Cocktails at the Ranstead Room

Rick Nichols talks shop with Sasha Petraske, the consulting figure behind the Ranstead Room.

As much as the mechanics of cocktail-making, though, Petraske has a mood in mind: “The ambience is a place for people old enough to know how to drink; strong drinks in a [grown-up] environment . . . no dancing on the table or screaming and shouting.”

Anyone is welcome to come in, he says. But they’re not always welcome back: “Postgraduate drinking,” he calls it, distinguished by “offhand excellence,” where status brands aren’t named on the menu and the bartenders aren’t performance artists.

Swigging with sophistication [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Ranstead Room Cocktail list after the jump.

Piquin Cocktail
blanco tequila, chili piquin, lemon juice, sugar

Palma Fizz
vodka ginere and lime juices, sugar, soda, rose water.

Boulevardier
bourbon, campari, sweet vermouth

Applejack “75”
applejack, lemon juice, sugar, champagne

Brooklyn No. 2
rye, sweet vermouth, maraschino

Maloneys Swizzle
white rum, lime juice, sugar, mint, peychaud bitters

Tequila Honeysuckle
blanco tequila, lime juice, honey

Casino Cocktail
gin, lemon juice, maraschino, orange bitters

Hays Fizz
gin, lemon juice, sugar, club soda, absinthe rinse

Bartender’s Choice – leave it to us….