From the get-go, Juniper Tar
was a quirky place in a risky
location. But, under its original
muse, Matty Gee, it had moxie.
The rebooted JT, now under the
ownership of Chris Erck and the
direction of Esquire Tavern alumnus,
the bearded Benjamin Krick, is a more
approachable operation — for starters,
the dress code that this writer once ran
afoul of (a shirt with a collar was hastily
produced) is no longer in place. But
don’t take “approachable” as damning
with faint praise. With a few exceptions
(the odd-seeming stoplight has been
removed, a gilded mirror relocated),
the décor retains its essential over-thetopness.
And the drink list may even be
more challenging/rewarding.
I began with big, boozy and spicy.
Burning in Effigy ($13) is composed
of blanco tequila with Chartreuse,
lemon, crème de cacao and Ancho
Reyes, and it reconciles these type-A
personalities with the deftness of a
high-priced analyst. (Chartreuse can
easily get overbearing in my experience,
spicy-sweet Ancho can also be a bully
and crème de cacao calls to mind
bad chocolate martinis — all in lesser
hands.) Equally as impressive is El
Tule ($13), balancing the smokiness of
mezcal with the raisin-y sweetness of
Madeira, the floral bitterness of Amaro
Montenegro and the dark heartbeat of
xocolatl mole bitters.
Toning things down just a tad, the
Bushwick ($11) brings spicy rye, dry
vermouth, perfume-y maraschino liqueur
and nostalgic Jägermeister (and its
35 herbs) to the party. It’s not the life
thereof, but it’s hardly a wallflower,
either. Rather, this is a mellow cocktail
you could continue to sip throughout
the evening. The fact that the Profumo
Affair is served in a diminutive Nick and
Nora coupe might lull the unsuspected
into thinking that the drink is benign,
but get a load of these ingredients —
some of which are hardly household
names: Armagnac (OK, that’s easy),
Byrrh (not so much), Bigallet China-
China (even less-so) and Benedictine.
Only recently back in the U.S. market,
Byrrh is what’s called an “aromatized”
wine-based aperitif, with quinine as
one of its more aromatic components.
Bigallet is a liqueur distilled from both
bitter and sweet orange peels. As
made by the bartender, the cocktail
was served not all that cold, which
seemed appropriate, with a swath of
orange.
There comes a time in every evening,
however, when a little sparkling
lightness added to one’s drink is a
very good idea. Enter the Portuguese
gin and tonic ($9); it will change your
mind about that classic summertime
quaffer — not the least because of the
additional body added by white port.
Now, your assignment, should
you choose to accept it, is to search
algarrobina and Amargo Chuncho
bitters on Google, the better to
appreciate the pisco-based algarrobina
sour. While you’re at it, also look up
kalimoxto. Never hurts to be prepared.
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This article appears in Apr 13-19, 2016.