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Jameson thinks outside of the Jar at the Palm T he Palm restaurant at Vegas’s Caesars Palace may be known for their signature caricature-enhanced walls, but they’ve had their share of real-life characters in there as well. Jax Budde, bartender at The Palm remembers one personality who had just arrived from New York, bringing a veritable cocktail craze with him. “Do you have any pickle juice?” he’d asked Budde, who laughingly recalls, “I’d never had that request!” The Pickle Back craze started in NYC. Then, Budde may have reeled with first-time shock, but now she knows better: The Pickle Back, a shot trend that originated in New York City, is a one-two punch of a shot of Jameson followed by a shot of pickle juice that combines in a savory marriage of heat and sweet from the whiskey and salty/sour from the brine. “This drink is on fire!” reports Michael Cate, On-Premise Division Manager in Las Vegas for Pernod-Ricard. “It has such an east coast vibe. It’s gone viral and definitely heading west. Even Ireland is talking about the pickle back.” “It mixes really well,” says Budde, who also serves up plenty of Jameson in more, well, traditional cocktails, like the sweet, light and smooth Jameson and Ginger. For customers looking for something a bit weightier, Budde is a fan of the Thin Lizzy, mixing Jameson with Patron XO Café in a sweet-and-smoky sipper. Any way you take it, The Palm is helping fuel the fires in Jameson’s rise to the top —R.B. Jax Budde of The Palm in Las Vegas. Sails Are High for Jameson At Brady’s Yacht Club Amber Hogge, owner of Brady’s Yacht Club in Santa Cruz, CA says the Bloody Molly is not only over-the-top in sales volume as the bar’s signature cocktail, but also over-the-top in its array of edible ingredi- ents—from tomato juice to pickles, onions, okra, olives and celery. “It’s a meal!” she claims. iving up to its reputation as the “Best Dive Bar in Santa Cruz,” Brady’s Yacht Club is a beloved landmark in a sleepy Northern California beach town, where the pool table is juxtaposed to the jukebox and one of the house specials is a $7 combo: a shot of Jameson, followed by a Pabst Blue Ribbon. Amber Hogge, owner of the bar, which is neither yacht club nor Irish pub, was gifted the establishment as it passed down through family ownership. “My dad used to manage the place,” the 29-year-old tells THE TASTING PANEL, “and not only did he not want me to work here, he just wanted me to stay away, period.” Formerly a resident of San Francisco’s East Bay, Hogge preferred the nightclub scene and certainly didn’t picture herself as a t-shirted local tavern type. That is, until she took over Brady’s two years ago. “I proved myself,” she admits proudly, “to my dad and to myself.” And although Brady’s wasn’t recession-proof, Hogge’s impact has induced adoring local fans to call this place home. In fact, if you check out Brady’s on Yelp.com, you’ll find a tome of tributes to the bar. As one cyber-fan wrote, “[At Brady’s] you’ll find a cook sitting next to a judge, a janitor shooting pool with a Fortune 500 CEO—and this tiny bar probably sells more Jameson than any other place in the West.” Brady’s is actually steeped in history, according to Hogge. “It’s been around for 77 years. It was a Speakeasy in the ‘30s, called the 413 Club [named after the street number on Seabright Avenue] and the original building was actually three times the size. “It burned down in the 1960s,” Hogge explains, “but it was resurrected three days later in an old-fash- ioned barn-raising.” Brady’s was meant to be, and Hogge and her team utilize it beyond its everyday function as the bar Old Man Brady created decades ago. From fund-raisers to memorial services for its once-loyal customers, Hogge quotes one of the regulars who insists, “It’s as important as our living room.” —Meridith May L january–february 201 1 / the tasting panel / 55 PHOTO: ROB BROWN PHOTO: ROB BROWN PHOTO: RYAN LELY