First-name basis: How At the Drive-in Bingo, by Ada Street head bartender Scott Koehl, got its weird name.
At the Drive-in Bingo ($12): apple brandy, grapefruit juice, old fashioned bitters, bourbon maple syrup, mint garnish
Scott Koehl, Ada Street
1664 N. Ada St. 773-697-7069
If apple and maple syrup don’t say fall, how about a little rendezvous At the Drive-in Bingo? If you’re raising an eyebrow, that’s the name of one of Ada Street head bartender Scott Koehl’s fall cocktails. It’s a bright, refreshing sip with apple undertones and a little fall spice, mixing apple brandy, grapefruit juice, old fashioned bitters and pure bourbon maple syrup. He said it was an opportunity to use two top-of-the-line ingredients. The apple brandy by Laird’s sets the bar for the spirit in the U.S., and the maple syrup—aged in 20-year-old bourbon barrels—is super thick with notes of vanilla and char, he said. OK, we get the apple-maple combo, but what’s the deal with the name? Here’s the scoop:
“Every one of our cocktails’ names, we name after songs. Most often, it’s by some of our favorite artists. I like to try to relate the song to the season as well. [‘Friday Night] at the Drive-in Bingo’ is a song by Jens Lekman, who is a Swedish [pop] music singer, is one of our favorites we listen to during pre-shifts all the time. I had this idea for a cocktail with maple syrup and brandy … and thought At the Drive-in Bingo was cool because I think of drive-in theaters as a really fun fall seasonal thing to do, like sitting in a warm car and watching the movie when it’s chilly out. Drive-in bingos are something that started to get really popular in Sweden about 10 years ago, and people pull their cars up to a screen and play bingo for hours. … [Lekman] does painfully pretty songs. I liked the vibe of ‘At the Drive-in Bingo’—it sounds super fun and jovial.” –Scott Koehl
America, we’re doing it wrong, but this cocktail makes up for it.
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