#200: Mala Fama Rooftop

The Bar

Mala Fama Rooftop. 422 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 8/2/2024 @ 8pm.

The Drink

Paloma. Tequila, agave, lime, Squirt, tajin. $5.

I've mentioned several times before that one of the many fun things about doing this project is getting to explore many of the drinks I've been served in various different forms. Like all famous standard cocktails the paloma is a very simple drink in essence - tequila, grapefruit, and lime - but while I of course enjoy the more refined versions I've been served in other joints, even the more elemental version you see here can be just fine, especially for $5 (it would have been $9 were it not on special). Sort of in the way that a Coke from McDonald's can be better than the same Coke from a can, sometimes a paloma with well tequila in a plastic cup can hold its own with the more upscale paloma you'd get in a fancy glass further west on Sixth Street. 

This is the first time I've been served a cocktail with Squirt as an ingredient (a more upscale version might have used Jarritos). I had not thought about the grapefruit soda in years, and evidently it originated in Arizona in 1936 as a sort of Mountain Dew of the desert, a cocktail mixer that was basically a way to sell excess grapefruit. It's currently owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper, like so many other wayward brands that have been conglomerated over the years. You don't need me to tell you about such a ubiquitous childhood staple, but I did enjoy this anecdote about its inventor Edward Mehren:

During its 86-year reign as a pop star, Squirt briefly became the topic of political debate during two days of hearings by a U.S. Senate subcommittee on intermediate coinage in 1950. Mehren led a movement to split nickels by creating three new coins with values of 2 ½, 7 ½, and 12 ½ cents. He claimed these new fractional coins called “Bens,” “Links” and “Bits” would cut inflation by saving consumers more than $8 billion annually in overpriced goods since prices tended to jump by 5 cents. 

The coinage would also make buying a soda easier. At the time, Squirt cost a nickel from a vending machine, but this price wasn’t profitable. Mehren wanted to keep it a one-coin transaction, but doubling the cost by charging a dime would hurt sales. “Mehren thought the world would revolve around vending machines,” Dobbins says. “With the new coins, he could charge a reasonable 7 ½ cents.” The proposal failed, despite Mehren giving President Harry Truman a bowtie with hand-painted images of the new coins, which included thrifty Ben Franklin on the 2 ½-cent coin and Abraham Lincoln on the 7 ½-cent denomination.

"Three Bens for a soda" has strong vibes of Grandpa Simpson's "give me five bees for a quarter" onion belt story, but you have to love a guy who tried to get the country to adopt several entirely new denominations of currency just so that he could charge more for his soda. 

Elijah had a tamarindo lindo, a mezcal cocktail with tamarind, which was also quite good.

The Crew

Aaron, Elijah.

Notes

The third stop of the night. Mala Fama used to be Buckshot until about a year ago, when it was sold to Gabriela's Group, who own a few bars and restaurants around town, including the similarly-named Mala Vida down the street. When we stopped by it was by chance, in yet another instance of shoe leather reporting being the ultimate guide to Sixth Street. It's hard to tell from the picture, but Mala Fama has spruced up the interior from the Buckshot days a bit and moved away from the shot bar vibe by leaning in to the Latin dance club market, similar to Mala Vida. There are music posters all around, incredibly loud reggaeton music, and interior decor conducive to dancing, although we were the only folks there. We did not get to check out the titular rooftop to see if they had also changed it up since it was Buckshot, but our bartender assured us that it was still a highlight of the establishment. Everyone loves a rooftop bar, but we had more bars to head to, so with regret we departed.