Last night I waited in line for 30 minutes to get into "Miracle on Cary", a Christmas-themed pop-up bar hosted at The Jasper (and other participating bars around the world) for the past few years. Because I am An Old who has kids that can't stay home alone, my wife and I have heretofore been unable to experience this seasonal event at our favorite bar. But with some of Valerie's recent out of town travels, she let me have a night to myself which finally gave me the opportunity.
The entire bar was positively dripping with decoration from the ceiling to the floor, and I could not have captured it all unless I’d taken 100 photos, but I did at least get a few fun shots of my beverages and other stuff around The Jasper. The drink menu for Miracle is, frustratingly, an image instead of text. Rather than link to something inaccessible I'll at least provide the description of each cocktail I enjoyed. But first, some of the decor!
Santa's Tipsy Village
Like I said, dripping with decoration. There was a TV at the far end of the bar playing Christmas movies (Elf was playing during my visit), and there were little nooks of classic Christmas movie paraphernalia all over, from the Griswolds' hockey jerseys to Ralphie's air rifle wrapped in lights (and lights extending from the barrel as if shooting). This kitschy, nostalgia-laden decor would put even the Grinch in a holiday frame of mind.
But I didn't just go for the decoration! This is The Jasper, to me the best bar in town, so I wanted some of these holiday drinks. The menu appears to be standardized across participating locations, but not to the level of specific brands of spirits (at least as printed on the menus). I imagine this allows for participating bars to use whatever is available to them in a given category (e.g. whatever Trinidad rum they have/can get), but it also, theoretically, provides a bit of latitude for those bars to interpret the menu how they see fit. Anyway, what did I drink?
The Christmas Spirit(s)
My first drink was the Holiday Spiked Chai which, according to the menu, contained:
- brandy
- Jamaican overproof rum
- coffee liqueur
- amaretto
- chai
- almond milk
- egg white
- tiki bitters
- grated nutmeg as a garnish
All of this was served on ice in the adorable barrel-shaped mug in the photo above. It was delicious, and a bit too easy to drink. Great texture from the egg white, and despite the presence of coffee liqueur, the drink really did taste quite like an iced chai latte. A pretty delicious tiki-esque start to the evening.
Round two was the Snowball Old Fashioned, which was made of:
- rye
- "gingerbread" (I suspect this was some sort of ginger Demerara syrup)
- aromatic and wormwood bitters
- orange essence
This was stored and strained over an ice ball which looked like it was made of compressed, crushed ice, which really sold that snowball effect (The Jasper typically serves old fashioned cocktails over a large clear cube with their logo stamped on one face). The illustrations of tipsy Santa on the glass were cute and, well, old fashioned looking! And the drink was a perfect late fall/early winter twist on the classic.
My third drink was called the...uh...Yippie Ki Yay Mother F****r! Heh. Yeah. Sure it’s the name of the drink that will get your attention, but this was deeeelicious. It had:
- Barbados rum
- rhum agricole
- Trinidad overproof rum
- ube and coconut orgeat
- acid-adjusted pineapple juice
It was served over coarsely crushed ice in a Santa pants mug and garnished with some powdered sugar and fresh mint. More holiday tiki! Absolutely delicious.
I had one more round before walking to dinner and getting a ride home, but it was "only" a Sazerac (my favorite classic cocktail, and made to perfection last night). It’s challenging for my wife and me to find time and a babysitter to do this sort of thing, but if I can make it happen, I will, because this was the most fun I’ve had at a bar in a long time. It would be ten times more fun if I can share it with Valerie. At any rate, I highly recommend it to anybody who can safely/comfortably drink in the Richmond area at least - though I imagine similarly excellent bars are participating elsewhere.
Happy holidays, and drink responsibly!