Madison is a cocktail city. Whether you’re ordering a sweet Old Fashioned at a dive bar or a complicated cocktail with a dozen ingredients from a mixologist, there’s something out there for you. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians talks with Bianca Martin and Hayley Sperling about some of their favorites in the city.
Here’s an incomplete and extremely subjective list of some of Madison’s great cocktails. Let us know what you think we should order next.
There are many great Old Fashioneds in town, but the one from this recently-opened spot won Cap Times’ Madison Old Fashioned Week. Lindsay said on the podcast that she likes how the smokiness is captured in the aroma of the cocktail, but isn’t present in the drink itself.
Leopold’s has a cocktail list that’s as elegant and diverse as the bookstore around it. But, like a reader who keeps reading their favorite author over and over, I can’t order anything from the bar except the perfectly balanced Black Walnut Manhattan, featuring Maker’s Mark, black walnut liqueur, and Angostura bitters.
I used to play bar trivia at Merchant and order the “Dealer’s Choice” cocktail and let the bartender pick what to make. Even when I was getting the questions wrong, I felt like a winner when a Sazerac arrived. Merchant’s take on the New Orleans classic is the best in town, with rye, maraschino liqueur, Peychaud’s bitters, and an absinthe rinse.
Another new contender on the Madison cocktail scene is the north side vinyl lounge, and I’ve heard multiple people gushing about the passion star martini. Vodka, passion fruit, lemon, vanilla, and cava make it the ultimate “it-girl” drink, but it’s more potent than you might think.
Robin Room is part of any conversation about Madison’s cocktail scene, and justifiably so. Bianca enthuses over one of the East Johnson Street bar’s old stalwarts, Jasmine, featuring gin, Campari, Cointreau, and lemon juice.
The City Cast Madison crew went out to dinner at Sardine a little while ago, and we agreed this sweet-and-spicy cocktail was an MVP. It features St. George Chile vodka and State Line Vodka, pineapple, lime, and bitters.
