#241: Hermanas

The Bar

Hermanas. 1100 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 9/2/2026 @ 5pm.

The Drink

Date Old-Fashioned. Casa Mexico añejo tequila, date + orange turbinado sugar, mole bitters. $18.

Buckle up, because there are a lot of drinks to come. 

Since I was the very first customer (more on that below), the discussion of "what is the drink that best represents the bar" was a little more fluid than usual, if you will pardon the pun. I was given two main options, and between them the bartender selected Old-Fashioned #21 as the first round. I will pull out the (semi) standard rating scale for this one:

• Base liquor: 6/10. Tequila, huh? This continues the proud tradition I've experienced ever since Café Josie's "Mezcal Manhattan" of bartenders using the name of a standard cocktail to make whatever the hell they want. By definition añejo is aged, and therefore has a softer flavor than other tequilas. While fine in itself, this is not actually what I want in an Old-Fashioned, so it left me wanting more. 
• Other ingredients: 9/10. Props on using the flavor of date, as its caramel sweetness perfectly complemented the turbinado sugar. 
• Preparation: 9/10. Nothing but skill here. 
• Value: 8/10: This is $13 in 2017 dollars, which is fine. 

The overall drink was good but so laid-back and subtle that I had a weird reaction to it: if I hadn't been told that it was an Old-Fashioned, I would have said "man, this is really drinkable, another round please!", but as an Old-Fashioned it just didn't have the "this is a stiff drink" factor that makes you order one in the first place. I have since learned that the date Old-Fashioned is a well-recognized riff on the classic, but I think it should rebrand and stand on its own. It turns out that expectations matter, and there can be a lot in a name!

Makrut + Arbol Daquiri. Union mezcal, makrut lime, arbol infused curaçao, agave. $15.

This runner-up for the "drink that best represents the bar" that I ordered for round 2 was my actual favorite drink, although as above it was also only very loosely related to its namesake. A standard daquiri is rum + lime + sugar, but if you swap out the rum for mezcal, the sugar for agave, and add just a hint of arbol spice in a splash of curaçao, then you get... something pretty great, actually. Makrut lime, also known as kaffir lime, is ubiquitous in Thai cuisine, and it gave the mezcal a delicious citrus tang. I was really tempted to order another of these but was persuaded to broaden my horizons for round 3. Amusingly, this was actually quite close to the drink that Ah Sing Den served me nearly 10 years ago, so perhaps some spirit of the spirits remains in the walls of this establishment. 

Mango + jasmine white negroni. Casa Mexico añejo tequila, Suze bitters, lillet, mango fruit + jasmine tea tincture. $16.

Yet again we have a highly enjoyable cocktail that is related to its textbook definition in name only. A negroni is gin + sweet vermouth + Campari liqueur, but just between us, let's say it was tequila, bitters, fortified wine, and jasmine tea - would it be so wrong to call it a negroni anyway? Assuming you said yes, you would be rewarded with an excellent drink. The refreshing jasmine tea flavor in the tincture really stood out; it reminded me of Austin Beerworks' delicious Eastern Philosophy specialty beer that they need to make more of. 

It was while drinking this "negroni" that my discussions with the bartender centered on the role of creativity in the cocktail crafting process. I mentioned that I had really enjoyed The Treasury's use of carrot juice in their cocktails, and she mentioned that she had a bunch of cabbage, so we started riffing on how one might use it as an ingredient, whether fresh, boiled, fermented, extracted, etc. So if you show up here in a few weeks and there's some bizarre sauerkraut or kimchi cocktail on the menu, I will accept partial responsibility.

Chang Classic lager. $7.

After 3 rounds of cocktails I needed a cooldown drink. Fitting neatly into the Southeast Asian part of the restaurant's theme, Chang, which means "elephant" in Thai, is evidently legendary for its "Changovers" if you get the volatile domestic version in Thailand itself, but the export beer you see above is a tame and reasonable 5% ABV. Thailand's domestic economic landscape is quite colorful in part due to its unique situation as the only Southeast Asian nation to never be colonized, and so there is apparently a tale behind Chang's battle for market share with rivals Singha and Leo, but as that is obscure to an oblivious American drinker like myself, I thought it was a solid malty lager regardless of provenance. 

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Replacing the suddenly departed OKO, which in turn replaced Ah Sing Den, Hermanas (Spanish for "sisters", it has several more personal meanings for the restaurant) is brand new - so new, in fact, that with this stop I achieved a rare and singular honor: I was their very first customer! I have never gotten in on the ground floor of a venue like this before, which is why there are so many drinks up above. Hermanas is a high-end Thai/Mexican fusion restaurant that has an interesting lineage, and represents another step forward in the ongoing upscale restaurant redefinition of East Sixth even as the understated interior (basically the polar opposite of the opium den theme of Ah Sing Den) made it appear to have been here for quite some time. I didn't eat here, but as I was drinking my way through their cocktail menu the bartender and I discussed how neighborhoods grow and change and what that meant for East Sixth as distinct from Dirty or West Sixth. Cultural districts don't just fall from the sky, they are gradually accreted and refined through the same creative destruction processes that govern other economic sectors, and little by little this stretch of Sixth Street east of I-35 is becoming ever more noteworthy for its drinking and dining scene. As you can tell by how unique and creative their drinks were (and their food looked too), there is still plenty of room for new ideas in Austin, and Hermanas is a welcome part of the ongoing story.

#239: Driskill Bar (again)

The Bar

Driskill Bar. 604 Brazos St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 8/15/2026 @ 11pm.

The Drink

Driskill Old-Fashioned. High West bourbon, Rittenhouse rye, demerara, Angostura bitters. $18.

This Old-Fashioned is exactly the same as the Old-Fashioned that The Victorian downstairs serves, even down to the use of both bourbon and rye, with the sole detectable exception of having a single giant ice cube instead of multiple smaller ones. I will be honest that I don't think that the ice cube form factor makes a huge difference taste-wise, but I will be even more honest that myself and my companions were quite a few rounds deep at this point, so to do this cocktail proper justice I had to come back here again a week later to give it a proper tasting. The things I do for my audience! My perhaps excessively well-researched conclusion is that this gets exactly the same 9/10 as The Victorian's version. Even if Old-Fashioned #20 is technically the same as #19, it is well worth the trip up the stairs.

The Crew

Aaron, randos.

Notes

The previous iteration of the Driskill's bar was one of my most-anticipated stops when I first began this project nearly a decade ago, and it had remained one of my downtown favorites even several hundred bars later, so when it reopened in May after a year-long renovation project under new management (the ubiquitous MML Hospitality), I had to stop back by to make sure it was still good. You can read actual journalism for more details on the full scope of the renovations, but rest assured that they did a great job, and it is still an incredible vibe, perhaps even be better than it was before. The main differences from a bar patron perspective are that the bar is closer to the front, there is a bit less lounge seating due to increased dining space, there is some snazzy new art on the walls, and the new carpet is more vibrant than the old, which all means that the overall sense of being in a seriously impressive and welcoming environment remains fully intact.

That also means that this is a great place to take newcomers. Next to me in the photo are two fellow bar patrons I'd met at Happy Bar and invited along to this stop since they were relatively new to the city. One of the things that people who aren't from here mention over and over again whenever I have a discussion about Austin with them is what a surprisingly friendly city it is, and evidently I fully embody that stereotype, since this is not the first time on this project that I've made friends and invited them along on my bar-hopping, and (as you might be able to tell from the picture) it is always a sign that I am having a good time. Maybe too much of a good time, as even though we were many rounds in, once we had finished our drinks here we tried to make another bar our third stop, promptly got separated, and I never saw them again. Oh well, it was a blast, and they were suitably impressed by the Driskill, which will always be one of my top recommendations to anyone looking to have a great cocktail in a great setting, whether a veteran Austinite local, a recent Austinite newcomer, or a temporary Austinite tourist. 

#238: Happy Bar

The Bar

Happy Bar. 701 W Sixth St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 8/15/2026 @ 7pm.

The Drink

She's From Texas. Western Sons cucumber vodka, Deep Eddy lemon vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, Sprite, cucumber, lime, Tajín. $14.

Good gracious, that glass is curvaceous. Sorry, wrong song. Named after the hook from Ella Langley's megahit song of the summer Choosin' Texas, this cocktail is essentially a complicated vodka soda - a delicious one, thanks to the cucumber and my beloved Deep Eddy lemon vodka, the best vodka - served in an amusing custom glass. Forget settling for a copper mug like a Moscow Mule, why not make your drink stand out by serving it in a fertility idol? Its resemblance to a religious icon like the famous Venus of Willendorf statues prompted some joking discussion on what if us patrons were at a post-apocalyptic Fallout-type bar and these glasses were used as chalices to serve whatever the future equivalent of Eucharist sacramental wine would be, or what if Indiana Jones had picked this as the Holy Grail in The Last Crusade, etc. Like all good riff sessions, maybe you had to be there; plenty of folks would just see them as mildly tacky/tasteless/touristy novelty items, but they made for a fun 5 minute conversation piece, and that's more than you can ask for from most cocktail glasses. Strongly recommended if you own a replica of the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Happy Bar had only been open for a few weeks when I visited. The bartender was not sure exactly what happened to Space Fox, the previous occupant of this building, and did not have much to say about the ownership either, so your guess is as good as mine about what caused this transition; I am not even sure it is still owned by Gold Fox Hospitality like its predecessors Space Fox and WTF were. The layout is basically the same as Space Fox, with the primary difference in décor being a determined application of the smiling happy face motif all over the place. Something that did strike me on this visit is that while having the bar facing away from the street is good for people walking by, who can easily see the screens and the patrons, we inside the bar have to turn around in case anything notable comes along our way. It was mainly just bachelorette party crawlers, which prompted some good discussion between myself and my barstool neighbors, who were fairly new to town, about the differences between how tourists and locals view Sixth Street, since there is a well-known tradeoff between bars whose strategy is to churn through price-insensitive visitors who will never return and bars which depend on repeat patronage from price-conscious locals. The conversation was good enough that I sat drinking with them for four hours, and eventually invited them along to the Driskill, the next stop of the night, and the rare example of a bar that can cater to both visitors and locals at the same time without compromising on quality. 

#237: Lefty's Day & Night

The Bar

Lefty's Day & Night. 1813 C E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 7/31/2026 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

Green Heat. Poblano-infused blanco tequila, mezcal, pineapple, agave, salt, lime. $14.

As is so often the case these days, the official best drink did not come first, as while I was waiting for my friends I asked for the drink that SECOND-best represented the bar, and then circled back to the best drink on the second round. I did prefer this mezcal-drenched take on a margarita to the runner up on account of the well-balanced flavors; it's hard to go wrong with pineapple, especially with mezcal in the equation needing a balance. I also enjoyed the spice level, although like all spicy drinks it's best taken in moderation; I would not want to go more than a few rounds with these, particularly with heat like we've been having - despite not having so many triple digit days locally as previous years, nationally this has been the hottest July ever recorded. I should probably learn to love frozen drinks more. 

Lychee Lemonade. Ford's gin, lychee, lemon, elderflower. $14.

My verbatim reaction to this variant on a Bee's Knees was "Man, that is a potent potable", as it was very strong initially and then mellowed out, which maybe meant I should have given it a stir or two first. If you by chance have never had lychee before, it's a Southeast Asian plant that has the distinction of being domesticated multiple times, and it has an interesting sweet/tart/floral flavor that could probably go in basically any cocktail without seeming too out of place. Despite its strength, a few rounds of these would most likely go down more easily than a few rounds of the Green Heat due to the lack of spice. Refreshment with strength.

The Crew

Ishani, Elijah, Aaron.

Notes

Lefty's is another fun edge case of a "new" bar that is really an existing bar which has rebranded under mostly the same name, much like Thirsty Nickel changed to Thirsty's or Mooseknuckle became Moose Bar, etc. To get some terrible jokes out of the way, the difference here is hardly night and day, nor does it come out of left field; instead the former Brick Bar has undergone a fairly subdued transformation to Day & Night thanks to the folks from Emmer & Rye, quietly shedding its Cajun/Caribbean aspects in favor of a less-specific neighborhood event space vibe. You'd be forgiven for hardly noticing the changeup, however - pretty much everything aside from the menu is exactly the same as it was before, down to the weird wolf mural behind us in the photo above. However, the menu change is evidently a big hit, specifically their chicken caesar wrap, although we sadly did not partake. If they ever decide or are forced to change concept again, I hope they take a page from Nickel City's delightful yearly Moe's Tavern cosplay and re-emerge as the Leftorium. In the meantime, we found the vibe just as fun as advertised, providing us plenty of opportunity to sit and discuss the exciting FIFA privatization debacle (hence my shirt) over a steadily increasing number of rounds, which is a sure sign of a successful bar in my eyes.

#236: Mayfair

The Bar

Mayfair. 501 W 6th St Ste. 300, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 6/20/2026 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Mayfair frozen. Frozen piña colada. $10.

Yes, a frozen drink, although I didn't begrudge the recommendation given how incredibly hot it has been lately - too hot. There wasn't anything particularly notable about this frozen drink, which was made with "well everything" according to the bartender, but that was fine with me. I don't really have strong feelings about piña coladas one way or the other, except that I always get that famous adultery song, which apparently was originally about Humphrey Bogart, stuck in my head every time they're mentioned. My one complaint is that I was still a little hungover from the previous night's marathon bar crawl, and the resulting intermittent brain freeze I got did not help it one bit, but obviously I have no one to blame for that but myself. 

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Second time's the charm. I had tried to get in here last night as my fifth (!) and final stop, but there was some sort of ticketed event and they wouldn't let me in, unlike at RIO back in 2017 where I was able to sort of wander in undetected. It's probably for the best, as whatever was going on there was most likely not for the likes of me, since at night Mayfair caters to a high-end crowd expecting NYC/Miami/Las Vegas club vibes. It's in the same complex and owned by the same folks (Nova Hospitality) as TenTen and Bull & Bowl, who also run Devil May Care across the street. As if there wasn't already enough going on at this address there is also Skybox Lounge one floor above, but it's an event venue and therefore not eligible for this project. Mayfair was originally planned back in 2018 but only opened four years ago, which makes it part of the COVID rebound demographic; the bar equivalent of the baby boom, which the bartender and I spent a good chunk of time discussing. As you can see I was the only patron, which gave him and I plenty of time to chat about Sixth Street while simultaneously watching Germany vs Ivory Coast. He gave me good tidings: next door neighbor Unbarlievable, who seriously recommended me 96oz of Moscow Mule, had recently closed. I try not to gloat at the misfortune of others, but it's hard to mourn such malice. Hopefully Mayfair, with its clear conscience, will last a good deal longer. 

#235: Benny's Room

The Bar

Benny's Room. 720 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 6/19/2026 @ 10:30pm.

The Drink

Espresso martini. New Amsterdam vodka, cold brew coffee, Frangelico hazelnut liqueur, cream, honey. $15.

As I was typing up this post I was wondering how this was only the fourth espresso martini I've catalogued so far, but I remembered that a good chunk of the rest have been second/third drinks and therefore not "official" for the purposes of this blog. By now you should be familiar with the three basic ingredients of an espresso martini:

1. Vodka.
2. Coffee.
3. A ton of sugar + maybe some other stuff.

It's notable that while the vodka vs gin battle still rages to this day among traditionalist martini drinkers who insist upon gin, when it comes to espresso martinis the battle has been decisively won the other way by the vodka partisans (though I did appreciate when Marfa Lights and Roe Bucks used mezcal and peanut butter tequila, respectively, as their base liquors). This makes perfect sense, because whereas the gin botanicals would be completely overwhelmed by the coffee and sugar, flavorless vodka slides in perfectly unobtrusively behind all that. Benny's Room did wisely to choose New Amsterdam vodka for that role, as I have been fond of it for many years. I don't know that there's anything special about their cold brew coffee, but it did the job caffeine-wise, which was appreciated. 

Where the Benny's Room rendition of the espresso martini distinguishes itself is in the third leg of the ingredient tripod with its use of not only cream, and not only honey, but also Frangelico, an absolutely delicious old Italian hazelnut liqueur. I have made a lot of joking references to how espresso martinis have a tendency to turn into milkshakes, since if the liquor part is essentially fixed, and there's only so much you can do with coffee part, most of your creativity budget is being spent in the sweet part. It's like if that infamous silt-sand-clay threefold chart had only one of the types vary, leaving you lost in loam land. Well, this version plants you firmly in the milkshake sector, and you know what - the milkshake sector is actually pretty great. This is the best espresso martini I have had so far. 

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

My fourth stop of the night. I'd been sitting on this place for a while because I wasn't sure if it technically qualified as its own independent venue, but after a bartender at the main Green Light Social bar assured me that a different name would appear on my receipt, I was sold, and walked right in. Benny's (not Bennie's) Room is a side project of Green Light Social that they use as both a venue for events as well as a lure for customers who want something different from downstairs, with either a more speakeasy-like atmosphere inside or a rooftop view outside. It's not particularly hidden (just go upstairs and head leftward/northeast), so assuming that there's available seating you can just go walk in like I did. I confess that I don't have a lot to say about this place other than that it fulfills every requirement you could ask for from a nicer cocktail bar. Sometimes it's okay to just quietly excel in your chosen field, and that's exactly what this place does. I was very strongly tempted to stay for another round, but I had dreams (sadly dashed) of checking out Mayfair, so I departed. 

#234: The Lobby Social Club

The Bar

The Lobby Social Club. 710 B W 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 6/19/2026 @ 10pm.

The Drink

La Paloma. Tequila, triple sec, agave, grapefruit, Tajín. $15.

Drinks in a dance club tend to be either basic yet functional, because you need just something to drink, or flashy and expensive, because you're trying to impress someone. This paloma was in the former category, although it was better than functional. This was the fifth paloma I've been served and I think it was among the best even though I don't know what well tequila they used. Part of that might have been presentation, as it came in a nice-looking glass rather than the plastic cup you sometimes get at clubs, but the other part was that the bartender was preparing it with skill even as I was annoying her with my spiel and questions about the bar. Dance clubs can be dehumanizing places to grab a drink, but not here, even though I had to drink it standing right up against the bar like a weirdo because while I was chatting with the bartender, immediately after I took my first sip about a million people descended upon the dance floor behind me and there was nowhere else to go. It all worked out though.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

My third stop of the night. When I was being waved in up the stairs by the doorman, my Simpsons-addled brain had the overwhelming urge to tell him "I have to go to ze lobby", but thankfully I was able to suppress it. Ze Lobby opened about a month ago, replacing The Ranch, which closed at some point within the last year. I have to say that in my opinion The Lobby looks way cooler than The Ranch was, no shade on the former occupant. The homey roadhouse interior has been replaced wholesale with a glittery infrared laser disco setting that impressed even a non-dance club-going schlub like me, and even though I still had more stops planned I was tempted to stay and just soak up the vibe/music. I was also impressed with the crowd; having just come from the essentially empty Medusa a block away, the throng of patrons made for quite a contrast. But the thing that I was perhaps most impressed with was the music, which was quite good EDM (props to the DJ), but even more importantly was at an actually reasonable volume that was just fine to listen to without being blasted into submission. In this modern era of ubiquitous painfully loud music, any venue that respects its patrons by not giving them permanent hearing damage deserves praise. 

#232: The Treasury

The Bar

The Treasury. 1012 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 6/19/2026 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

From Monument to Masses. St. George Valley gin, Yebiga "Bela" plum brandy, Comoz blanc vermouth, China-China Amer. $15.

The Treasury takes the exploration part of craft cocktails really seriously, as both this cocktail and the other I tried had unique ingredients I'd never seen before but really enjoyed. The name is a reference to spreading the gospel of Monument Valley (which the owner is evidently a big fan of), but I am not quite sure what cocktail genre this falls in - the combination of gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari/another Italian liqueur would make it a negroni, but the plum brandy adds a really different spin on it, and all of the other ingredients have some sort of citrusy overtones, including the gin. The bartenders are big fans of the Balkan plum brandy, also known as rakija; this was the unaged version. The Amer, which dates back to 1875, was a solid addition; as you can tell by the name, it can play the role of amaro or vermouth in a cocktail. I have had the Comoz vermouth before at Swedish Hill and liked it. Overall this was just a really well-made cocktail with multiple ingredients that would each be great in other cocktails. 

A fun behind-the-scenes detail is that the drink picture above is actually of my second round; I was so absorbed by my conversation that I totally messed up the picture, and was therefore forced to order it again so I could get a clean snap of it. I don't like to dwell on just how much suffering I endure on this journey for you, the loyal reader, but sometimes I am practically forced to order multiple cocktails in order to provide the level of service that you deserve. 

What's Up, Doc? San Cosme mezcal, Primo Aperitivo, pineapple gomme syrup, carrot juice, lemon. $15.

I liked the first drink but loved the second. In my opinion drinks like this single-handedly justify the existence of the entire craft cocktail scene/movement/wave, as the idea of using carrot in a cocktail would never have occurred to me but fully converted me once I tried it. Like many great ideas it was based on an inventory problem: one of the bartenders had a bunch of carrots lying around and - just like in the famous anecdote of the Moscow Mule being designed to unload a ginger beer surplus - decided to see what could be done with the excess root vegetable. The result is a triumph; even its name is both a fun reference to Bugs Bunny, arguably the greatest cartoon character of all time, as well as the fact that San Cosme is the patron saint of doctors. San Cosme is evidently more of a mixing mezcal than a sipping mezcal, and that works well here when poured alongside the citrusy Primo Aperitivo, which is also from Mexico. Gomme is just syrup with a thickener in it, so when the pineapple is combined with the lemon, the carrot juice, and everything else, the resulting cocktail was so good that I immediately wondered why you don't see carrot more often. The answer: carrot juice doesn't stay fresh for very long, so it's usually not worth it to keep it around. If only all inventory problems had a solution as drinkable as this one.

The brilliance of carrot juice as a cocktail ingredient in conjunction with the sight of a bottle of Malört on the shelf sparked a lengthy discussion about how Austin needs its own prank liquor equivalent to Malört based on some local flavor or ingredient of our own. We have the Indian Paintbrush, invented at Garage Bar, as our "official" city cocktail, but that's way too pleasant for our purposes. Malört's horrible taste draws deeply on old European folkways, but Austin is too new for us to have thought up our own terrible local distilled disaster (I have had menthol tobacco-flavored vodka, but that's imported), so the best we could come up with was to make our hypothetical gag spirit savory, reminiscent of breakfast tacos somehow. Upon further reflection, I think a good candidate would be a chorizo liqueur:

• Even the sound of that is disgusting, which is just what we're after.
• At least one person has made a chorizo negroni and not died instantly, so there is precedent.
• Filipino cuisine has not one but two types of pork sausage - Chorizo de Cebu and Chorizo de Macao - made with anise, which strengthens the Malört connection.

I'm not directly asking someone to make this horrific meat liqueur nightmare come to life, like Prankenstein's monster, but wouldn't it be fun if it did exist?

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

Somehow I had not noticed that Hen House had closed - maybe because the paint job on The Treasury when the door to the outside is closed camouflages it seamlessly with the rest of Shangri-La - but close it did after COVID, departing for a new life on Fourth Street back in 2021. This sad closure gave Shangri-La the opportunity to stealthily open up a more intimate high-end cocktail bar adjacent to their existing more laid-back dive bar. They call it a speakeasy, but it only sort of is - though the most common way to get in is indeed to follow a circuitous and non-obvious path through the bar and outdoors to travel up and down flights of stairs and then wait to be buzzed into the cocktail chamber, another way is simply to walk in whenever they have the outside door open during happy hour. 

Through some trick of interior design, the space itself somehow seems much smaller and more intimate than when it was Hen House. Perhaps it was the treasury/bank vault theme (not like a Fallout vault), but I felt securely ensconced at my front seat bar perch in a comforting way that I didn't at Hen House. One really cool thing they did that stood out was that on their menu they have recommendations for other cocktail bars to go to if you liked the vibe here. I have never seen a bar advertise other bars on their menu like that, but I really respect that attitude of friendly competition and mutual support for fellow establishments. That carried over to the bartenders too, who were all very well-connected and happy to be a part of Sixth Street. I felt like I could have stayed here and drank for the whole night, but I had places to be. This is a great place to drink, and you can take that to the bank!

#230: Campo

The Bar

Campo. 1630 E 6th St #100, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 4/10/2026 @ 5:30pm.

The Drink

Spicy watermelon mint margarita. Carabuena tequila, watermelon, mint, chili. $16 ($10 during happy hour).

I've had watermelon margaritas before, but this one was easily the most citrullic yet, as it included a chunk of actual watermelon in it, thus putting the false promises of the other, lesser renditions of this humble classic that I've been drinking all these years into sudden stark relief. What a fool I'd been! An additional element in favor of this rendition is that the Carabuena tequila it uses is from Austin. I'd first encountered Carabuena when doing my research after visiting Willow Country down on West Sixth; after finally trying it, I think it makes an excellent base for the cocktail. I snagged this really fresh-tasting drink at the $10 happy hour price and it was a fantastic bargain.

Mezcalita maracuya. 400 Conejos mezcal, passionfruit, orange, agave, chili. $16.

This was the drink that second-best represented the bar, as I put it when I requested a second round. Campo does a lot of in-house juicing and making of agua frescas, and so I got another really fresh and flavorful cocktail. A mezcalita is just a margarita with mezcal in it, and maracuya is Spanish for passionfruit, so this drink is very true to its name. Speaking of, the name of the mezcal, which over-literally translates to "400 rabbits" (hence the name of the Alamo Drafthouse's specialty bar down south), is actually a translation of "centzon totochtin", the Aztec term for being really drunk: think of "drunk as 400 rabbits" as saying "3 sheets to the wind" in Nahuatl. By a funny numerical coincidence, the French also have a "400" phrase: "faire les quatre cents coups" figuratively means "to raise hell, to live a wild life", but when François Truffaut used it as the (perfectly apt) title for his debut film, it was bafflingly calqued by the studio as "The 400 Blows", which doesn't mean anything at all in English. What gives? What were they thinking?

In conclusion, I liked this cocktail as well. If the third beer is the philosopher's beer, the second must be the linguist's.

The Crew

Aaron.

Notes

About a month ago Campo ("countryside, field" in Spanish) moved into the empty space left by Recreation's closure a few months back. None of the staff were quite sure what had happened to Recreation, but from what I can piece together, it seems like when Recreation's sister restaurant Ma'Coco's lease ran out on Comal a few blocks away, the owners tried to consolidate the concepts at Recreation, and just couldn't make it work out. RIP. Instead of Recreation's San Diego cuisine specialization, Campo's an upscale interior Mexican sort of place. The nice clean decor reinforces this impression; you can't really tell from the photo above, but everything is very neat and Instagrammable, which my bartender and I spent some time discussing. As I keep saying, it's really tough to open a cheap dive on Sixth Street these days, so the economics of influencer-friendly establishments, both in looks and menus, get more and more attractive to prospective bar owners who are trying to battle any number of economic headwinds these days, both tariffs on the national level as well as the related falling alcohol sales on the local level. 

As always, this is unfortunate for those of us who are attempting to recapture our lost memories of $1 Lone Stars and $3 wells, but what are you going to do. Interestingly, restaurant meals have gotten nearly 50% more expensive since 2017 versus only a 33% increase for drinks at a bar, so rather than complaining about how bougie cocktails have gotten, we should be directing our ire at more upscale menus and mourning cheap wing specials instead. But it's missing the point to spend too much time grumbling at how much appetizers are these days, and you won't hear (too much) grumbling from me on that point - bars aren't charities, and the worst bar of all is the one with the CLOSED sign on it. Instead I will say that you should go here if you're looking for a slightly more casual, less dressed-up companion to Mexta at Sixth and Congress.

#229: The Victorian

The Bar

The Victorian. 604 Brazos St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 3/20/2026 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Old-Fashioned. High West bourbon, Rittenhouse rye, demerara, Angostura bitters. $18.

Old-Fashioned #19! I have not been very consistent about using my Old-Fashioned rating system, but this one was so good I feel the need to bring it back, especially given the novelty of the first item:

• Base liquor: 9/10. Can't decide between a bourbon and a rye? Por qué no los dos? This is the first Old-Fashioned I've gotten which has split the difference on the single most existential question faced by an Old-Fashioned, and I loved it. It reminded me of the version I got at Via 313, which used a spicier bourbon that approximated a rye and was therefore also sort of halfway between the two varieties. Rittenhouse is one of the very few bottled in bond ryes, on the sweeter side anyway, and while the High West bourbon does not seem to be quite as acclaimed I still enjoyed it. Sometimes mixing liquors muddles a drink, but other times it improves it (this is the entire reason whiskey is blended in the first place), and this was one of those times. New law: all variants of an Old-Fashioned you can conceive of not only could exist somewhere out there but actually do, waiting to be discovered and drank. 
• Other ingredients: 9/10. Ever since I drank an Old-Fashioned with maple syrup instead of plain old sugar I feel like I can't go back, but the caramel notes of demerara are almost as good as waffle sauce. The luxardo cherry was top notch as always; an unheralded but essential ingredient. I don't know if I actually prefer multiple small ice cubes versus one big one, but these were just fine with me. 
• Preparation: 9/10. The bartender didn't actually make this in front of me due to it being the start of the evening rush, so you could argue that a 9 is too high, but her service (and the resulting cocktail) was so good that I would be amiss if I didn't give her high marks. 
• Value: 9/10: $18 in 2026 money is a bit over $13 in 2017 money, and I would have been perfectly willing to pay that for this cocktail back then. 

Overall it was just as good as you'd hope from a bar like this. I feel lucky that I live in a city with such good Old-Fashioneds everywhere I go. The bartender had given me a few options when I gave her the spiel, so I couldn't stop at just one cocktail....

Black Manhattan. Rittenhouse rye, nocino walnut digestivo, sweet vermouth. $20.

Yup, it's another multi-drink recommendation post. I have mentioned several times how one of the most fun parts of this whole Sixth Street project is getting to try new things, and I never tire of discovering new liqueurs specifically, so the nocino walnut liqueur that accompanied the rye in this version of a Manhattan was a real treat. I am not generally a fan of sweet vermouth (I once did some "Manhattan science" in college to determine the best combination of vermouths and whiskeys, and as far as I can remember I preferred the dry vermouths), but the way it balanced out the nut/herb flavor of the nocino really took the drink to the next level. I didn't ask which specific brand of nocino or sweet vermouth they used, but the next time I make one at home I will follow their lead. 

The Layover. High West double rye, Bénédictine, Aperol, vanilla. $20.

Okay, last one. This one actually came with the highest personal recommendation from the bartender, as it was designed by an acquaintance of hers. Kudos to the designer, because my verdict was that it was excellent. This surely can't be the very first time I've had a cocktail with Bénédictine in it, but I cannot locate a precedent, so I will have to describe it anew: imagine a liqueur almost as herbal as chartreuse, but sweeter and spicier. It isn't a perfect substitute for chartreuse, but since those damn monks are still not increasing production to meet demand, there might be scenarios where you could swap it in for its scarcer, more famous cousin. I found it to be the perfect accent to the double rye along with the Aperol and vanilla (a criminally underused cocktail ingredient), and I actually don't know if chartreuse would have been better. Props to the inventor of this cocktail, whoever she is, because it was delicious.

We switched to martinis and eventually beer, which we also enjoyed, but I didn't take pictures of them.

The Crew

Aaron, Ishani, Elijah.

Notes

I was really looking forward to The Victorian, and I am pleased to report that it did not disappoint in the slightest; the latest bar in the Driskill is just as great as its predecessors. They have been open since October, which coincides with the reconstruction of the original bar as part of a general renovation/overhaul undertaken by MML, everyone's favorite local hospitality management corporation. The space currently occupied by The Victorian has been a surprisingly diverse number of things over the 140 years that the Driskill has been around: a bank, a nightclub, and most interestingly to me, a devoted Robert Caro reader, the headquarters of LBJ's radio station KTBC, which eventually became our local Fox 7 TV station. You would never know it had such a long and varied history from the decor, which makes it look like it's always been a really nice cocktail lounge. They have ample seating downstairs, but even more upstairs, which was really convenient for when the band you can see behind us started playing. They even have great food as well; we had a variety of plates as we got steadily drunker from their superb cocktails, and enjoyed all of them. Live music, great drinks, fun vibes - I have no hesitation whatsoever about recommending The Victorian as one of the best new cocktail bars around, even though it feels like it's always been there.

#227: Bluff's

The Bar

Bluff's. 1107 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 2/27/2026 @ 9pm.

The Drink

Jalapeño business. Tequila, triple sec, jalapeño lime, tajín. $10.

When I asked the bartender for his recommendation, he initially tried to beg off because this was in the very first hour of his very first shift here. Well, too bad! I'm on a quest here, man! In truth, he did just fine, as the spicy margarita he eventually made me was just fine. His compatriot behind the bar lent a hand, both conceptually - he was the beverage director - and in the actual pouring. I confess that I find myself somewhat at a loss for something interesting to say about this drink, given how solid it was; despite being the single most popular cocktail in America, margaritas are not generally a drink that people rhapsodize over. No matter: it was strong, tasty, and cheap, and I would recommend it unhesitatingly. We also had a round of espresso martinis that were delicious, and I would recommend those as well.

The Crew

Aaron, Carter, Ishani, Elijah.

Notes

Bird's Barbershop, the not-really-a-bar that snuck on this list thanks to the salesmanship of its staff, has moved a few blocks the street, its old location replaced as of January by Bluff's. Frustratingly, I couldn't learn much about this bar's story since the owners were not present and all of the staff were brand new. There's basically nothing about it online, not even a blurb from the normally extremely useful Eater Austin, aside from a surprisingly informative influencer video. I did learn that this is not a chain or branch location, and I am always heartened to see another bar started from passion rather than from pecuniary impulses alone. Otherwise this seemed like a fairly typical Dirty Sixth bar despite being on East Sixth; I am not sure if this portends any cultural shift of the "grungy/touristic" vibe eastwards into the "hipper/laidback" zone, but it was perfectly pleasant while we were there. Some of us needed a snack, so after a long conversation with a fellow patron about the woeful history of the Jets, we decided to get a round of pondering Iron Whips (the best frozen cocktail in the game) and some Jewboy sliders at Violet Crown next door before tackling Buckshot, the third and final official stop of the night. 

#226: Max's Sushi

The Bar

Max's Sushi. 2121 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 2/27/2026 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Hatozaki. Hatozaki small batch whiskey. $10.75.

I practically had to pull the bartender's teeth to get him to recommend me a drink - "We don't do dealer's choice, we do customer's choice" were his exact words - but after much haggling and some very leading questions about what would be appropriate to drink with sushi, eventually I got my whiskey. I don't really have an appropriate category for this drink: Hatozaki is sipping whiskey, so this isn't a shot, but as straight whiskey, it feels weird calling it a full-fledged cocktail. Well, it came in a rocks glass (mainly because they didn't have anything else to serve it in), so a cocktail it is! Hatozaki has gotten mixed reviews, for being overpriced, on the light side, or simply being unremarkable; I liked it, even though I agree with the comments that it wasn't really anything special and I wouldn't recommend it over other Japanese whiskeys if you had to pick one bottle in a liquor store. We also had a few rounds of Bushido and Snow Monkey sake; I do actually recommend the Bushido, which was surprisingly good for canned sake.

The Crew

Ishani, Elijah, Aaron.

Notes

The first stop of the night was the old Hi Hat location. I really liked Hi Hat, a really distinctive restaurant/live venue/craft beer joint that felt like a neighborhood institution, and I was bummed that it closed in summer 2024 when they couldn't recover from the lengthy and expensive repairs the space required after suffering damage from our various recent winter storms. Max's has been in the space for about five months after relocating from their old location up north, but they still seem a bit unsettled. Half a year is a long-time to still be experiencing opening-night jitters, but almost every aspect of the experience felt slightly discombobulated to a degree - the lengthy drink-ordering process described above, the incomplete glassware, the parade of confused DoorDashers wandering in trying to pick up their orders from the bar kitchen, the abandoned half-installed sake taps next to the bar... Even the music required some assistance from me, but that turned out to be for the better, as I am happy to report that I have now gotten Skee-Lo's immortal 1995 hit I Wish played at not one but two different Sixth Street bars. 

I would be remiss for not discussing the food here in more detail; despite what I said above about this bar still seeming in shakedown mode, their food is an excellent deal. They have big chicken katsu fingers, delicious garlic ramen plates, hefty sushi rolls, and each item is only like $5. We were sharing plates and left full for what felt like no money. Highly recommended, especially if you are eating because you need a buffer against the next round of drinks, which we were...

#225: Poeta

The Bar

Poeta. 1108 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 2/14/2026 @ 2:30pm.

The Drink

Golden Hour. Gin, golden falernum, ginger, rosemary, lemon. $15.

Great cocktail, despite it not having anything to do with any of the numerous other cocktails of the same name: examples 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hey, sometimes you come up with a good drink, a name comes to you, and you roll with it, prior art be damned; if it's not one of the very few trademarked cocktails, you can basically mix up whatever you want. This laissez-faire attitude extended to all phases of the drink-ordering process, as the hostess who sat us initially recommended a paper plane, a modern classic invented by none other than Sasha Petraske himself, but before that order made it to the bar our server called an audible and recommended this house specialty instead. I was glad he did, since this was a nice lemony, herbaceous, very drinkable afternoon cocktail. It was sweeter than you'd expect given the ingredient list; simple syrup wasn't listed, but this tasted almost like straight Deep Eddy lemon vodka, which is not a criticism since I love that stuff. Worthy of a second round, for sure, but given how rainy it was, I switched to a nice warm carajillo instead, which was also quite good.

The Crew

Elijah, Ishani, Aaron, Bobby.

Notes

Poeta is the newest occupant of the East Austin Hotel. You may recall that this hotel opened in 2019 with 3 different bars residing within: Sixth & Waller, Pool Bar, and The Upside. The ownership then decided to economize, and, reusing one of their other bar concepts, replaced them with a single bar: Second Bar + Kitchen. Now another bar has moved in: Poeta. The reason it's not called Third Bar or something similar is not only because Second Bar is still hanging around, operating in this space on weekdays and swapping out to Poeta for dinners and on weekends, but also because Poeta predates the hotel, having taken up residence in a few other spots around east Austin before finding its latest footing here on Sixth Street. I'd never been to its previous incarnations, but it's an upscale Italian place that has consistently gotten rave reviews no matter its mailing address. Bobby and I had just eaten so we didn't order anything, but Elijah and Ishani got mortadella and raved about it. I have written before about how the era of hotels playing a pivotal role in the invention of various dishes and drinks has ended; that may be true, but hotel restaurants and bars are still pleasant places to stop in even if you're not staying there.