Of Love and Regret: Not just a beer bar

I was invited last week to a birthday shindig that started with drinks and appetizers at Of Love and Regret.  I had heard of it, and knew it was co-owned by Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal Ales fame.  Between that, and its Brewers Hill location, I figured I was in for a night of stunningly good beer and upscale pub food.

If what you want is a night of stunningly good beer and upscale pub food, you won’t be disappointed.  In my never-ending quest to taste all of the things, I sniffed and sipped everyone’s beer.  Because I was out with craft beer geeks, they knew what to order, and I would have happily imbibed Stillwater masterpieces all evening.

But then I saw the bourbon selection and the cocktail menu.

I decided to start with a barrel-aged cocktail.  As a whiskey-neat purist, I don’t drink cocktails very often, but I have heard lots of buzz about making drinks and then aging them in a bourbon barrel.

How can that be wrong?  It seems so right.

I ordered the Barrel-aged Old Fashioned.  It arrived garnished with the prettiest tangle of orange peel and a dark, luscious-looking cherry.  I instantly regretted not bringing my good camera.

The cocktail was good.  I didn’t detect much added benefit from the barrel aging.  It tasted like a fairly standard, if delicious, Old Fashioned.  Perhaps barrel aging has more impact on non-whiskey-based libations.  But you all know what I’m going to say, right?  I just want the whiskey.  What can I say?  I’m really just not that much of a cocktail girl.

The exception, however, was the cherry.  Am I really going to talk about a cherry on here?  Yes, yes I am.

The menu listed the garnish as a “Luxardo cherry,” which is apparently a gourmet version of the Maraschino.  Luxardo cherries are what Maraschino cherries used to be before they became fluorescent red, metallic-tasting horrors suitable only for demonstrations of stem-tying tongue dexterity that seem like they should be sexy but are mostly awkward.

This cherry bore no resemblance to that thing they throw on the top of ice cream sundaes.  It was heavy, nearly black in color, and full of flavor.  It was the best part of the cocktail, honestly.  If you are a Manhattan or Old Fashioned drinker at home, get some Luxardo cherries and elevate your bevvie of choice to the next level.  They are absolutely worth the gourmet price tag.

If, unlike me, you are a cocktail drinker, they take their cocktails very seriously at Of Love and Regret.  My seat at the bar afforded me a front row seat for the show the bartenders put on, one that involved a blow torch at several points in the evening.

Yes, really.

This place is so much more than a beer bar.

Still, it would be wrong to go there and not taste any beer.

Between my cocktail and moving on to my next drink, I bummed sips of some more of my friends’ beers.  One stood out: The Stillwater/Millstone collaboration “Remixed debauched cider.”  It is described as a Viking-inspired cider with 33 heirloom varietal and hop ciders, and something in it is apple wood smoked. Easily the most unusual beverage I had that evening, it instantly reminded me of single-malt Scotch.  If you get a chance to head to Of Love and Regret, and you’re a Scotch drinker, branch out and try a glass of this limited release cider before it’s gone.  It’s like Islay Scotch meets beer in the best possible way.

But given the whiskey selection, I decided to move on to my old friend, bourbon neat.

The shelves were well but unusually stocked.  Not a Maker’s Mark or Knob Creek in sight.  Instead, there were several, several, whiskeys I hadn’t tried.  That never happens. It’s exciting when it does.

I decided to start with the Johnny Drum Private Stock bourbon.  I had heard good things about it on the Drink Spirits blog, and had been looking for it since.

The dram arrived, unexpectedly, in a Glencairn glass with an eyedropper of water.  Color me impressed.  I love snooty affectations.  I truly do.

The Johnny Drum itself is a very nice pour.  The nose is light but complex, with soft notes of caramel and oak, as well as some cinnamon and earthy evergreen.  The taste on the tip of the tongue includes vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon, but they are rather muted and not as syrupy as many of the bourbons I drink.  There is an unexpected and delightful hit of salted peanut mid-palate that blends with the caramel flavors beautifully.  The finish is mild but pleasant, with wood, cinnamon, and some smoke remaining.

Bottled at 101 proof, it drinks like a 90 proof bourbon.  Quite light, with the flavors well-integrated.  It also drinks like a much more expensive bourbon.  At $30, you’re getting a lot of complexity for your money. I got a bottle of it to take home with me, purchased from the small shop upstairs.  If you’re looking for a big powerhouse bourbon, this isn’t the one for you.  But if you like your bourbons lighter with integrated flavors and complexity, Johnny Drum is a very good bourbon for the money.

But back to Of Love and Regret.  Accompanying our drinks, we ordered the cheese plate and some fantastic sausages to share.  The food went very well with both bourbon and beer.  Sadly, though, and too soon, it was time to move on to the next phase of the evening.  I would have been happy to spend the entire evening at Of Love and Regret.  The few small nibbles of charcuterie with unusual accompaniments, like pickled spicy celery, were more than enough to pique my interest in the rest of the menu.

I’ll definitely be going back as soon as possible.