Libations and Local Legends

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In this month's "Doe's Were the Days," Chef George Krause's cocktail series reaches the '90s and '00s

As Chef George Krause’s “Cocktails through Time” series nears its final lip-smacking drop, the libations and history lessons crafted by Krause don’t seem so antiquated any more.

In fact it’s unsettling to see the sippers of the ‘90s and ‘00s grouped with centuries of cocktail lore. What have we recently concocted that will last? Try to imagine what “oldies” radio will sound like in thirty years and you’ll understand my somewhat-cynical curiosity.

“Are you making us something plaid?” quipped my friend Kayla to Krause as we perched on the barstools at Doe’s Eat Place Baton Rouge (3723 Government Street), joking about the potential menu.

But no plaid, no grunge, no Boy Meets World on the ingredients list for these cocktails.

In fact, after the shooters and clumsy cocktails that sprung up in the ‘80s, the young imbibers of the ‘90s sought a different aesthetic. “They felt they should be drinking ‘real’ drinks,” said Krause.

Or at least they wanted to dress up what they were already drinking. The overly sweet, fruity mixtures of the ‘70s and ‘80s were poured (somewhat) ceremoniously into long-stemmed martini glasses and then served to the trendy crowds. Très chic.

“People were trying to look like they had grown-up palates, but nobody did,” said Krause. “They were still kids.”

In a more adult environment, Baton Rouge carved out its own bit of cocktail history. The Lunchbox drop shot, now found in college bars throughout the country, was created in the capital city in 1993 by Gold Club bartender Pam Sandoz (now owner of Slinky’s in the Northgate neighborhood) and the bar’s head of security Todd.

Take a glass of beer—preferably light—and add orange juice and peach schnapps. Drop a shot glass filled with amaretto (and a bit of Bacardi 151) into the larger pint glass. And as the liquid bubbles up, up, up, grab the glass confidently, tilt your head back, and chug.

It’s a race, and one you can experience with the shot’s creator Pam Sandoz on Monday, August 11, at Doe’s Eat Place as Krause and the gang embark on two weeks of ‘90s cocktails. She’ll be whipping up Lunchbox shots—and presumably cheering on brave drinkers—all evening at the bar.

As the ‘90s fade away—much like the High-Top Fade of seminal ‘90s rapper Vanilla Ice, who probably has his own nostalgic cocktail—the concoctions become a bit more respectable. You might even drink them without a hint of irony today, in the distant, distant future of 2014. “The 2000s is when the schism happened,” said Krause. “You still had the guys making the sweet, fruity drinks for college kids, but bartenders interested in making their own drinks were coming back to the scene.”

And an interest in pre-Prohibition drinks swelled up too. “These craft bartenders were leading the way back to the old drinks, the savory drinks,” said Krause. “And they were making their own ingredients too.”

Count Krause in the upper echelon of conscientious craftsmen. As we spoke with him three weeks before his ‘00s drink menu was to be posted, he was handily slicing and peeling cucumbers, tossing them into a glass vat, and then dousing the whole lot with vodka.

And when Krause’s cocktail cruise reaches the year 2000—on or around August 25, 2014, our time—that vodka will be alive with crisp cucumber flavor. With a bit of soda, gumme syrup, a lemon twist, and all the cocktail history you can handle from Chef George Krause, you’re looking at a perfect late summer evening.

Thank goodness that whole Y2K thing blew over!

The Original Lunchbox

created by Pam Sandoz, Baton Rouge, 1993

Ingredients:

6 oz. beer

4 oz. orange juice

½ oz. peach schnapps

1 oz. amaretto almond liqueur

¼ oz. Bacardi 151 rum

Method:

  1. In a pint glass, pour beer, then add orange juice and schnapps.
  2. Pour amaretto into a separate shot glass, then top with 151.
  3. Drop shot glass into pint glass. Drink it immediately.