Confession: Once upon a time, I was a math geek who got kicks from solving trigonometric equations and thinking in terms of limits at infinity. For my first job out of college, I even used the mathematical symbols ? and ? as shorthand for “approximately” and “therefore,” which landed me a raise because my bosses (engineers) realized their new secretary wasn’t entirely a dimwit. The folks at Pi Pizzeria are far headier about formulas and symbols than I ever was; they’ve given nerdy number names to the beverages on the cocktail list at the newest Pi location downtown at 610 Washington Ave. So, do these drinks live up to their catchy labels? Yes, but let’s do the proof – you know, just for fun.
Keyan Still, Pi bartender and trainer, is the mastermind behind the cocktail menu. His list of 10 summer cocktails is broad enough to offer something interesting for just about any palate. The beverages that piqued our interest were the patio drinks, beer cocktails and a couple of the boozy heavy-hitters.
Irrational Number is unquestionably the drink to order when you want to kick back with something light and delicious. Grapefruit juice provides lovely citrus and floral notes on this tall gin drink while a topping of ginger beer (Fitz’s will soon begin bottling ginger beer for Pi.) keeps each sip refreshing and sprightly. For a change-of-pace margarita, get Thymes Infinity, which is nicely herbaceous thanks to the house-made lemon zest-thyme syrup.
Craft beer-lovers may have already tried Collaboration PiPA by local brewery 4 Hands, but it’s a whole new concoction when you put it in a Right Angle cocktail with rum, house-made rosemary-soaked port and grapefruit juice. As Still noted, the smooth finish and lack of any lingering bitterness posits the Right Angle as a “beer cocktail to get non-beer drinkers drinking beer.” (During happy hour, this $10 drink is priced at $5.) Another beer cocktail, the Uncommon Denominator, uses Pi Common – a brew made exclusively for Pi by Schlafly. Loca-drinkers should give this riff on a whiskey sour the nod for being an almost all-local cocktail, with J.J.Neukomm malt whiskey and Stone Hill Winery Cream Sherry making it into the mix.
In the mood for a boozier beverage? The Euclidean Formula takes the best of old and new Sazerac recipes (cognac from the good old days, rye whiskey in the here-and-now) and splits the difference, using equal parts of both. And while The Repeating Decimal (pictured) is a head scratcher for the odd combination of ingredients (Campari, Drambuie liqueur, rosemary syrup, lemon juice and tonic water), the strong drink earned Still a perfect score for taste in a local cocktail competition held earlier this year.
And now for the “If A then B” part of the proof: If you like well-balanced, creative drinks made with local products and house-made mixers, then you will love (to the nth degree) the cocktails at the new Pi downtown.
This article appears in June 2012.