Front Burner: St. Paddy’s challenge for local bartenders
Scott Koerner, bartender at Annie Moore’s Irish Pub, with his drink, the Irish Dreamsicle. Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times.
St. Patrick’s Day is historically a holiday when Roanoke bartenders pull a lot of draft beers and pour a lot of shots. The top-selling beers are probably Guinness and anything dyed green, while you can bet the Irish whiskey bottles don’t collect much dust, either.
But I thought it would be fun this year to challenge a few local bartenders to test their luck at inventing a holiday-themed cocktail. The rules were simple: It had to be their own concoction, it had to be inspired in some way by St. Patrick’s Day, and it did not necessarily have to be green.
The following good-natured folks happily took me up on my request: Brad Joynes and Laura Jeter at Macado’s in downtown Roanoke, Diana Dixon and Alejandro Rivera at Pomegranate in Troutville, Jennifer Wilcox at Corned Beef & Co., Scott Koerner at Annie Moore’s Irish Pub and Hunter Johnson at Lucky Restaurant.
To read more about these bartenders and see the drinks they created, please click here.
Do you plan to celebrate or observe St. Patrick’s Day in some way this weekend? If so, what do you plan to do/eat/drink?
March 13, 2013 - 7:52 AM
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Where are the rest of the drinks? The link just leads back to the same incomplete story.
Sorry about that, Rob. It was linking to the food page, which linked right back to this blog entry. An endless circle! The link is working now. Thanks for letting me know!
I love that bartender at Lucky. He mixes the greatest cocktails.
Any bartender worth their spuds would know the most important drink is using the proper technique to pull a pint of Guinness, and how to properly serve it. That’s followed closely by understanding the reasoning behind a true Black&Tan. B&T’s aren’t Irish, but they should be drunk by Americans who honor the Irish struggles.
Fancy girlie drinks? Well, tint an Appletini green, and call it something that sounds vaguely Irish, and you’ll have the contest winner. Anything that sounds ‘Irish’ to a person who knows zero about Ireland, much less St. Patrick, that’s the amateurs’ winner.
St. Patrick’s Day, like Cinqo de Mayo, or New Year’s Eve, is best left to the amateurs. If I want to celebrate the Irish history, I’ll have a Guinness, a Black&Tan, a Boilermaker. Then I’ll repeat those three as long as necessary.
After all, what’s decent Irish pub talk without adding a little heat to the fire?
For the reader who was asking about poutine, I just saw on Bruno’s GastroTrucks Facebook page that they will be offering it today. They’ll be at Wine Gourmet on 419 from 5:00 to 7:30 this evening, and they’re at Firestone Auto on Williamson Rd dowtown until 2:30 this afternoon.
Thanks, Debbie. I will email that reader in case she has missed your comments. I looked up the Bruno’s menu and that looks like a pretty darn good dish. Might be a little fancier than standard poutine but who cares. The description: hand cut fries/miso beef short ribs/crispy pork belly/gravy/housemade sheep curds/scallions $10
That does sound good and so does the price. If I hadn’t already had my lunch, I’d take a walk up to Firestone. I hope she can try it out this evening. Who knew Roanoke had poutine available?
Debbie, Thanks for the heads up about Bruno’s. I got dinner there tonight and it was delicious! I will definitely be a repeat customer.
Shelly, you’re welcome. Glad to hear it was good.