Eric Tadsen
The Hummingbird has a fiery kick.
There’s something almost heartbreaking about Fresco’s cocktail program. At a glance, everything on the drink menu sounds amazing — they’re working with dreamy ingredients like fresh herbs and juices, homemade cordials, fancy tonics and high-quality spirits.
But on a recent visit, the array of cocktails my friends and I sampled failed to hit the mark. The way bartenders blend flavors, while pleasing enough, can be a bit heavy-handed. Some drinks don’t quite pop like they should.
That’s not to say there isn’t fun stuff on the menu. I enjoyed the Hummingbird, a clever little libation made with black pepper vodka, house strawberry cordial, lemon and ginger beer. It’s a sweet and refreshing nectar, and the interplay of pepper and ginger gives it a fiery kick.
One section of the menu is devoted to drinks paired with current exhibits at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, downstairs.
A bartender recommended the “One Act Play on a Southside,” which was inspired by the “Our Good Earth” exhibit at MMoCA. It’s a dizzying mixture of gin, St. Germain, lemon juice and simple syrup, muddled with mint and fresh ginger and finished with four drops of Peychaud’s bitters. The herbal notes were a little overpowering, but the drink improved as it settled.
