turkob wrote:
I'm sad to report I had my worst trip to the Whistler last night. They appear to have a stricter door policy now and we were forced to wait outside for 20 minutes at 9:30. When we walked in, the place was 2/3 as full as it usually is, so it seems they're trying to decrease the head count. Or artificially give it the appearance of being popular, which is a bad idea since they lost 8-10 customers while I was waiting. Either way, the door man was kind of a dick, which gave us a bad taste before we even set foot in the bar.
The drink menu has changed. There are some more challenging cocktails on the menu now like the one with malort and mezcal that I ordered and a black manhattan that my friend ordered. Both were completely out of balance and unpleasant. Our group also ordered a hemingway daiquiri that tasted mostly of soda water. To top it off, many of the cocktails now cost 10 dollars, up from the standard 8 dollar drinks I've been ordered at the Whistler for years.
It's probably too soon to sound a down hill alert. The new team is still figuring things out. But I can say that the change since Paul's departure is noticeable and Whistler will not be the same bar it's been under his leadership.
I was also there last night and had a great experience. Of course, I arrived much earlier than turkob, at around 5. If I ever end up at a bar at 9:30 on a weekend, I'm pretty sure something has gone wrong. Honestly, even when Paul was behind the bar, by 9:30, I was almost always long gone by then.
In any case, I think the new menu is great, and the cocktails I had last night were very tasty. No longer being limited to $8 drinks means that the menu has more range. It's tough to continually come up with worthy cocktails when you have to restrict your costs so strictly. Removing that cap allows for the use of ingredients that might not ever make it into an $8 drink. The current menu offers ten cocktails. Of those, seven cost $8 or less (There is one $5 cocktail, one $6 cocktail and five $8 cocktails). Two others are priced at $10 and there's a $12 cocktail -- a Mezcal Last Word -- that incorporates Del Maguey Vida, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino and Lime. To me, this seems entirely reasonable and 70% of the menu is still at $8 or below.
My favorite cocktail from last night was the Bodega Buck ($6). It's made with Old Heaven Hill (bonded), Lustau Dry Oloroso sherry, honey, lemon, ginger ale and Angostura bitters. It was an immensely refreshing drink with an impressively long and nutty finish, which was imparted by the sherry. The more I sipped it, the more I liked it -- a very fine cocktail. Another one I enjoyed last night was a drink I wouldn't normally order but I'm trying to branch out. It's called a Red, White and Green, and it's made with Azul silver tequila, amaro Abano, lemon, honey and celery bitters. I loved the pepperyness and the grassiness of this drink. I don't drink a lot of tequila but I really loved this cocktail. I started out with a Voyager (El Dorado 5-year rum, Benedictine, Velvet falernum, lime, Angostura bitters), which was made very well. It was tart and sweet but not overly so on either count -- a very solid rendition. All 3 of these drinks were made by Eric, who understands the gravity of his position and takes it very seriously. He's got respect for the craft and it shows in his work.
A custom-made Old Fashioned, made by Rob, was pretty out there but damned tasty in its own right. Inspired by his recent trip to Spain (where rum is finding its way into Old Fashioneds), it was made with equal parts of Smith & Cross rum, Rittenhouse 100 rye and Hine Rare VSOP cognac. The S&C was very upfront but not overwhelming. I liked it a lot.
I'm guessing that issues with crowd control probably have more to do with the speed of drink-making than anything else. Let's face it, Paul McGee is a beast; an unnaturally efficient machine when it comes to making drinks. And he himself would tell you that his speed increased greatly during his tenure at Whistler. Eric's just getting started and I'm sure his speed will increase with time. But it's a small place and the way it's set up, there's only room for one person to be making drinks, so there are innate limitations that Paul's insane abilities helped mitigate.
I'll admit that I was concerned about The Whistler's fate when I learned that Paul would be leaving. And it's still very early. But one thing that's clear is that the culture of seroius cocktails that Paul brought to the Whistler is still very much alive there. The drinks are tasty and the new menu is just that, a new menu. I'm not comparing Whistler 2.0 to Paul McGee's Whistler. I'm comparing it to all the other cocktail venues in town and in my mind, it's still a top-tier destination.
=R=
_________________
I just wanna live until I gotta die. I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try. --Todd Snider
Spit out the gum, sister!
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