Milwaukee food news: The Pharmacy bar introduces line for home bartenders
The Pharmacy bar is selling its own bitters, infused spirits
Attention, cocktail lovers: The Pharmacy bar in Crossroads Collective food hall has created its own line of bitters, tinctures and flavored spirits for mixing cocktails at home.
The Pharmacy — so named because it stands at the former site of Oriental Drugs, 2238 N. Farwell Ave. — is selling its house tinctures and bitters for $10 each and infused spirits for $28.
Tinctures come in clove, orange, cinnamon, ginger and eucalyptus; bitters in lavender, cardamom, rosemary and sage. They're 2 ounces each.
The 12-ounce house infusions are floral vodka (with lavender and hibiscus), green tea gin, mocha bourbon and toronja tequila, infused with pink grapefruit.
A rum infusion is in the works, and new tinctures will be introduced as seasons change and local produce becomes available, said Kat Doughty, beverage coordinator at Crossroads Collective.
She noted that tinctures are intense infusions, like bitters but without the bitterness.
"The bitters are going to be a little more complex in flavors," she said. Usually, only a couple of drops of either is needed to pep up a cocktail.
Doughty said the Pharmacy is "leaning in to the apothecary aspect" of the location's history by using herbs and bittering agents that historically have also been used for medicinal purposes.
"This is something you can play with at home. Make some cocktails, and also this might help with a little bit of a tummyache. Or some lavender that will help you snooze," she said.
The Pharmacy plans to launch cocktail kits soon, she added.
The line is available at the Pharmacy from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Customers also can order the items in advance at crossroadscollectivemke.com and pick them up at the bar or curbside.
Fishy drink in Black Cat Alley
Besides the Pharmacy, Doughty oversees Shanghai, the creative speakeasy behind the food hall.
Shanghai recently launched a new cocktail menu. One of the new drinks is called The Gift of Koi, a dirty-martini-like drink that uses citrusy Japanese gin and sake instead of vermouth. Instead of olive brine, the drink gets "fish air" — fish sauce combined with crushed chiles and orange zest that's run through a fish-aquarium aerator.
Doughty described the drink as having a savory, briney flavor up top, with citrus and plum silkiness beneath.
Shanghai, reached by buzzing the intercom at a metal door in Black Cat Alley, is open 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday through Saturday. Reservations are available at exploretock.com/shanghai; to contact by phone, (414) 763-9081.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The Pharmacy bar's line for home bartenders, other Milwaukee food news
