Paulius Musteikis
Graft, the new small-plates restaurant at 18 N. Carroll, benefits from the presence of Scott Anderson, a L’Etoile bar alum. Graft offers a short list of house drinks that complement the menu. There’s everything from a play on the Parisian Cocktail (gin and cassis) to a spicy whiskey cocktail with sriracha. There’s even a daily punch.
But the most popular concoction is the Profligate Potation, a house-made lemon vodka with a balsamic reduction and Combier pêche de vigne. This last ingredient is a fruit liqueur made with macerated pears from the Loire Valley. If pears drizzled with rich balsamic sounds good to you, you’ll like how this drink replicates similar flavor notes with the addition of a bright, lemony lift.
Anderson shakes the cocktail and serves it up, and although the result has a slightly off-putting brown hue, a taste reveals a deft balance between the savory balsamic and fruitiness. Vodka gets a bad rap in the cocktail world as the flavorless also-ran to gin, but this is a good example of its versatility. This house-made version is a wonderful way to showcase how vodka can lend support to craft cocktails without washing out flavor and interest.
