There are a few new places downtown around Washington Avenue where you can sidle up to the bar. Hiro Asian Kitchen and Alpha Brewing Co., are two recent additions welcomed by the over-21 crowd to this downtown strip. And while it’s fun to check out new arrivals, it’s always a pleasure to find a fine drink or two at a restaurant or bar that’s been around for a while.
On a recent trip to Mosaic Lounge, I discovered two drinks from the specialty cocktail menu that taste terrific on a hot day like today. Goats Can’t Swim (pictured) is a refreshing tall drink that holds cachaça, lime, Carpano Antica, strawberry preserves and orange bitters. Carpano, a sweet Italian vermouth with a bitter finish, lends some heft and depth to the drink, while also tingeing the cocktail an amber sunset color. Thanks to the cachaça, lime juice and strawberry preserves, the drink stays fruity and light.
A glass of mulled wine is something normally reserved for colder months, since the wine – sweetened with sugar and scented with fruit, herbs and spices – gets heated to marry the flavors and is served warm. Mosaic offers two house-made versions of mulled wine – a red and a white – but the beverage is chilled and served over ice. For summertime, a glass of Housemade Mulled Wine #2 (pictured) is a novel change from something like sangria. Holding pinot grigio along with the flavors of pear, honey, Drambuie (a Scotch whiskey-based liqueur) and lemon juice, the drink is citrusy-sweet rather than sickeningly saccharine. And sweeter yet, you can get a generous pour for just $5 if you hit Mosaic during happy hour, which runs a lengthy five hours (from 2 to 7 p.m. weekdays). And if you’re with a band of buddies, you might just consider ordering a pitcher.
This article appears in June 2013.