Cocktails – This Delicious Life

If you know me, even just a little bit, than you probably know I have an absolute love for wine. I was in the wine industry for 6 years, but I fell in love with the delicious juice long before that. And I don’t just like drinking it, although I seem to do a lot of that, but I love learning about it as well. And lately I’ve felt like I’ve been cheating on wine a little bit. I’ve been intrigued by other adult beverages. ..like craft beer and cocktails. I got hooked on beer when I was in Asia, mainly because wine is absolutely terrible in Asia and beer was better for my budget. But I’ve also been ordering cocktails lately as I am excited to learn and taste more.But I’m also seeing a cocktail trend lately. Not sure if it’s just because I’m interested in learning (and drinking) them more or if cocktail bars, and cocktails in general, are becoming trendy and very popular. I’ve always been a vodka and clear liquor type of girl…always ordering my drinks tart, citrusy, herbal, and maybe a little floral. But I’m expanding my horizons and the man friend has me interested in bourbon and more of the classic cocktails. His go to drink is an Old Fashioned, and I have to say..I’m slightly hooked.
I think my new found love for cocktails started when I was in Hong Kong. The man friend and I checked out two amazing cocktails bars while over there and the rest is history. I think we even went back to both of them twice!

So with this new found love for Bourbon, an old friend of mine and I visited Jack Rose Dining Saloon in DC a couple weekends ago. We had such a wonderful night catching up while drinking cocktails, indulging in my very first whiskey tasting, and enjoying some really good small plates.

We shared the Supper Plate while sipping cocktails and catching up. I went with the man friends tried and true. No sphere shaped ice cube, but it was a VERY well made Old Fashioned.The Supper Plate was a beautiful arrangement of pickled vegetables, marinated olives, spiced nuts and kettle corn, deviled eggs, cheese, crackers, and charcuterie. The perfect amount of snacks, but leaving us just enough room for some small plates. We asked our server for some recommendations on a whiskey tasting, and he took it upon himself to pick us both out a flight of whiskeys ranging in taste and origin. And before having us try them all, he went into great detail about each one. The favorite of the night was a smooth medium to full bodied whiskey from Taiwan.During our 2 tastings, which we shared we tried the Roseda Farms Steak Tartare, Warm Peekytoe Crab Salad with corn veloute and fennel relish, Crispy Brussels Sprouts with chile, lime, and fish sauce, and the buttermilk biscuits of course.

The food was all very good, but nothing that really blew me away. However, I genuinely loved this restaurant and the feel of being in an old Saloon. The server was fantastic, the dark saloon ambiance is cozy and the whiskey wall, filled with 2, 687 bottles of whiskey is quite astonishing. It was trendy with out being pretentious and we really enjoyed some nice whiskeys, good cocktails, and I loved the Supper Plate for some bites while we chatted.