left. After the tastings and a drink I started to feel a little hungry. The Italians say your never drunk, you just haven't had enough to eat. I needed dinner. I asked McCracken for three things. First, a recommendation for a sushi restaurant close by, second, my tab --I hadn't dropped a red cent (whatever that is) at this place yet and third an invitation to come back. McCracken came back with a Zagats and found a place I could walk to, so now I only needed the tab. I was really bracing myself because of the "taste-test" which really could've jacked up that tab, let alone the cocktails he made for me following this. My tab came back like this: "If you come back, we'll settle out your tab then --if not, welcome to Seattle".
The original title of the post included the bar and the bartendars name. I've changed them to make this public. If you're interested I'll tell you offline --maybe even about what happened when I went back --if I did.
Prior to this trip Yardley made it up to this town and found his way to a bar, I'll call it the Blunt cafe. Scott deserves credit for finding this place, however I'll take the credit for turning it into a word of mouth phenomenom. To put it simply, if you are going to Seatlle --go see McCracken. By my own choice, I'm using a fake name for the bar as well as the bartendar that I met while I was in Seattle. I'll call him McCracken. McCracken is the barkeep who also can also boast as being rated as a top 5 bartender by Playboy magazine. Scott mentioned that I may like the Blunt as much as he did. He ended up meeting McCracken as well as the owner. They ended up in conversation and somehow introduced him to rye whiskey drinks. I think the two I remember him telling me were "the Admiral" and "the Liberal". As I write that I'm curious how well those stand up to "the one-legged duck" or "the corpse reviver"...
I found the Blunt online and mapped out how far it was from my hotel---one mile, perfect. I landed, cabbed to my hotel, and not knowing anyone...decided I should try to find the Blunt...
The Blunt is a local hang-out for Seattle bartendars. Of note: (If you go to a new city and want to find a cool place to hang out, stop by a few bars and ask the bartendars where they hang out. For example, if you land in SF, you'll probably be directed to the R-Bar) I knew I wanted a rye whiskey drink that Yardley spoke highly of, but there wasn't an available seat at the bar. I figured I'd order a pint and see if something opened up. As I was sipping on my suds and checking out the place, sure enough a party of two at the bar stood up and left. Now, I was in a prime location to swoop in and take that stool, but I did see some other lingering folks who might be interested in a stoo --NO! MINE! I think I'm lucky to be from the east coast and specifically Boston because we just take things some times. I don't even want to think of things I would've missed out on in life up to this date if I didn't jump at opportunities and make them mine. Here's how this opportunity ended up...
I sat next another guy who did the same fast swoop with me. It turns out he was a local bartendar (see...these seats were a premium!). He knew McCracken behind the bar and they starting rapping about some far off bottle of booze that they both got in recently. When I finished my pint, McCracken introduced himself and asked if I'd like another one. At this point as I was at the bar and could confess to why I was there. "I'm interested in learning about rye whiskey" I asked. To which McCracken replied "what kind of rye's do you like?". Not knowing anything about these, McCracken pulled down five (5) bottles of Rye whiskey from the very accessible to the not so very accessible --priced from lowest to highest. It turns out that the state of Washington does not make it very easy to get your hands on any type of booze you want. What's ironic is that its a great drinking town. Each bottle in front of me had about a half once for a taster. I was about to taste rye whiskeys like I was wine tasting in Sonoma.
Each Rye I tasted was very good and surprisingly not very strong. The Wild Turkey rye was the biggest shocker as I usually shudder at the sight of that damn bottle. Hutch still start the night with that? Anyway, I asked about price on them and McCracken went down the line.."5 , 10, 25 if you can even find it". I was really impressed that this bartendar took the time to teach someone off the street about this libation. When I decided on one, he made me a drink --I think it was "the one-legged duck". When he found out I was from San Francisco, he mixed up something with Fernet Branca of course. Sooner or later other people (quality patrons) started getting in on the conversation and talking to McCracken about drinks and mixing drinks. Particularly the Kerouac reader sitting to my left. After the tastings and a drink I started to feel a little hungry. The Italians say your never drunk, you just haven't had enough to eat. I needed dinner. I asked McCracken for three things. First, a recommendation for a sushi restaurant close by, second, my tab --I hadn't dropped a red cent (whatever that is) at this place yet and third an invitation to come back. McCracken came back with a Zagats and found a place I could walk to, so now I only needed the tab. I was really bracing myself because of the "taste-test" which really could've jacked up that tab, let alone the cocktails he made for me following this. My tab came back like this: "If you come back, we'll settle out your tab then --if not, welcome to Seattle".
The original title of the post included the bar and the bartendars name. I've changed them to make this public. If you're interested I'll tell you offline --maybe even about what happened when I went back --if I did.
posted by Alex at 8:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home