Beth Skogen
Sublimely balanced between sweet and tart.
At Robin Room, the chic, Art Deco space that opened this March on East Johnson Street, bartenders highlight some of the harder-to-find libations from the Golden Age of Cocktails. Looking over the menu is less like reading a drink list and more like flipping through an antique bartending textbook, with page after page of recipes, organized by spirit and artfully diagrammed.
Really, there are no wrong choices here. But for an intriguing entry point to this pre-Prohibition world, try the Pendennis Club. Invented at the eponymous Kentucky social club whose bartenders developed the venerable old fashioned, the Pendennis Club is a boozier, more sophisticated cousin to the unofficial state cocktail of Wisconsin.
Combining the light juniper notes of Hayman’s Old Tom Gin with the delicate flavor of apricot liqueur, the cocktail is sublimely balanced between sweet and tart. Herbal and aromatic Peychaud’s bitters and a splash of lime juice add layers of intrigue. Shaken to a froth and garnished with lime, it’s easy to see why this drink became, in its day, an instant classic — and one whose revival is long overdue.
