Is ...
A) an allegorical 19th-Century Russian novel
B) a character in a Tex Avery cartoon
C) a jazz-loving 1950s NYC Beat poet
D) a brand of spiced honey liqueur
This post is about a cocktail you can't get. Not right now, anyways. Now that spring is here, the heavy winter coats & cocktails have been sloughed off of shoulders and menus, and bare skin and sunshine liqueurs are la mode. Back in April, before all this happened, I visited Clive's Classic Lounge (745 Burdett Avenue, Victoria) to try a cute cocktail.
Fooled you! The answer to my quiz question is "none of the above," because Krupnik is a nalewka, a special category of Polish beverage which is a tincture - a solution of a medicinal substance in an alcoholic solvent (Merriam-Webster). Yummy? Well, yes - the pictured golden tincture is like a spicy eggnog. And look at the glass it comes in. While I sipped my drink, I heard the table next to me stage whisper to the waitress, "What is that he's drinking?" I was the talk of the lounge for a minute. Apparently it isn't ordered all that often (Source: the waitress).
My picture doesn't really capture the cuteness, I know. I should have been more careful to "curate" the foam at the top. Instead of a mama bird regurgitating a wormy meal into baby bird's open maw, here, the glassy fledgling disgorges the contents to you. Isn't it ironic?
You have to drink this cocktail with a straw, and towards the end, it's harder to get at the last few drops of this tasty concoction. You have to angle the straw down into the well of the glass, and then hoover up the dregs. It's delightfully undignified.
Clive's is a titan amidst the lively Victoria cocktail scene. The lounge is in the Chateau Victoria hotel. There's a velvet rope at the entrance, so there is no casual way to enter or exit. You will feel stately. You'll feel welcome. It seems like a serious place, all dark-hued oak furnishings of the old school. It's the kind of place you'd wear an ascot. But the cocktails are whimsical. That, in itself, seems like a perfect balance.
Even though this birdy has flown away for the season, visit Clive's. No ascots required.
Cocktail Correspondent: Weldon Gardner Hunter
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