For cocktail writer and author Robert Simonson, Wisconsin has always held its own in the cocktail world.
Simonson recently returned home to Milwaukee, after living and working for decades as a writer in New York City. Now, he’s focused on Milwaukee — he's continuing to write about food, drink, history and regional culture.
As a part of that exploration, he’s joining Lake Effect’s Audrey Nowakowski for a series called "Bar Talk." Each month, he'll be sharing some of his favorite drinks he's tried at local bars.
Here are his recommendations for August:
The is the third edition of “Bar Talk,” a new monthly segment I’m doing on “Lake Effect,” in which I talk about the most memorable drinks I’ve had at Wisconsin bars during the previous month. The past month has taken me to all sorts of watering holes, including havens of Chartreuse and fortified wine. Keep these cocktails in mind for your coming summer bar-hopping.
"Something, Something Chartreuse" from PufferFish Rooftop Bar
You may have read a year or so ago that Chartreuse, the herbal French liqueur, decided to decrease production so that the Carthusian monks who make the spirit could concentrate more on prayer. This created a bit of a crisis in the drinks world, as Chartreuse is a critical ingredient in many cocktails. It’s also led to a situation where certain bars in every city as designated Chartreuse bars by the liqueur’s agents. This means certain bars get a greater allotment of the spirits than other one. In Milwaukee, those two bars are the high-end hotel bar Agency and the rooftop tiki bar PufferFish, both of them downtown.
As you can imagine, each bar has approached its privileged status in a very different way. At PufferFish, they have a short, dedicated Chartreuse cocktail menu—which is an unusual thing for a tiki bar to have. There’s a spin on the Last Word and a Pina Verde—two very popular cocktails that use Chartreuse—but my favorite is an original drink with the amusing name of "Something, Something Chartreuse." It’s a tart, refreshing sour made of Death's Door Gin, Yellow Chartreuse, Falernum, Peach Syrup, Lime, and Bittercube Ginger Allspice bitters.
Chartreuse flight from Agency
Agency is probably the most serious-minded craft cocktail bar in the city. Here, they offer not a cocktail, but a straight-ahead Chartreuse flight made of three different expressions of the liqueur. There’s the classic green Chartreuse; the 1605, which was first created in 2005 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of when the monks received the secret recipe; and finally the MOF, a special cuvee concocted in 2008 by the monks in collaboration with some French sommeliers. It’s fascinating to taste the difference between these three expressions side by side. The tasting costs a hefty $50 and the owner freely admits it does not sell well. But look at it this way. The alcohol content on each of these is high, so you’re going to be slowly sipping these over time. It can easily be the only drink order you make that night.
"Curry Gin Gimlet" from Buckley’s Restaurant & Bar
Just a block away from Agency is Buckley’s, a longstanding restaurant that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It has a wooden, L-shaped bar with a separate entrance. Buckley’s what I call a bar for adults. It’s elegant and the bartenders take drink-making seriously here. The cocktail list rotates with the season. But a few drinks stay on the menu, including the "Curry Gin Gimlet," which is made with locally made Eagle Park gin infused with curry leaves, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, lime juice and simple syrup. The bartender said some people are surprised by how curry-forward the drink is. But, as he said, “It’s the first word in the name.” The drink takes a while to grow on you. But, by the end, I found to the perfect appetite whetter and was ready for dinner.
"Featured Fortified" from Voyager
Voyager is a wonderful hybrid watering hole in Bayview where you can both drink great wine by the glass and buy bottles to take home. But they also have a solid cocktail list. Among these is what the bar calls its “Featured Fortified.” That means it has as its base a fortified wine—that is, a wine that has been fortified with spirits, such as Sherry or Port. This summer "Featured Fortified" is made of Rockwell orange vermouth, Amontillado Sherry, apricot eau de vie and a lemon twist. It’s garnished with an olive and served on the rocks. It is very Sherry forward, quite dry and slightly savory, perfectly suited for a hot summer day when low-alcohol drinks are welcome.
House spritz from La Sirena
La Sirena is a new high-end Mexican restaurant with a prix fixe menu that has been getting a lot of attention latterly. It’s in downtown Ephraim in the space formally occupied by Trixie’s. It’s run by Chef Carlos Salgado and his wife, Emilie Coulson Salgado, who previously gained fame with Taco Maria in California. They have only a beer and wine license—Ephraim was dry until just a few years ago—but have made the most of it with a collection of light-drinking cocktails. The house spritz is made of Sirena Americano Blanco, the French vermouth Comoz blanc, lemon juice and soda, served in a wine glass. It’s lemony, bitter and brisk. One of the great things about La Sirena’s drink menu is almost everything comes in both an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version, including the "Michelada," which is made with NA beer.
Plus: Greenwood Supper Club is open again
The Greenwood Supper Club in Door County is one of the oldest in the state. It was founded in 1929 and stands at the rural intersection of County Highways F and A right in the middle of the peninsula. It is rumored to have been a haunt of gangster John Dillinger during Prohibition. In recent years, however, it has hit rough times. Greenwood stopped serving dinner when it became difficult to staff the kitchen after Covid. They kept the bar going in order to not lose their liquor license, but hours were scant and it was difficult to find it open. Recently, however, the bar has returned to full service, with regular evening hours Tuesday through Saturday. The bar is a wood-paneled time capsule and is worth a visit for a pre-dinner beer or Old-Fashioned.
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