I have a pretty broad palate for alcohol. Beer, seltzer, wine, spirits, cider, sake — I imbibe it all, some more than others.
While beer tends to be my go-to, I gravitate toward craft cocktail menus when dining out. Specifically, something slightly sweet and a little sour with a light and balanced flavor profile. I usually pick something with gin as the base spirit.
Like fellow seekers of a relaxing, light buzz, the why is simple: It's easy and exciting to order a carefully concocted cocktail when you don't have to make it yourself, or stock a home bar beyond the essentials. Yes, I know, most cocktails don't require a dozen special ingredients, but putting the time and effort into being my own bartender is just not something I've ever been interested in.
Learning how bartending pros come up with the creative drinks I look for when I go out, however, is endlessly fascinating. Lucky for me, it's also part of my job, and the focus of this very assignment.
At Radio Bar in Northwest Spokane, owner Jessica Hubacher happily invites me to stop by for a Friday afternoon of drink making and sampling. Before meeting, I tell her my preference for gin (and my avoidance of whiskey; it's just too strong, flavorwise, for my taste) and when I arrive she's drafted up three recipes to try.
Before getting started behind the bar, I ask Hubacher to share her process when crafting new drinks. As someone who's worked in the hospitality industry since she was a teenager, going on to bartend for establishments in Seattle and New York City, Hubacher has a couple decades of experience. She and her husband, Jimmy Doran, opened Radio Bar in Spokane's Audubon-Downriver neighborhood at the start of 2022. The petite establishment, initially a live-in photo studio, looks small from the outside but boasts an expansive backyard patio shaded by stately trees.
"I mean, we're not trying to reinvent the wheel, but coming out with your own drink and making it your own is definitely a process," Hubacher says. "It kind of starts with being out and having a drink sometimes, and just saying, 'Oh, I can make this drink better,' or 'I think this would be good,' or trying to do a riff on it, which is what we're all doing at this point. You figure out your spirit and your angle and what's seasonal and fresh, and then you go from there. It's like a painting. You're always kind of adding to it, and it's probably never going to be perfect but you get it to the point that you're happy with it."
As an ideal example of a riff, or a new take on a classic cocktail (drinks like an old fashioned, Moscow mule, Manhattan, Vesper, etc.), Hubacher wants me to try a gin old fashioned. It's made with Dry Fly Distilling's Washington Barrel Reserve Gin, which is aged in bourbon barrels for one year, giving it a not-so-subtle hint of whiskey. She knows I don't like whiskey, but thinks gin aged in whiskey barrels will offer a more toned-down flavor profile I may enjoy.
"When I made this, I had peaches and cinnamon in my mind, and I wanted to do it as a summer old fashioned," Hubacher explains. "I wanted to bring Dry Fly back in, but I didn't know I wanted that gin specifically, and I think it works. It's perfect for summer."
RADIO BAR
2408 W. Northwest Blvd.Open Tue-Sat 4 pm-close, Sun noon-8 pm
radiobarspokane.com, 509-327-0418
Since peaches aren't in season yet, Hubacher uses peach bitters and a cinnamon-infused agave syrup. Poured into a rocks glass over a large cube, and garnished with a twist of orange peel, the drink is now on Radio Bar's newly launched spring cocktail menu as the Verano Viejo, ($12) which roughly translates from Spanish to summer old fashioned.
After my first sip, I'm instantly surprised. Alone, the bourbon barrel-aged gin is still a bit too strong on the tongue, but with the peach and cinnamon, that bitterness is entirely smoothed out for an easy-sipping, patio-perfect treat.
"The process is a lot of trial and error, but it's usually sticking with a basic 2-1-1 ratio" of the base spirit to other ingredients like flavored syrups or citrus juice, Hubacher explains. "I just aim to keep everything well balanced, so it's not overly sweet or overly tart, and we can always tweak it for a guest."
While the Verano Viejo is an unexpected hit for me, I knew before we started which of Hubacher's three recipes would be my favorite. Bright pink in color and simultaneously herbal, tart and sweet, this shaken drink blends Hendrick's gin, lemon juice, mint syrup, strawberry syrup and a dash of rhubarb bitters. For garnish, a cucumber slice and a frozen strawberry bobbing on top.
Hubacher ultimately decides to call this one On the Stoop, but its working title that day is Garden Party for its early summer combo of mint, strawberry and rhubarb. While On the Stoop ($12) isn't on the current menu, she says it'll probably return this summer, and can be ordered off-menu if Radio Bar has all the ingredients handy.
Lastly, she introduces me to a tiki-inspired drink that swaps gin in for the usual dark spirit like rum. Jungleland ($13) is also currently off menu, but can be requested as those ingredients are always stocked. With coconut, pineapple and lime juices, tiki bitters, Rucolino amaro and gin, the drink has a milky appearance due to the coconut, and presents a warm, tropical flavor profile.
Bitters, like the tiki-spiced blend in this drink, are a common ingredient in many of Hubacher's creations. Due to the highly concentrated ingredients from herbs to fruit, vegetables to spices and combinations of these, most drinks only need a drop or two to add another layer of flavor, she says. For home bartenders, bitters are an easy way to experiment even with something as simple as a vodka soda.
"There are so many flavors, they make everything these days," she says. "Usually we make our own syrups, but it can take months to make bitters."
When she once sought to make a drink with notes of rhubarb, for example, extracting the flavor into a syrup or cooking it down into a concentrated form wasn't working. Then she discovered rhubarb bitters from a company called Fee Brothers.
"It was just the extra flavor I needed," she says. "Sometimes [bitters] just offer a little depth or that extra" boost a drink needs. ♦
MORE GIN-BASED SPRINGTIME SIPS
EMMA RUE'S
Corpse Reviver No. 2: Citadelle gin, Combier, Lillet blanc, lemon, absinthe
PROHIBITION GASTROPUB
Botanical Sour: Sage-infused gin, lavender, honey, lime, egg white
JUNE & CO.
Mountain Energy: Gin, lemon, house-made blackberry-basil shrub
HONEY EATERY & SOCIAL CLUB
Uptown Linen: Hendrick's gin, muddled cucumber and lemon, elderflower, sugar, lemon juice
BON BON
Tell Tale Tart: Juniper 8 gin, Averna amaro, lemon juice, cranberry juice, Poema cava rose
PEACOCK ROOM
Lilac City: Empress gin, St. Germain, sour, La Marca prosecco
