What’s Tony Drinking? Rum Punch in the Bahamas, Whiskey in Tennessee & NYC

Manor bar cocktails

It’s Better In The Bahamas

The fam and I spent a week in the Bahamas, mostly flitting between the beach and the pool, as one does when in a tropical paradise that has no rum distilleries worth visiting. But I don’t stop working even when I’m on vacation — and by working, I mean seeking out delicious drinks. Fortunately, amidst all the Bahama Mamas and Goombay Punches, we found a top-notch venue for both cocktails and sipping spirits at the Baha Mar, where we were staying. The missus and I darkened the door of the Manor Bar several times during our stay, enjoying fancy cocktails such as the Manor Punch (cognac, Plantation 3 Star rum, maraschino liqueur, créme de peche, lemon juice, agave, sparkling wine) and sipping rums like John Watling’s Single Barrel — a Bahamian brand, but said to be sourced from Jamaica’s Worthy Park Estate. Wherever the heck it comes from, it’s delicious.

Scarfes Bar

It just so happened that during our stay, the Manor Bar was transformed into a Bahamian outpost of London’s famed Scarfes Bar (a Rosewood Hotels sibling establishment) for a two-night celebration of its tenth anniversary. Neither the wife nor I had ever been, so we made the most of the opportunity and had a quartet of Scarfes’ trademark cocktails, made by members of their staff including Martin Siska, director of Rosewood’s European bars. Our favorite was the Happy Mistake (blanco tequila, pineapple, vetiver and white chocolate), but all four were creative without overdoing it, and most importantly, extremely tasty. We wanted to persuade all the folks ordering dirty Ketel One martinis to order something more interesting, but we kept mum — wisely, I think. We could have stayed and drank and kibitzed with Martin (whose patience with my cocktail/spirits nerdiness was admirable) all night, but we had a daughter waiting for us in our hotel room — no under-18s allowed in the Manor Bar, which made it even more enjoyable in a way. Scarfes is reportedly doing a series of pop-ups around the globe this year, including New York, so be on the lookout.

Bottom Shelf Gin, Top-Notch Martini

Graycliff

The daughter did join us for a night out at the Graycliff restaurant, a fine-dining gem in one of the oldest and most beautiful hotels in Nassau. The kiddo’s Shirley Temple was one of the most photogenic I’ve ever seen, and it tasted just as good as it looked (I had to steal a sip to verify). The Graycliff has an extensive wine list to go with its old-school French cuisine, but I wanted a martini to follow up the champagne cocktail which greets every guest of teetotaling age as they wait to be seated. I asked what gins they had, and along with the usual suspects was Gilbey’s. Truth be told, I had no idea it was even still being made — the bottles I’ve seen are vintage examples from the ‘60s and ‘70s — but apparently it is an ongoing concern, a bottom-shelf gin made in the USA by Beam Suntory. Not that I knew any of this when I requested it in a martini with a twist. But I’ve got to tell you, it was fantastic. Ice-cold (which always helps), juniper-forward (ditto), pretty well balanced, bracing, dry with some light citric sweetness… not bad at all. And apparently it’s possible to find a bottle for less than $15. Ka-ching! Not what I expected at a very pricey mecca of gastronomy, but it hit the spot.

Roll Out The Barrel

Jack Daniel's Rickhouse

I recently visited the Jack Daniel’s distillery in minuscule Lynchburg, TN (a dry county, ironically), for a couple of nights of drinking whiskey, playing cornhole, staying in a fully-equipped Airstream, eating copious amounts of Southern cooking, and did I mention drinking whiskey? We got to try JD’s spectacular and affordable new Bonded Rye, which is on my short list for favorite new spirits of the year. But the unquestioned highlight of the trip was when I, a handful of whiskey scribes, and a few employees of Jack’s parent company, Brown-Forman, got to schlep up seven flights of narrow wooden stairs to the top floor of Rickhouse 6, Tract 1. Our mission: taste some Jack Daniel’s rye straight out of the barrel. Master distiller Chris Fletcher had found a nice vein of 6 year old barrels, but somehow Frank “Bourb Your Enthusiasm” Dobbins wound up selecting (pointing at, really) the one Chris opened, by drilling a small hole in the barrelhead. Jack is known for its Old No. 7 expression, but the team has been bottling some really good rye for quite a while now. Of course, nothing beats straight-from-the-barrel (this sample was packed with flavor without going too heavy on the tannins and spice), but their Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye comes pretty close. Only $65 at the Nashville airport!

Yamazaki in NYC

Meanwhile, Back In NYC….

One recent Saturday afternoon I got a few friends together to go see a movie that… well, I can’t tell you what the movie is, as I’m supporting the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike as well as the writers’ strike, and promoting films online is verboten for now. But if you know me at all, you know which film I’m talking about. Anyway, for me it’s not just a film, and these friends weren’t just friends but a veritable who’s-who of the boozy world. I’m talking Robert Simonson (and his wife Mary-Kate Murray), Robin Robinson, Gina Pace, Joanna Lin, Ben Setiawan, and WTD regular Tommy Tardie, owner of the two Flatiron Room establishments, in NoMad and Murray Hill (Tommy’s wife Davi was there, too). I was thrilled, not only because everyone seemed to enjoy the movie, but because Tommy invited us back to the Flatiron Room NoMad for an evening of post-film gluttony and over-imbibing. In addition to oysters on the half shell, bourbon-marinated beef meatballs, and charcuterie, he put out bottles of the Flatiron Room private barrel pick of Blanton’s Bourbon and a 12 year old Yamazaki whisky for our imbibing pleasure, along with orders to finish both the food and the booze before we left. It was such an over-the-top extravaganza that one of the featured actors from the movie showed up, lured by the promise of a Shirley Temple and the Flatiron Room’s famous fries. Robin, Gina, Ben and I were the stragglers, and hard as we tried, we left a little bit of both the food and booze on the table when we staggered out. I hope Tommy hasn’t banned us for life…