Get Your Kicks With Pouring Ribbons’ Route 66 Menu
By Esther Tseng
As the lauded East Village bar Pouring Ribbons reaches its third anniversary, partners Joaquín Simó, Jason Cott and Shannon Tebay have retooled its concept.
You can still count on the bar to be in full service to your ever-changing bibulous moods (Chartreuse craving anyone?), but the house cocktail menu will now revolve around a singular theme, to be rotated as often as the seasons.
The themes that provide a fulcrum for the drinks will pinpoint time and place, guiding guests to a specific point in history, evoking particular music styles, visual arts, and epicurean traditions. The cocktails kicking off the very first concept, which was just launched, were designed to tell the culinary journey of the legendary highway Route 66. Two dozen brand new cocktails follow the fabled road from Chicago to Los Angeles with all the stops in between; roadside diners emerge as the most notable influence.
“From Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression to Keruoac’s jazz- and drug-fueled road trips, Route 66 has been the quintessentially American conduit to new lives and experiences.”
– Joaquín Simó
Drink your way westward, through valleys and over mountains, with cocktails worth their weight in presentation as much as flavor balance. The What Came Before is a drink inspired by Canyon Diablo, one of the first settled towns in the West. This mellow corn whiskey-based libation includes orange cordial, chile-infused Pueblo Viejo reposado and clarified corn milk and is served in a milk bottle over cracked ice. A Night at the Wigwam was inspired by the wigwam motels from the 1930s to 1940s. It features Encanto pisco and Junipero gin, with lemon curd and Earl Grey-smoked yogurt. With a similarly whimsical presentation, the drink is served under a teepee.
On the menu, each drink will continue to be scaled along Pouring Ribbons’ trademark flavor matrix, showing each guest the extent to which it is refreshing versus spirituous, comfortable versus adventurous. Thanks to the bar’s classic interior design cues, subtle decorative additions such as artwork, paneling, glassware and garnishes provide visual cues to assist the journey.
While each cocktail is always a new reason to visit Pouring Ribbons, immersion in their new thematic concept creates an entirely new experience. Check out these select cocktails from their Route 66 menu and take an arm chair journey through motoring history.
Jack Rabbit Special
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz. Aylesbury Vodka
- 1/2 oz. Maurin Quina
- 3/4 oz. Lemon
- 3/4 oz. Rooibos Syrup
- 1 tsp. Grind
Preparation: Add all ingredients to shaker, shake until chilled. Top with 1 ounce club soda. Pour into glass bottle without ice. Serfve with a bendy straw.
Snow Cap Float
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz. Barbancourt 8 Rhum
- 3/4 oz. Ramazzotti
- 1/2 oz. Vanilla
- 1/4 oz. Demerara Syrup
- 1/2 tsp. Acid Phosphate
- 1 dash Root Beer Bitters
- Top with Galliano Whipped Cream (See Below)
Preparation: Add all ingredients except Galliano whipped cream to a mixing tin. Shake until chilled. Add a small amount of club soda to the bottom of the glass. Strain cocktail into glass. Top with whipped cream. Garnish with drops of Angostura bitters, root beer bitters or sarsaparilla.
Galliano Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. Whipping Cream
- 1/2 oz. Vanilla
- 1/4 oz. Galliano
Preparation: Whip together all ingredients until combined.
Casa Abuelita
Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz. El Dorado 12 year Rum
- 1/4 oz. Smith & Cross Rum
- 1/4 oz. Chai Tea Syrup
- 1 dash Angostura Bitters
- 2 dashes Bittermens Mole Bitters
Preparation: Stir all ingredients and strain into a rocks glass with cylinder ice. Garnish with a marshmallow rolled in chile powder.
The 19th Hole
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz. Citadelle Gin
- 1/2 oz. Linie Aquavit
- 1/4 oz. Dolin Dry Vermouth
- 1/2 oz. Lemon and Scallion Fino Syrup
- 1 dash Celery Bitters
- 1 dash Lemon Bitters
- 3 drops Saline
Preparation: Stir all ingredients and strain into a coupe. Garnish with a cocktail onion skewered with 19th hole cocktail pick.
No Crying in Baseball
Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz. Popcorn-Infused Old Overholt
- 1/2 oz. Old Overholt
- 1 oz. Angostura 7 Year Rum
- 1/2 oz. Oloroso Sjherry
- 1/2 oz. Pedro Ximenez Sherry
- 1 tsp. Benedictine
- 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
Preparation: Stir all ingredients and strain into a rocks glass with cylinder ice. Use vintage baseball cards as a coaster.
Flapjack Old Fashioned
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. Rebel Reserve
- 1/2 oz. Scarlet Ibis
- 1/2 oz. Laird’s 7 1/2 year
- 1/4 oz. House Black Strap
- 1/4 oz. Maple Syrup
- 1 dash Orange Bitters
- 1 dash Cinnamon Bitters
Preparation: Stir all ingredients and strain into a rocks glass with cylinder ice. Or strain into a maple syrup dispenser and serve/pour tableside into a rocks glass.
A Night at the Wigwam
Ingredients:
- 3/4 oz. Encanto Pisco
- 3/4 oz. Junipero Gin
- 1 1/2 oz. Orange Cordial
- 3/4 oz. Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp. Lemon Curd
- 1 tsp. Earl Grey-SWmoked Yogurt
- 6 drops Orange Flower Water
Preparation: Place all ingredients in a mixing tin and shake until chilled. Fine strain into a rocks glass with cylinder ice. Garnish with a half orange slice topped with crushed smoked almonds.
Fork in the Road Punch
(Serves 4 or 8)
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. Spirit of Your Choice (El Dorado 5yr, Laird’s AJ, Clontarf, Rebel Reserve, PV Reposado Tequila)
- 1 oz. Red Jacket Farms Apple Cider
- 3/4 oz. Celery Syrup (50g Toasted Celery Seeds Steeped Overnight in 1 quart Superfine Sugar:1 Quart Water)
- 1/2 oz. Lustau Peninsula Palo Cortado Sherry
- 1/2 oz. Lemon Juice
Preparation: Combine all ingredients and serve in a vintage thermos with rocks glasses for the group.