drumBAR rooftop serves up Father's Day treat

June 8, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Just getting three dads together for a drink can be challenging. But when I invited two friends recently to meet at drumBAR, which occupies the rooftop of the Raffaello Hotel, they somehow cleared their schedules. My big question: how do you serve a dad something that's seasonally appropriate?

"If it's dead of winter, you're sitting in front of a fireplace, yes, do you want to drink a cocktail with an umbrella in it? Probably not. If you're outside on a patio, on the 18th floor of a hotel, you don't want to be drinking scotch neat," said Craig Schoettler, the Bartender at drumBAR.

So Ed goes old school, with an Old Fashioned, featuring Eagle Rare bourbon, produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky.

"We add demerara syrup, some Angostura bitters, we stir it, we serve it over a large ice cube," said Schoettler.

Vince gets a drink called "The Smoke," so named due to the piece of whisky barrel that Schoettler torches until smoky.

"It's Laird's apple brandy, it's Cocchi Rossa, it's Nocino, which is a walnut liqueur, a little homemade sarsaparilla tincture; so we pour that in, it's a stirred cocktail, it's a bold drink but the smell reminds you of campfire," Schoettler said.

For me, Schoettler creates a strawberry daiquiri. Really? There's a bit of a perception problem.

"If it's called a strawberry daiquiri it's gonna come out of a machine and it's gonna be made with a pre-made mix and you're gonna use a poor rum, and so on and so forth," he said.

Obviously, he uses a fine Brugal extra dry light rum, plus simple syrup and fresh lime juice which are shaken pretty vigorously with ice. He then adds it to a crushed ice-filled Hurricane glass, topping it off with freshly-pressed strawberry puree.

"You shouldn't feel like, oh I'm being judged because I'm drinking a pink-colored drink or I'm drinking out of a curvy glass," said Schoettler.

I don't feel judged. In fact, I think on this day, I'm somewhat envied.

Weekend nights are the busiest time at DrumBAR, but there is also lots of room inside the lounge.

DrumBAR
201 E. Delaware Pl.
312-924-2531
http://drumbar.com/

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