Scott & Co. is debuting a new cocktail menu next week and a sneak peak showed a focus on bright, exotic flavors, bitter liqueurs and an egg white or two. Overall, the menu seemed well-suited for spring and summer drinking, with most options being shaken, light and juicy drinks that range in price from $10 to $14. 

During the tasting, bartender Rik Evans explained that many of the cocktail's elements are crafted especially for the drinks. This includes a pipe tobacco-infused tincture, macadamia orgeat, roasted coconut water syrup, and a plum sauce made with soy sauce for a savory kick.

Several of the drinks included saline drops to balance flavors and mellow out some of the more bitter components. This technique was most aptly utilized in the Giant Slayer, a drink made by Matt Martinez that was one of the day's best offerings. The bold drink combined coffee-infused Dewars, Ardbeg Islay scotch, Cherry Heering, Creme de Cacao, saline and an entire egg. 

One of the event's most unexpected standouts was the Slow Slipper, which was green in color with a bright green screwpine milk float that reminded me instantly of Hi-C's Ghostbuster-themed Ecto-Cooler. (Bring back Ecto-Cooler, Hi-C!) With a sweet base of Mt. Gay rum and Giffard banana liqueur, the drink was balanced out by a lovely roasted coconut water syrup. The cocktail looked absolutely nothing like it tasted, showcasing the playfulness of the new menu.

There were definitely a few other drinks that had tiki elements too. The Shore Leave used arrack, Evans' plum sauce, Cocchi Barolo and a rosemary tincture. Topped with club soda, the drink, which could've been intense and heavy, was light and refreshing with a depth on the back. The Loki's Travel was an interesting blend of aquavit, green Chartreuse, macadamia orgeat, pineapple juice, lime juice and a tobacco tincture. Served over crushed ice, the drink started sweet and bright—almost like cotton candy, but finished more complex once diluted. 

Although not all of the cocktails exhibited a strong balance of flavor, the menu as a whole was a work in experimentation, getting back to what Scott & Co. became known for in this town. For a bar that kickstarted the careers of many of the town's top folks behind the stick, it's nice to see the small speakeasy-like spot carrying on the tradition and pulling in and nurturing new talent.

You can check out Scott & Co.'s new cocktail menu beginning next week at 49 N. Scott Ave. The bar is open Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m. until midnight and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m.

If you fancy yourself a garage-side brewmaster and you're looking to mingle with like-minded hop heads, mosey on over to Dragoon Brewing Co., located at 1859 W. Grant Road Suite 111, for a special meeting of the American Homebrewers Association. 

As part of a national series of AHA rallies, the homebrewing organization is dropping into Dragoon for a special VIP tour of the brewery and a meet and greet with some of its brewers. After that, the group of amateur brewers and beet enthusiasts will test out different samples on tap and possibly even when a prize from Dragoon or the AHA. 

The AHA brewery rally takes place on Saturday, March 7 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. The rally is free for current AHA members. If you aren't a member, you can join online or sign up for a discounted member rate at the Rally. Either way, you can RSVP to attend on the AHA website.

Owner Tom Smith is the first to say that he's not the same 37-year-old he was when The Dish started dishing out plates of upscale fare in 1997. Now nearly 20 years later, Smith says its time to say goodbye to The Dish as we know it.

On March 14, The Dish will serve its last dinner service, although that isn't the end of the space. 

For the last six years, chef Michael Muthart took charge of the kitchen's operations, serving up options like Moroccan spiced grilled rack of lamb and steamed mussels with a saffron broth. However, Muthart has also been running a poultry and fowl ranch called Top Knot Farms in Benson. Now that his ranch is taking off, he's stepping out of the kitchen and into a role as a rancher. 

Although Smith and his partner Jennifer Elchuck interviewed other chefs, they ultimately decided to stop dinner service at The Dish.

"I wish I had a better answer than 'It's time,' but something told me it was time to start settling up," he says.

However, that's not the end of the story for the space. After a break for "retooling," The Dish will be transformed into a bar and tasting room area with small dishes like charcuterie boards. About once every three months, Smith plans on bringing Muthart back into the kitchen for special theme or wine dinners. The first one, he says, is slotted for May 17 and will likely feature Top Knot's chicken and eggs.

Smith says The Dish had one of its best months for sales to date in the current location and is happy to end on a high note.

"It's good to go out while you're still meaningful and vital," Smith says.

If you want to stay up to date on the changes coming to Rum Runner, you can sign up for the bottle shop and bar's newsletter.

I walked into Goodness Juice Bar near the UA campus with some preconceived notions. "Surely," I thought in a flurry of booze hauteur, "a juice bar can't possibly be making good cocktails." After all, half of their drinks are made with flavored vodkas. For someone who doesn't judge a dive bar by its slummy digs, I quickly began to eat (er, sip) my words at this juice bar.

Moving past the loud house/trance music pumping through the speakers, the bar itself was curiously well-stocked with en vogue liquors like Buffalo Trace as well as local spirits like Arizona Distilling Co.'s Copper City bourbon. Clean, bright and shiny, the bar is visually appealing. The bartender on duty was personable and accommodating. I felt bad for being judgmental almost immediately.

The Watership Down ($7) looked like the most health nutty of the just under ten drink menu, so that of course was the one to get with its beet juice, lemon juice, basil and pickled carrot garnish. It uses Pimm's, and like most of the drinks, Demerera simple as the cocktail base. The drink was tart and lightly sweet with a nice earthy quality from the beet juice. The best part is the carrot, which adds the perfect, albeit, spicy kick at the end of the drink.

While Goodness gets props for serving a tasty drink, I was curious to see if the drink itself was really that healthy since it is being served at a juice bar. Breaking down the drink's recipe, my nearest estimate puts the drink right around 130 calories, which, for the amount of flavor you get from the Watership Down is pretty impressive. (A normal margarita is over 150 calories.) Plus the health benefits of beet juice (potassium, iron, magnesium, fiber, vitamins A, B, and C, etc.) pretty much speak for themselves.

Overall, the drinks, which run at about $7 or $8 per, are reasonably priced and from what I tasted are actually worth the stop. Plus maybe you can trick yourself into thinking it was actually somewhat healthy. The bar, located at 1011 N. Tyndall Ave., is open Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. until close and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. until close.

Hey all you gin-thusiasts out there—it's time to turn your love of the white botanical spirit into a show of support for Tucson's historic (and nonprofit) Rialto Theatre this Saturday, Feb. 28. The Gin Joint Jubilee at Rialto will be part fundraising gala and part roaring '20s theme party (yes, you can and should dress up) with vaudeville entertainment and, of course, some stiff cocktails.

Attendees can bid on silent auction items and enter for raffle prizes with items up for grabs including vacation packages, a hot air balloon ride, gift certificates, original artworks and more with special guests Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and KXCI's Cathy Rivers. Pre-bidding is available now through Bidding Owl. While all of that bidding and raffling goes on, Cirque Roots and Black Cherry Burlesque will keep the crowd entertained with cheeky vaudeville acts. An ensemble group of local musicians will also be playing classics from the '20s and '30s.

From 5:30 until 8:30 p.m. there will be a main tasting event with an hour of dessert samples following that. 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. will feature late night bite options if you're still hungry. Some of the many restaurants serving up samples for the evening include Miss Saigon, Hotel Congress, Hub, Empire Pizza, Proper, The Parrish, Reforma Cantina, Dante’s Fire, Got to be Gluten Free, Delectables, Saffron, US Fries and more. 


But, let's not forget the gin. You can sip on a Tuxedo #2 at R Bar (or you can order one from a server). The exclusive cocktail for the event is a classic that takes an improved (a.k.a. with absinthe) martini base and adds a touch of maraschino. If you're not ready to go full martini, a few of these will sell you on the cocktail once and for all.

The Gin Joint Jubilee kicks off at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tickets are $75 per person or $125 for a pair and can be found online, along with more information, on the Rialto Theatre website. Each ticket for the fundraiser includes a complimentary drink.

If you're already pining for the weekend, you can consider getting it all started a little early on Thursday when Tap & Bottle offers up the ultimate triple threat: free local music, a ramen food truck and an encyclopedic stock of craft beer.

Starting at 5 p.m., Fat Noodle food truck will be slinging bowls of slurpable noodley goodness and maybe even a ramen burger or two out in front of Tap & Bottle. Then at 8:30 p.m. on the inside of the beer and wine bar, you can catch Tucson's electro indie band with alt country tendencies Golden Boots.


Of course, you'll have your pick of Tap & Bottle brews, including, maybe if you're lucky, a pint of Ten Fifty-Five's re-released Sugar Skull stout or some of the super rare Arizona Wilderness beer that was tapped on Saturday. If those kegs run dry before Thursday, Feb. 26, they'll have something else tasty to sip when you start your (early) weekend off right at 403 N. 6th Ave.

Chances are you've been at a Howe Gelb show and thought "Man, I wish that guy would make me a cocktail." Well, prepare to have all of your prayers answered on Thursday, Feb. 19 when Gelb and a handful of other local musicians go behind the stick to serve up drinks to benefit Downtown Radio.

The forthcoming community radio station, which will broadcast on 99.1 FM, is looking to feature local music completely commercial free, so they're looking for some cash to get going. That's why musicians including Howe Gelb, Brian Lopez, Gabriel Sullivan, Pete Ronstadt, Bruce Halper, Alex Flores, Thoger Lund, and Winston Watson have signed on to help serve up some drinks to help Downtown Radio out.

From 4 until 6 p.m. at Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, attendees can hang out with the celebrity bartenders while ordering drinks and learning more about Tucson's newest radio station. Guests will also get a free Downtown Radio sticker for showing up.

Hopefully you haven't beered yourself out yet because one of Tucson's best beer week events is happening this weekend. The first ever Tucson Craft Beer Crawl will take brew enthusiasts to seven different spots around downtown to taste their way through specialty releases from over a dozen different breweries around the state.

Here are some of the rare beers you can expect to find on your drinking excursion:

• Ten Fifty-Five's AK Saison: a collaboration with Ryan Clark from Augustin Kitchen that uses calamondin fruit harvested from the tree in the middle of the Mercado San Augustin.
• Two new releases from Sonoran including PNK PPRCRN & FNL SAISON (Pink Peppercorn & Fennel Saison) and SMTH RBL DIPA (Smooth Rebel Double IPA).
• Borderlands' Scotchy, Scotch Scotch Ale collaboration with Grand Canyon Brewing and the re-release of the popular Horchata Cream Ale. Grand Canyon also has another collab release for the event—a DIPA made with Simcoe hops called Deep in the Green.
• Pueblo Vida's Belgian Golden Strong Ale: a complex ale with notes of pear, apples, oranges and a peppery spice. 
• Old Bisbee Brewing Co.'s brand new Holy Grail Indigenous IPA which uses wild hops picked from a unique area in the mountains close to the brewery. 
• Dragoon's Double Red IPA, which was brewed specially for Arizona Beer Week.
  
  

You can try all of those and more as you walk around at your leisure hitting up venues including Tap & Bottle, Hotel Congress, R Bar, Thunder Canyon Brewery, Playground, Pueblo Vida and Borderlands. There you'll use your 20 tasting tickets by filling up a commemorative five-ounce tasting cup over and over again. I might be a writer, but I'm pretty sure that amounts to 100 ounces of beer—good thing everyone is walking, right?

You can buy your tickets via the Beer Crawl's website for $38 in advance or $45 at the event. Then, on Saturday, Feb. 21 you can pick up your map, glass and tickets at Connect Coworking, located at 33 South Fifth Ave, and head on your merry beer-loving way. The event runs from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. and a portion of the proceeds go to Watershed Management Group.

It's time to start warming up those pipes because Tuesdays at Playground means Cocktailaoke time. Granted, the very plain-dealing name isn't the most clever thing I've ever heard, but it gets the job done. I doubt anyone will have a hard time conceptualizing what goes on at Cocktailaoke. 

Just in case you do have some questions, though, know that the free event takes place every Tuesday starting at 9 p.m. Then you can grab your golf pencil and begin flipping through a giant binder full of tunes courtesy of Ynot Entertainment with artists ranging from George Strait to Fastball to Shakira. 

Should you need some inspiration to belt out your favorite Kelly Clarkson song, $3 drafts and wells should do the trick on the cheap. For something a little tastier, bartender Karl Goranowski also offers up a rotating craft Cocktailaoke menu too.

See? Simple.

There are a number of reasons to patronize any specific bar. It could be that you've been going to the same dive for years and you love the jukebox. It could be that the place has the best craft spirit selection in town. Maybe you think your bartender is cute. I don't know—that's all between you and your beverage.

Regardless, there is some snobbery that comes with the surge of craft cocktailing. Boo on that. I'd like to say right now that Kon Tiki, which has been in operation since tiki cocktails had their first wave of popularity, is not a craft cocktail bar. Who cares?

Kon Tiki is a tradition. It's of a dying breed and Tucsonans are lucky to have it stay open in all of its kitschy faux Polynesian glory. Now in its 52nd year of operation, you should celebrate its persistent existence by stopping in with a friend and grabbing a scorpion bowl.

The giant glass chalice is filled with $16 worth of boozes and such—the special blend of which is known only by Kon Tiki bartenders, according to the menu. Very Don the Beachcomber of them. It does say it includes "rums, gin, brandy and liqueurs, plus tropical fruit juices," and, from the strong alcohol taste on the first few sips, I'd guess one of the rums in question is 151. 

You can get your scorpion bowl in regular, strawberry or blue—yes, blue. The latter not being so much a specific flavor as a key to one of its secret ingredients—blue curaçao (a.k.a. curaçao that's been dyed blue).

So, is Kon Tiki's scorpion bowl the best rum-based cocktail I've had in Tucson in terms of flavor? No. Is it the kind of place you could discuss why some distillers spell it "rhum" versus "rum"? Nope. Is it really fun to stare your drinking buddy in the eyes awkwardly as you sip through an absurdly long straw in a den-like tropical setting? Yes.

The beauty of Kon Tiki as a bar is the experience and the giant (and shockingly cheap) menu will ensure you experience plenty. Plus, by the bottom of the bowl, it actually starts to taste pretty good. You can try one for yourself at the bar, located at 4625 East Broadway Boulevard.