#also gotta design winter outfits and three dogs

[anhonestdaysworkcomic]

Starting the year off right with some concept art!

Feeling really good about how the inside of the house has come together. Now I gotta figure out what the exterior looks like and the layout of the whole farm. Then I feel like I can really start producing pages and worry about other large BG’s when they come

[riacte]

Dogwarts / 3rd Life Cheat Sheet for MCC 15 Purple Pandas

Ren and Martyn were buddies in Season 1 of the 3rd Life SMP and they are an alliance known as the Renchanting duo/ Kingdom of Dogwarts. Now they’re finally teamed up, and the 3rd Life SMP members have a habit of referring to 3rd Life in MCC. The Ren-Martyn fandom also talks about Dogwarts a lot. If you have no idea what is a Dogwarts and why people love them, no fear! This post will try to explain it in simple terms.

3rd Life SMP is a SMP started by Grian. Season 1 has 14 members (roughly half are hermits, other half are friends of the hermits. You can find the full list in the description of Ren’s 3rd Life videos.) Everyone on the server has three lives— the first life symbolised by green names, second by yellow names, third by red names. If you lose all three lives, you permadie. Green names and yellow names are not allowed to be hostile unless they were attacked first, but the goal of red names is to kill everyone on the server. The three lives are also symbolised by three hearts, like this:

(Fun fact: Because of the green-yellow-red colours, the subtwt for 3rd Life is called traffictwt after traffic lights. The 3rd Life tumblr fandom is occasionally referred to as trafficblr.)

3rd Lifers record every week for three hours at the same time with proximity chat. The server has a small border to encourage interaction. They are eight sessions in total, and they’re all cut into YouTube episodes (no streams!), so it’s fairly bingeable.

So what’s the deal with Martyn and Ren?

Ren decided to set up an enchanting shop during the first session. Martyn was wandering around and having fun scaring people with creeper noises until he came to Ren’s enchanting shop. Martyn then used Ren’s enchanting service without paying (essentially a robbery), but Ren let Martyn go on the condition Martyn would act as a walking free advertisement. Martyn agreed, and they became business partners. Martyn actually coined the name Renchanting and its motto “Don’t be a Dog, be a God”. Ren named Martyn as his “marketing manager” (which sounds a little like Martynmanager).

True to his word, Martyn went around and spread the good news of Renchanting to everyone. Martyn brought business to Renchanting, and when Ren was being threatened by customers (who harassed Ren into lower his prices/ giving out enchantments for free), Martyn acted defensive of Ren and even said Ren was being “bullied”. Ren was being taken advantage of because he was too nice. (Martyn did do some stuff not related to Ren, but since this is a Dogwarts cheat sheet I won’t be mentioning that.)

Then came GoodTimesWithScar. The main “villain” to Renchanting, if you will.

Basically, Scar was playing the role of a cartoon villain. He scammed people out of their armour and possessions, and eventually found his way to Renchanting. At that point, Martyn and Ren were loyal to each other. Scar asked for Ren’s enchanting table. In return, when Scar turned red, he would not kill Ren and Martyn. Ren appeared to be torn, but due to Martyn depending on him and the business, he refused Scar’s offer (“you can’t take the enchanting out of Renchanting!”). Scar also acted condescending to Martyn (Martyn was seen as Ren’s “minion”). So Ren and Martyn were officially on Scar’s kill list, but Ren did not regret it.

At some point, Ren got tired of people walking into his store and stepping all over him, so he built high walls around the Renchanting building. Everyone (including Renchanting themselves) broke through the walls, and this was a running gag. Ren declared himself king by wearing the crown he got from MCC9 Blue Bats.

Note: Ren was kind, and it was the cruel world that forced Ren to be defensive. Other POVs paint them as the villain but Dogwarts enthusiasts will say that is not the case AT ALL.

Time passed. Scar turned red. He and his buddy Grian set up traps at Renchanting, and one blew up Ren and a bunch of other people. Ren, now a yellow name, was furious, but could not get his revenge because yellow names were not allowed to hurt other players. So naturally, Ren decided to become a red.

Ren renamed an axe to “RED WINTER IS COMING” and gave it to Martyn to chop his head off. (There’s some dramatic roleplay here, highly recommend a watch.) Martyn painfully did, and the message “Red Winter is Coming” was shown in the chat, which told everyone that Ren meant business. To test Martyn’s loyalty, Ren told Martyn he could kill him if he wanted to. Ren, freshly respawned and without armour, punched Martyn. Martyn, as a green name, could attack Ren due to Ren attacking first. However, Martyn did not kill Ren, and dramatically declared Ren was the one who showed him life, and thus he would return the favour.

So Ren was known as the Red King (with grey skin, bloodied MCC crown, and a Scottish/pirate accent). Martyn became known as the King’s Hand, and called Ren “my lord” “my liege”. Later, Martyn acquired an outfit with a cloak and a red hand on the back of the cloak, which is now used to symbolise Martyn.

They established the Kingdom of Dogwarts (after Hogwarts and the enchanting/magic gimmick) to find more allies (notable ones include Ethoslab and Skizzleman). Allies could stick a Red Banner in their base to show loyalty, members were called Red Knights / Red Army.

A Red Banner (the design is supposed to be blood dripping down):

Without spoiling too much, Ren and Martyn remained loyal to each other till the very end. They were very dramatic (even jokingly called homoerotic by some lmao) and had many hardcore quotes, and are highly beloved. They are the most dramatic and RP intensive group on the server. So people want Dogwarts, the king and his hand, together again.

A small sample of quotes that might be referenced:

I think going red next week is in my fate. It’s in my cards. There will be blood, for this. A king cannot be king without war. (Ren)

I won’t do it! You took me in when I was a lowly traveller, goin’ across the lands, searchin’ the four corners of this world. I learned that there was nothing in this world for me. Nothing but walls, corners, edges. And you know what? You showed me life. As much as I’ve taken it from you, you gave it back to me in bucket fulls. and I just- I’m with you. This is us now. This is us. (Martyn)

If we're going to survive the Red Winter, we gotta do it together, laddies. Hand in hand. Rotten hand in hand of the living. To the end! (Ren)

It’s just the world versus us. (Martyn)

(Note: Dogwarts refers to the group of people allied with Ren and Martyn, including Etho and Skizzleman. Renchanting duo refers to Ren and Martyn ONLY)

Other references:

Joel notably screamed “THE RED KING DIES TONIGHT, FELLAS!” with a crowd of wolves following him

Dogwarts killed Grian and Scar’s llama Pizza because Scar stole a Red Banner

Jimmy and Scott were flower husbands. Jimmy thought Renchanting was going to sacrifice Scott.

Everyone else in MCC (Grian, Scott, Jimmy, Joel) were enemies with Dogwarts

The 3rd Lifers reference 3rd Life a lot despite it being over. Martyn even fought for Dogwarts in MCC14 and MCCP but failed. Haha.

The fandom commonly refers to Purple15 as King (Ren), Queen (False), Ace (Illumina), and Joker/Hand (Martyn) after playing cards.

This is it, I am tired, this is probably too long but I feel I skipped a lot of details. If anyone has anything to add or correct, feel free to do so. Also, I’m pretty certain this won’t appear in the tags, so please reblog! Thank you, and Red Winter is Coming.

(I might add a reblog detailing False’s very much fanon involvement in Dogwarts, and why everyone was so hyped for Renchanting + False.)

[littlejeanniebean]

Ep. 1 | The Marauders: Chase Her

A/N: I’m back, witches! ;) With the long-teased BAND AU!! Also @inakindofdaydream​ here’s your tag as promised, hope you enjoy :)) More Marauders in my masterlist! Read on AO3! - J xx

“Oh, Lily, darling, isn’t it a bit…” Narcissa Black appraised the outfit with a derisive sniff, “childish?”

It was a floor-length gown, trimmed to flow with the model’s figure exactly, thanks to Dorcas’ design skills. The highlight was the hot pink lava-lamp-like mixture oozing between the solid pale pink inner layer and the clear exterior material; Lily, a chemistry undergraduate who’d founded the Evans brand on Etsy as a hobby, had made it from scratch. Underneath it all was a complicated circulation system of refrigerant to keep the wearer cool, courtesy of Marlene, who was studying to be a mechanical engineer. Lily had tested it on herself and had the light burns on her legs to prove it, but it was worth it for the 60s-themed Met Gala. That is, if she could convince her client to wear it.

“Hardly,” she responded, “The design says you're playful, but the slinky cut and deep-V neckline say you’re a woman ready to conquer the carpet.”

Narcissa rolled her eyes, “Serves me right for selecting a designer last minute. All the professionals are booked.” 

Lily tried to think of a popsicle or winter, anything to cool the angry flush she could feel burning in her cheeks.

The tall blonde was unbothered as she strutted around the mannequin, inspecting the low back and the spaghetti straps, before extending her arms out to Dorcas and Marlene, who were standing by, “Fine, fit me.”

“I got it,” Lily said quickly when she saw Dorcas’ jaw drop in indignance at being treated like a maid. 

Marlene successfully occupied the deeply offended designer until Mary, the brand's publicist, announced that it was time. 

Lily and their client left the hotel for the iconic New York museum in a chartered limousine among an entire fleet of them. Although dressed plainly in a black sweater and pencil skirt, Lily’s bright red hair made her stand out among the Black family’s monochrome entourage. 

“Sirius, who’s that?” James pushed his thick-rimmed glasses up his nose and tiptoed to get a better look through the sea of celebrities and their teams spilling onto the carpet. 

“I don’t know, but she must be nice because I’m not related to her,” said the dark-haired man, who’d been essentially coerced into attending this event with the rest of his crazy reality television family. 

“Starting to not regret letting you drag me along,” while his friend walked the carpet, James followed the lady with the designer access credentials who looked at everything around her in unabashed wonder.

“James Potter!” someone called out.

He turned around and noticed too late that it was a reporter.

“How does it feel to win a record deal after your performance in the Highland Music Festival?” 

“Will you be performing on The House of Black?” 

“When is your debut album coming out?”

James held up a finger for silence the way he’d seen his mum do plenty-a-time, “I’m so grateful - especially to my music teacher, Minerva McGonagall. I don’t think my best friend will even be on that show anymore and we do everything together. We’re in writing sessions now, just having fun and seeing what we can do, but we’re very excited to share our music with everyone soon, especially our amazing fans.”

“Who are you wearing?”

“Who are you most excited to meet tonight?”

“Are you excited for The Weird Sisters’ performance?”

It went on this way until James could politely extricate himself with the boyish excuse of needing to use the bathroom. He practically sprinted to the tents at the end of the carpet. 

“My armpits are sweating, Lily!”

There she was. A picture of calm amidst the commotion. And her name was Lily.

“Cissy, calm down -”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Siri!”

“See, this is why I can’t work with you lot anymore! You’re bat-shit crazy! Of course, your pits sweat, you’re a human being - not a fucking Barbie doll!”

“You haven’t the faintest idea of the impossible standards I hold myself to because I actually strive to be my best self unlike you, you lazy dog!”

“Are you getting this?” Bella Black, whispered with a toothy smile to the camera that was filming the entire exchange.

"How's it going, Molly?" James addressed the short videographer with auburn space buns. 

She made a funny face at him and he laughed. Molly smiled just a bit in spite of the tensions she worked around daily. 

"Narcissa," a clear voice pulled his attention back towards the girl named Lily, "I believe you've just nicked the wire that runs the cooling system with your heel," she crouched down and hooked it back up, "There you are."

James took this as his cue to pull Sirius away before another argument began. Also, he may or may not have wanted to get even closer to the red-head, "C'mon, mate, let it go, yeah? It's not worth it."

Narcissa huffed and strutted away. Lily had no choice but to follow at her heels, but to her admirer, she made it look like a power move. 

"Ugh, remind me never to do that again!" Sirius collapsed onto the couch in the recording studio they rented next door to their label, Castle Records. 

"James?" Remus asked his less distraught friend.

"Narcissa."

"Ah. At least it wasn't Bella."

The bespectacled boy sat at his drum kit and began to play a couple of mid-tempo rounds on the snare, cymbals, and base, creating the mood of a pursuit. 

"Ooh, I like that," Peter switched the settings on his electronic keyboard to an eighties synth and joined in the jam.

Remus added the bass while Sirius plugged in his electric guitar. 

It was three the next afternoon when Remus finished mixing the track and Sirius had no more unorthodox but cool ideas like, "Record the tires squealing while I  do donuts in the parking lot on my motorbike and add it to the chorus!"

However, James, being ever the perfectionist when it came to music, kept wanting to re-record the drums and the others couldn't even talk him out of it because truthfully, it sounded better every time he did it. 

When they reached the one-week mark, though, Sirius had to take action. "I called Molly. She's going to record our music video today and you know she's quick in post-production so whatever you've got is what we're running."

"Ugh, I hate you!" said James. He didn't. 

Molly arrived at nine sharp and set up the lighting, did their hair and makeup, helped them pick coordinating but not matching outfits, and at ten exactly, called, "Action!"

Don't let her doe eyes fool you

She's been winning since the day she was born

Darlin' don't wanna lose you 

Je ne parle pas français, mais j'adore

So I'm done playing hard to get

(You gotta chase her, chase her, gotta gotta chase her)

 You're running circles in my head

(You gotta chase her, chase her, gotta gotta chase her)

And every word you ever said

(You gotta chase her, chase her, gotta gotta chase her)

Is calling my soul outta my body, must be in heav'n

Whoo!

"LilyLilyLily!" Mary squealed, barging into her friend's hotel room and clambering onto the bed, "We made it!"

Narcissa's lava dress had been trending all week and the Evans brand online store had finally crashed with the volume of orders they were trying to process at once for clothes, accessories, make up, and fragrances.

Her name is bloomin' in my heart

And every beat I beat is hers alone

Darlin' think of what we could start 

Jamais seul ou triste, jamais pas en mode

"Jimbo! Jumbo! Jambo!" Sirius woke up his roommate with their first single blasting from his phone, "We made it!"

Their Chase Her music video had over a million views and the song was number one on Spotify. 

And if our paths cross just this once

Could you be mine and I'll be yours

Tonight, darlin', we dance, we dance

Nous pourrions vivre pour toujours

Sirius guffawed at the comment section, "James: I don't speak French; Also James: Nous pourrions vivre pour toujours."

"Co-written by Google Translate," the singer quipped, putting on his glasses so he could see it all for himself, his smile coming close to breaking his pretty face.

Done being someone you'll forget

(You gotta chase her, chase her, gotta gotta chase her)

 Cuz you're all I got gon' through my head

(You gotta chase her, chase her, gotta gotta chase her)

Yeah every word you ever said

(You gotta chase her, chase her, gotta gotta chase her)

Is calling my soul outta my body, must be in heav'n

Whoo!

[isaiahrippinus]

How Salt Lake City Became a Top American Drinking Destination

Last fall, before Covid-19 swept in and changed everything, I found myself on a road trip through Utah that started in Salt Lake City. There, men dressed in white refused me entrance to the members-only temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the state’s capital was full of revelations nonetheless. They were simply of the boozier kind — from a Suntori Toki highball laced with passionfruit and shiso at Post Office Place, a bar that claims the nation’s most Japanese whiskies, and clarified, hand-cut ice in a rye-and-Cynar elixir at buzzy eatery HSL, to a lithe Frapatto from Sicily’s tiny, organic Gurrieri winery, sipped for a song at the restaurant Table X, and local beers like the massive Pumpkin Imperial Stout from Epic Brewing and the salty Lake Effect gose from Proper Brewing.

Indeed, Salt Lake has come far from the days of 3.2 percent-ABV beer. Though hurdles erected by the state-run liquor board remain, the industry rolls with the punches here. Right now, with indoor service limited to six feet of social distancing between tables, many bars can’t afford to reopen at limited capacity, but there’s a #saveutahbars campaign afoot to push the state legislature to legalize takeout cocktails. It’s a group effort from a tight-knit community of creative pros who, in recent years, have been turning this booming town into the nation’s newest drinks hotspot.

Credit: Alibi Bar & Place / Instagram.com

New Millennium, New Attitude

In part, the energy comes from having something to prove. As Jacob Hall, a co-owner of the bar Alibi explains: “When you have such a religious state, you also have a strong counterculture. People want to show that the Utah stereotype is incorrect, and with that, you see a strong bar scene.”

At Alibi, which re-opened on July 1 after three-and-a-half months closed, Hall squeezes grapefruit and yuzu together for his popular mezcal Palomas. Nine years ago, a typical Utah kid, he “didn’t know a damned thing about liquor,” he says. Then he landed a bar-back gig at Bar X, owned by “Modern Family” star Ty Burrell.

In 2010, the actor had rehabbed an Art Deco watering hole and filled it with spirits, testing would-be bartenders on 100 classic drinks. During the coronavirus shutdown, he’s shown leadership by launching a Tip Your Server fundraising initiative that’s raised over half a million dollars for displaced bar and restaurant workers and hosting a weekly fresh-market pop-up for industry workers in Bar X’s parking lot.

Back when it opened, Bar X was Salt Lake’s first serious cocktailist. The city was already transforming in those days, thanks to the 2002 Winter Olympics. “Pre-Olympics, you needed a private membership to get into bars,” recalls beverage writer Darby Doyle. “The bars had airplane-sized bottles, and you mixed your own drink. The Olympic planning committee was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding if you think our people are going to come if the liquor laws aren’t normalized.’”

Regulations the state relaxed for the games couldn’t be re-tightened without an uproar. In 2009, the private-membership restriction was nixed. Since then, SLC’s drinks culture has boomed along with its economy. An influx of non-Mormon newcomers have been drawn to the area both by employers like Adobe and Goldman Sachs, and by a high quality of life centered on Utah’s outdoors. Lots of them want to drink.

Cocktails Take Off

With its wild artwork and backlit Japanese spirits to go with the Japanese-Peruvian bites, Post Office Place is the kind of bar you’d hope to find in any city — unique and delicious. Bartenders here, as elsewhere in Utah, have worked with restrictions: 1.5 ounces of base spirit allowed, plus an ounce of a flavoring spirit. But that hasn’t dampened their creativity. A rye-and-reposado Tom Kha Sour amped up with lemongrass, tamarind, ginger, and fish sauce? Yes, please.

How do you sell a drink like that to a city still new to cocktails?

“By explaining to people and holding their hands,” says Crystal Daniels, general manager at Post Office Place. That level of service speaks to the scene’s warm vibe. If you’re going to push the town to drink, you gotta do it gently. Right now, with their small space still shuttered, Daniels and crew have been batching out bottled mixers to sell from their sister restaurant, Takashi, next door: Watermelon Paloma; Playa Tamarindo with grilled lemon and pineapple; honey, sage, and yuzu Hachi Hive. Each comes with simple instructions for preparing the cocktail at home.

Even a bar star like Scott Gardner keeps things friendly. Gardner built programs at restaurants until 2016, when he launched Water Witch. It’s been a destination for Mexican drinks in jicara gourds and highballs with house-clarified grapefruit cordial, as well as a Miller Lite and shot. “We look at drinks like food: What is the mirepoix of a cocktail?” says Gardner. “But no matter how serious we get, everything needs to be fun. We’re not just fancy cocktail guys. We’re focused on community.”

Gardner and his partners are planning an August reopening for their bar, whose “Cheers”-like vibe is refreshing to visitors from a tougher market like New York. It also helped make the roulette option popular in SLC. A bartender chats with a customer, then creates a drink gauged to their preferences. At chic Under Current, reopened since May 12, the offering is called “Walk the Plank,” and it helps make the city’s beefiest classic cocktail list less intimidating. “It’s something people love,” says manager Natalie Hamilton. “I’ve seen a lot more trust in bartenders in the last few years.”

Alibi takes the trust further, partnering with a local rape recovery center on fundraising and anti-violence training for the drinks industry. Sensitivity is built into the look of the place. “The level of sexism Utah has is disturbing, and bars can be scary, mainly for women,” says Hill. “We designed ours to be open, with lots of colors and no dark areas. The bartender can see the whole floor and monitor things.”

It’s part of the larger mission to make every Utahn comfortable with drinking — even if they’re sober. Given the Mormon influence, spirit-free cocktails are serious here. Just try the blood orange-coconut-vanilla refresher at HSL or the beet cream soda at Table X. “We want to welcome anybody,” says Mike Blocher, a chef and co-owner of Table X, “whoever you are and whatever you believe in.”

That’s been clear across the Salt Lake City drinking scene since the May 25 murder of George Floyd prompted Black Lives Matter protests here. Though business was even further hampered by a weeklong curfew in response to the demonstrations, Table X and many other restaurants and bars have contributed prizes to an #SLCdrawingforBlackLives to support the movement.

Credit: Waterpocket

Back to the Stills

A driver of the bar scene has been the advent of local distilling. High West installed Utah’s first post-Prohibition stills in 2006. Today, the Utah Spirit Trail lists nine stillhouses in Salt Lake County. The barrel-aged gin I enjoyed at HSL, blended with strawberry-cucumber simple syrup and St. Germain, came from Beehive, Utah’s first gin distillery since 1870.

Beehive has a full liquor license, so when the bar is open, guests can get a Spanish-style G&T, but they can also sip a Lagavulin, graze small plates, and enjoy the DJ. That kind of entertainment has helped SLC thrive. “The distilling and bar scene has helped lift perceptions,” says Erik Ostling, a co-owner of Beehive. “People come to Utah to hike, bike, and ski in the mountains. Now there is a viable nightlife, and we’ve been seeing people come to town to see what’s going on.”

For now, as the pandemic caseload increases in Salt Lake City, Beehive is keeping its bar closed, but the distillery’s shop is an official state liquor store, so patrons can still score Beehive spirits, craft mixers, local beers, and cocktails canned under the outfit’s Desolation Distilling label.

The most interesting distilling, though, is happening in a suburb just outside Salt Lake City at the Waterpocket, where Julia and Alan Scott produce maverick amaros and liqueurs from historic recipes. With Covid-19, they’re running a timed pre-order system for customer pickups of bottles like the turmeric-enriched Notom amaro and the orange, cake spice, and sage-infused Oread concocted from a 19th-century Danzig recipe. But when tours and tastings resume, visitors will sample the wares behind a wall called a Zion Curtain. Meant to protect minors from seeing drinks poured, the Zion Curtain was removed from bars in 2017, replaced with a 10-foot-wide “adults-only” zone. Waterpocket isn’t configured for such a setup, so the Zion Curtain remains. Luckily, bartenders pour their liqueurs in the open all over town.

Beer Town

In post-industrial neighborhoods, changes to zoning laws have given distillers space to make booze. They can thank brewers like Trent Fargher for that. At Shades Brewing in an old hot dog factory in South Salt Lake, his team ferments fruity yet dry sours with a proprietary strain of an old Norwegian yeast called kveik.

“We worked with city council to create a manufacturing license to allow for a taproom on premises,” says Fargher. “Now we have three breweries and three distilleries within walking distance.” He’s just installed a new beer garden out back for socially distanced drinking.

A few blocks north is another brewing center, in the historic grain warehouse district called The Granary. In a trio of former auto shops flooded with natural light, visitors sip German-style beers at Templin Family Brewing, whose taproom reopened on Memorial Day. Though taps can’t flow with anything over 5 percent ABV, cans and bottles get stronger. Templin Family makes 10.2 percent Trippel for a crowd that supports an abundance of brewers.

“I’ve been brewing in Salt Lake since 1995 when there were only four breweries. Today there are about 45,” says owner and brewmaster Kevin Templin. “Kids are coming in with new ideas and wild creativeness.”

Some of SLC’s other top breweries include Kiitos Brewing, where the stout is made with organic toasted coconut and the cream ale with locally roasted coffee beans; Fisher Brewing Company, which has reprised an 1884 family-owned label; and Proper Brewing Company, which produces an herb-brewed dubbel gruit — all are walking distance from Templin Family, making for an epic beer crawl. All of their stores are open for takeout during coronavirus times, and Proper’s taproom is pouring.

Credit: Shades Brewing / Facebook.com

Wine Finds

The biggest discoveries, though, are on SLC’s wine lists. To understand why the restaurant Pago offers a tiny-production Alepa Riccio Bianco 2013, made from Campania’s ancient Pallagrello Bianco grape, for not much more than the retail price, you have to understand Utah’s liquor laws.

Restaurateurs here can’t get discounts or deliveries; they go to the state store for wine at retail price. BYOB-friendly laws combine with the system to keep markups low. “Consumers know what restaurants are paying, and if they mark up wine exorbitantly, people just bring their own,” explains Tracey Thompson, the president and CEO of the brokerage Vine Lore. “You can bring wine to a restaurant, and they will charge a reasonable corkage fee.”

Another advantage for enophiles is the reduced pricing for small producers. The state’s standard markup is 88 percent. For wineries making less than 20,000 gallons, it’s 49 percent. “If a product gets a high score in Wine Spectator, a retailer in another state might pop the price up 50 percent,” says Brad Jensen, the Utah-based president of Bon Vivant Imports. “Here, the price is the price, so you can find interesting things cheaper.” So an Olivier Leflaive Chassagne-Montrachet 2014, for example, might be $69 in a Utah state store, while it’s above $80 elsewhere.

And an organically farmed Quarta Generazione Aglianico del Vulture DOCG by a fourth-generation female winemaker in Basilicata? You’ll pay $33.99 for that at Salt Lake stores, and that’s the only place in the U.S. that you’ll find it because another boon for SLC wine drinkers is small, Utah-only importers.

One of them is Stephanie Cuadra, founder of Terrestoria. She brings in wines from tiny, organic Italian and Spanish producers. Many are special orders, meaning the liquor control board buys a bespoke case for any restaurant or consumer requesting it. For importers of the artisanal producers on the lists at Pago, Table X, HSL, and other restaurants, “Utah is a perfect fit,” she says. “If an importer has big markets, why bother with Utah? But traditional importers are also not paying attention to such small wineries. So the proportions are right.”

Wines found nowhere else sold at reasonable prices, fascinating cocktails in friendly bars, creative distilleries and breweries by the dozens — here’s a toast to you, Salt Lake City. Best of all, the scene is still young and ambitious. The pros still push themselves to bring drinkers inspiring sips.

“Salt Lake City is a cow town,” says Scott Gardner. “It always will be. People from outside come with not much expectation, and the lack of expectation makes it easy to succeed. But we tell our staff, ‘Don’t rest on your laurels. You have to keep grinding and staying on top.’”

The article How Salt Lake City Became a Top American Drinking Destination appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/salt-lake-city-top-american-drinking-destination/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/625711766800859136

[johnboothus]

How Salt Lake City Became a Top American Drinking Destination

Last fall, before Covid-19 swept in and changed everything, I found myself on a road trip through Utah that started in Salt Lake City. There, men dressed in white refused me entrance to the members-only temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the state’s capital was full of revelations nonetheless. They were simply of the boozier kind — from a Suntori Toki highball laced with passionfruit and shiso at Post Office Place, a bar that claims the nation’s most Japanese whiskies, and clarified, hand-cut ice in a rye-and-Cynar elixir at buzzy eatery HSL, to a lithe Frapatto from Sicily’s tiny, organic Gurrieri winery, sipped for a song at the restaurant Table X, and local beers like the massive Pumpkin Imperial Stout from Epic Brewing and the salty Lake Effect gose from Proper Brewing.

Indeed, Salt Lake has come far from the days of 3.2 percent-ABV beer. Though hurdles erected by the state-run liquor board remain, the industry rolls with the punches here. Right now, with indoor service limited to six feet of social distancing between tables, many bars can’t afford to reopen at limited capacity, but there’s a #saveutahbars campaign afoot to push the state legislature to legalize takeout cocktails. It’s a group effort from a tight-knit community of creative pros who, in recent years, have been turning this booming town into the nation’s newest drinks hotspot.

Credit: Alibi Bar & Place / Instagram.com

New Millennium, New Attitude

In part, the energy comes from having something to prove. As Jacob Hall, a co-owner of the bar Alibi explains: “When you have such a religious state, you also have a strong counterculture. People want to show that the Utah stereotype is incorrect, and with that, you see a strong bar scene.”

At Alibi, which re-opened on July 1 after three-and-a-half months closed, Hall squeezes grapefruit and yuzu together for his popular mezcal Palomas. Nine years ago, a typical Utah kid, he “didn’t know a damned thing about liquor,” he says. Then he landed a bar-back gig at Bar X, owned by “Modern Family” star Ty Burrell.

In 2010, the actor had rehabbed an Art Deco watering hole and filled it with spirits, testing would-be bartenders on 100 classic drinks. During the coronavirus shutdown, he’s shown leadership by launching a Tip Your Server fundraising initiative that’s raised over half a million dollars for displaced bar and restaurant workers and hosting a weekly fresh-market pop-up for industry workers in Bar X’s parking lot.

Back when it opened, Bar X was Salt Lake’s first serious cocktailist. The city was already transforming in those days, thanks to the 2002 Winter Olympics. “Pre-Olympics, you needed a private membership to get into bars,” recalls beverage writer Darby Doyle. “The bars had airplane-sized bottles, and you mixed your own drink. The Olympic planning committee was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding if you think our people are going to come if the liquor laws aren’t normalized.’”

Regulations the state relaxed for the games couldn’t be re-tightened without an uproar. In 2009, the private-membership restriction was nixed. Since then, SLC’s drinks culture has boomed along with its economy. An influx of non-Mormon newcomers have been drawn to the area both by employers like Adobe and Goldman Sachs, and by a high quality of life centered on Utah’s outdoors. Lots of them want to drink.

Cocktails Take Off

With its wild artwork and backlit Japanese spirits to go with the Japanese-Peruvian bites, Post Office Place is the kind of bar you’d hope to find in any city — unique and delicious. Bartenders here, as elsewhere in Utah, have worked with restrictions: 1.5 ounces of base spirit allowed, plus an ounce of a flavoring spirit. But that hasn’t dampened their creativity. A rye-and-reposado Tom Kha Sour amped up with lemongrass, tamarind, ginger, and fish sauce? Yes, please.

How do you sell a drink like that to a city still new to cocktails?

“By explaining to people and holding their hands,” says Crystal Daniels, general manager at Post Office Place. That level of service speaks to the scene’s warm vibe. If you’re going to push the town to drink, you gotta do it gently. Right now, with their small space still shuttered, Daniels and crew have been batching out bottled mixers to sell from their sister restaurant, Takashi, next door: Watermelon Paloma; Playa Tamarindo with grilled lemon and pineapple; honey, sage, and yuzu Hachi Hive. Each comes with simple instructions for preparing the cocktail at home.

Even a bar star like Scott Gardner keeps things friendly. Gardner built programs at restaurants until 2016, when he launched Water Witch. It’s been a destination for Mexican drinks in jicara gourds and highballs with house-clarified grapefruit cordial, as well as a Miller Lite and shot. “We look at drinks like food: What is the mirepoix of a cocktail?” says Gardner. “But no matter how serious we get, everything needs to be fun. We’re not just fancy cocktail guys. We’re focused on community.”

Gardner and his partners are planning an August reopening for their bar, whose “Cheers”-like vibe is refreshing to visitors from a tougher market like New York. It also helped make the roulette option popular in SLC. A bartender chats with a customer, then creates a drink gauged to their preferences. At chic Under Current, reopened since May 12, the offering is called “Walk the Plank,” and it helps make the city’s beefiest classic cocktail list less intimidating. “It’s something people love,” says manager Natalie Hamilton. “I’ve seen a lot more trust in bartenders in the last few years.”

Alibi takes the trust further, partnering with a local rape recovery center on fundraising and anti-violence training for the drinks industry. Sensitivity is built into the look of the place. “The level of sexism Utah has is disturbing, and bars can be scary, mainly for women,” says Hill. “We designed ours to be open, with lots of colors and no dark areas. The bartender can see the whole floor and monitor things.”

It’s part of the larger mission to make every Utahn comfortable with drinking — even if they’re sober. Given the Mormon influence, spirit-free cocktails are serious here. Just try the blood orange-coconut-vanilla refresher at HSL or the beet cream soda at Table X. “We want to welcome anybody,” says Mike Blocher, a chef and co-owner of Table X, “whoever you are and whatever you believe in.”

That’s been clear across the Salt Lake City drinking scene since the May 25 murder of George Floyd prompted Black Lives Matter protests here. Though business was even further hampered by a weeklong curfew in response to the demonstrations, Table X and many other restaurants and bars have contributed prizes to an #SLCdrawingforBlackLives to support the movement.

Credit: Waterpocket

Back to the Stills

A driver of the bar scene has been the advent of local distilling. High West installed Utah’s first post-Prohibition stills in 2006. Today, the Utah Spirit Trail lists nine stillhouses in Salt Lake County. The barrel-aged gin I enjoyed at HSL, blended with strawberry-cucumber simple syrup and St. Germain, came from Beehive, Utah’s first gin distillery since 1870.

Beehive has a full liquor license, so when the bar is open, guests can get a Spanish-style G&T, but they can also sip a Lagavulin, graze small plates, and enjoy the DJ. That kind of entertainment has helped SLC thrive. “The distilling and bar scene has helped lift perceptions,” says Erik Ostling, a co-owner of Beehive. “People come to Utah to hike, bike, and ski in the mountains. Now there is a viable nightlife, and we’ve been seeing people come to town to see what’s going on.”

For now, as the pandemic caseload increases in Salt Lake City, Beehive is keeping its bar closed, but the distillery’s shop is an official state liquor store, so patrons can still score Beehive spirits, craft mixers, local beers, and cocktails canned under the outfit’s Desolation Distilling label.

The most interesting distilling, though, is happening in a suburb just outside Salt Lake City at the Waterpocket, where Julia and Alan Scott produce maverick amaros and liqueurs from historic recipes. With Covid-19, they’re running a timed pre-order system for customer pickups of bottles like the turmeric-enriched Notom amaro and the orange, cake spice, and sage-infused Oread concocted from a 19th-century Danzig recipe. But when tours and tastings resume, visitors will sample the wares behind a wall called a Zion Curtain. Meant to protect minors from seeing drinks poured, the Zion Curtain was removed from bars in 2017, replaced with a 10-foot-wide “adults-only” zone. Waterpocket isn’t configured for such a setup, so the Zion Curtain remains. Luckily, bartenders pour their liqueurs in the open all over town.

Beer Town

In post-industrial neighborhoods, changes to zoning laws have given distillers space to make booze. They can thank brewers like Trent Fargher for that. At Shades Brewing in an old hot dog factory in South Salt Lake, his team ferments fruity yet dry sours with a proprietary strain of an old Norwegian yeast called kveik.

“We worked with city council to create a manufacturing license to allow for a taproom on premises,” says Fargher. “Now we have three breweries and three distilleries within walking distance.” He’s just installed a new beer garden out back for socially distanced drinking.

A few blocks north is another brewing center, in the historic grain warehouse district called The Granary. In a trio of former auto shops flooded with natural light, visitors sip German-style beers at Templin Family Brewing, whose taproom reopened on Memorial Day. Though taps can’t flow with anything over 5 percent ABV, cans and bottles get stronger. Templin Family makes 10.2 percent Trippel for a crowd that supports an abundance of brewers.

“I’ve been brewing in Salt Lake since 1995 when there were only four breweries. Today there are about 45,” says owner and brewmaster Kevin Templin. “Kids are coming in with new ideas and wild creativeness.”

Some of SLC’s other top breweries include Kiitos Brewing, where the stout is made with organic toasted coconut and the cream ale with locally roasted coffee beans; Fisher Brewing Company, which has reprised an 1884 family-owned label; and Proper Brewing Company, which produces an herb-brewed dubbel gruit — all are walking distance from Templin Family, making for an epic beer crawl. All of their stores are open for takeout during coronavirus times, and Proper’s taproom is pouring.

Credit: Shades Brewing / Facebook.com

Wine Finds

The biggest discoveries, though, are on SLC’s wine lists. To understand why the restaurant Pago offers a tiny-production Alepa Riccio Bianco 2013, made from Campania’s ancient Pallagrello Bianco grape, for not much more than the retail price, you have to understand Utah’s liquor laws.

Restaurateurs here can’t get discounts or deliveries; they go to the state store for wine at retail price. BYOB-friendly laws combine with the system to keep markups low. “Consumers know what restaurants are paying, and if they mark up wine exorbitantly, people just bring their own,” explains Tracey Thompson, the president and CEO of the brokerage Vine Lore. “You can bring wine to a restaurant, and they will charge a reasonable corkage fee.”

Another advantage for enophiles is the reduced pricing for small producers. The state’s standard markup is 88 percent. For wineries making less than 20,000 gallons, it’s 49 percent. “If a product gets a high score in Wine Spectator, a retailer in another state might pop the price up 50 percent,” says Brad Jensen, the Utah-based president of Bon Vivant Imports. “Here, the price is the price, so you can find interesting things cheaper.” So an Olivier Leflaive Chassagne-Montrachet 2014, for example, might be $69 in a Utah state store, while it’s above $80 elsewhere.

And an organically farmed Quarta Generazione Aglianico del Vulture DOCG by a fourth-generation female winemaker in Basilicata? You’ll pay $33.99 for that at Salt Lake stores, and that’s the only place in the U.S. that you’ll find it because another boon for SLC wine drinkers is small, Utah-only importers.

One of them is Stephanie Cuadra, founder of Terrestoria. She brings in wines from tiny, organic Italian and Spanish producers. Many are special orders, meaning the liquor control board buys a bespoke case for any restaurant or consumer requesting it. For importers of the artisanal producers on the lists at Pago, Table X, HSL, and other restaurants, “Utah is a perfect fit,” she says. “If an importer has big markets, why bother with Utah? But traditional importers are also not paying attention to such small wineries. So the proportions are right.”

Wines found nowhere else sold at reasonable prices, fascinating cocktails in friendly bars, creative distilleries and breweries by the dozens — here’s a toast to you, Salt Lake City. Best of all, the scene is still young and ambitious. The pros still push themselves to bring drinkers inspiring sips.

“Salt Lake City is a cow town,” says Scott Gardner. “It always will be. People from outside come with not much expectation, and the lack of expectation makes it easy to succeed. But we tell our staff, ‘Don’t rest on your laurels. You have to keep grinding and staying on top.’”

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