Summer in a Glass
Nashville's best brewers and restaurateurs mix and pour to our delight
by Kay West
Nothing makes you appreciate a cold beer more than finishing up a hard day's work on a sweltering hot day. And no one appreciates the fruits of his labor more than Linus Hall, who, with wife Lila, owns and operates the Yazoo Brewing Company. Located in the historic Marathon Motorworks building, the brewery opened in October 2003, and its beers, ales and custom brews are sold in more than two dozen local restaurants and bars, among them Family Wash, McDougal's Village Coop, Alley Cat Lounge, Christopher Pizza Co., Piranha's Bar and Grill and Mercy Lounge. Yazoo also pours its beers in its own small tasting room, open Thursdays and Fridays from 4-8 p.m., and Saturdays from 2-6 p.m.
The tasting room is air-conditioned; the brewery, where Linus makes Yazoo City brews, is not. "All the equipment used to brew the beer is temperature-controlled, so if the brewer can stand the heat, you don't really need the room to be air-conditioned," Linus says. "But it can get really hot in there in the summer."
When the temperature rises, Linus cools down with a hefeweizen, which means cloudy wheat in German, and that's just what the specific yeast used in this recipe does to the brew, with tastes of banana and clove.
Along with hefeweizen, Hall also recommends the Spring Wheat Ale for summer drinking. Yazoo City has just created a Full Moon Ale in partnership with the Full Moon Pickin' Party, the bluegrass hoedown that benefits Friends of Warner Parks on full moon nights in June, July and August. Full Moon Ale is a classic American ale—light-bodied and smooth—that uses a pre-prohibition recipe.
The English like their beer served at around 45 to 50 degrees, which seems heated to Americans, who want their suds icy cold, close to freezing. "Beer served that cold will kill the taste buds, so after the first sip, you can't get the flavor of the beer," Linus says. "Of course, with most American-brewed beers, that's a good thing."
He recommends serving beer at around 40 to 42 degrees, about the same temperature advised for chardonnays, and the reason is also the same; a slightly elevated temperature brings out the full flavor of the drink.
Chardonnays, says Steve Boyer, bar manager/wine guru for the newly opened tayst restaurant, are fuller, cold weather wines. As the temperature rises, he steers customers to what he calls "Picnic wines—whites that are light and crisp, sauvignon blancs or French-style wines, which are meant to go with foods, seafood, fresh fish."
In cold weather, red wine outsells white by a third; already, that trend has reversed, and tayst is pouring a third more white wine than red, by the glass, half-bottle and bottle. And though he says there are some red-lovers who will drink the heavy cabs year round, most are moving out of the full-bodied, tannin-heavy reds to lighter reds with higher acidity, such as Grenache, Chianti or zinfandels. "Red wines with a higher acidity work well with fresh vegetables, seafood and vinaigrette-based sauces," Boyer says. "You don't want that in the winter, when sauces are heavier and cream-based. Acid and cream do not work well together."
Boyer says that there is a variation of about 20 degrees between serving temperatures for red and white wines, with 65 degrees being the optimal temperature for red. "I try to get people to let their white wines warm just a little on the table after being poured to allow it to open a little so you can really taste it."
At Rumba, bartender Ryan Quintel encouraged us to taste a new vodka, Ciroc, imported from France. Unlike Russian vodkas, made with potatoes or grain, Ciroc is made from grapes, a revelation that provoked some puzzled discussion among bar patrons, and begged the question, "Does Ciroc vodka taste like wine?" Quintel shook a pour of it with some ice, than offered it in a shot glass. It had just the hint of grape scent and was remarkably smooth, with no after-bite. And despite the slight scent of grape, it had no resemblance to wine.
Thanks to owner Tom Sheffer's extensive travels—particularly through Indonesia—Rumba has a menu of drinks that spans the globe. Their most popular is the Cuban mojito classico (rum, lime, sugar and fresh mint), the Brazilian caipirinha (cachaça, muddled limes and sugar on the rocks) and the Pacific Pearl (Pearl vodka, ginger-infused lemonade, and mint). This summer, Rumba introduces a strawberry mint daiquiri, a grown-up slushie with rum, strawberry liqueur, fresh strawberries, mint, topped with dark rum and served in a tall glass.
At Mirror, Colleen DeGregory could no longer ignore the pitiful pleas of her overheated clientele, so the return of a trio of favorites from the bar is a sure sign summer has arrived in this 12 South restaurant and gathering spot: champagne sangria, made with champagne, a puree of mango, peaches, strawberries, lychee nuts, orange juice and guava juice, served over ice in a wine glass with fresh fruit; a strawberry mojito; and the cucumber martini. "People love the cucumber martini," she says. "I had customers asking for it in the winter, but it's too white for winter. It's light, cool and refreshing, the perfect summer drink."
Over at tayst, Steve Boyer and chef/co-owner (with Dan Morrissey) Jeremy Uhl, believe they have created the perfect summer drink. "Jeremy and I are big bourbon drinkers," Boyer says. "We were sitting around a few weeks ago thinking about summer drinks. I wanted to do one with bourbon, but bourbon is such a winter drink. Jeremy is getting ready to add a chocolate milk shake to the menu, so the first idea was a bourbon milk shake. That didn't work, but a bourbon float does. Who didn't love a root beer float as a kid? This is an adults-only root beer float, and it's great for summer. It's dessert in a glass with a kick."
Make Your Own
tayst Root Beer Float
In a fluted glass, pour a shot of your favorite bourbon, then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream (tayst uses homemade); the ice cream shouldn't touch the bourbon. Pour a bottle of Abita root beer over the ice cream so that the ice cream floats to the top of the glass. Insert straws and enjoy.
Cucumber Martini
Juice three cucumbers. To every 16 ounces of juice, add one tablespoon of raw sugar. Add vodka to personal taste, shake with ice, serve up in a chilled martini glass, garnish with a slice of cucumber.
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