Blast From the Past Series: Yard Sale Menu
BY: JOSHUA GANDEE
Beverage Director, Watershed Kitchen & Bar
I often approach a yard sale without any expected transaction in mind. I walk into the time capsule curated by the host and peruse the decades on display. Whether or not it was their intention from the start, the organizer has often split the clothing from the entertainment, the kitchen wares from the sports equipment, and so on. If the family is wholly involved, then each section has an educated salesperson. “That’s a signed copy,” they’ll say, offering a deal before a price sticker’s even been located. My favorite way to experience a yard sale is when a whole community is involved, when streets are lined with memories, banks of lawns draped with blankets, sheet sets, or large pieces of art, people strolling with lemonades and kids in tow.
It’s that community feeling that we infused into Watershed Kitchen & Bar’s Yard Sale cocktail menu. We aimed for each page to be looked upon as you would sidestepping a cluttered table on a warm day in May. The photographs were styled to mimic shelves and table settings and were complete with price stickers and mementos aplenty. The featured cocktails were designed from the bar teams’ favorite yard sale memories and favored pieces of Americana. The names were plucked from places and eras meant to kickstart your time travel, well before the drink was even poured.
“Tell them how you grew up, but in a drink,” I told the bar team as they sat with pen and paper. I wanted them to remember not just drinks that were marketed to them in their youth, but feelings, smells, places, and colors. As a result, most of the cocktails came from well-defined moments or flavors in the staff’s upbringing, many of which were inherently Midwestern.
That sense of perusing different tables at a yard sale was ever present as we pieced together the collection of drinks. Each page represented like flavors so you could browse by mood. Just as I wouldn’t place a copy of The Invisible Man in with a quilt, I wasn’t going to have a stirred Old Fashioned variation next to something meant to taste like ice cream. We relied on the curatorial role of the household and how we would want those shopping in our lawn to feel as they looked upon our wares. Each page was titled by “Lots” such as Backyard Entertaining, Bakeware, or Decor. All of which had real pieces of nostalgia intertwined with the cocktails to help identify the types of flavors that were present in the drinks featured on that page.
Returning guests quickly found their favorite “lot” and couldn’t wait to try each cocktail featured in it. Their love of and trust in the page theme over individual cocktails was exactly what I’d hoped we would achieve.
Everyone had an uncle, and every uncle had a basement.
One of the favored pages was the Décor Lot, the stirred and bold section of the menu. These selections were for the booze-forward Manhattan and Old Fashioned drinkers. The page itself was moody and resembled your cool uncle’s basement or garage. A vintage Playboy can be seen next to a collection of pipes, as cocktails rest on a stack of records below old racecar posters. A neon light and wood paneling set the mood for drinks like the Knick Knack Sazerac, the Harvard on the Hocking, and the Field of Dreams. The first two featured familiar flavors with minor twists as a way of introducing new techniques or styles our guests may not have been familiar with before. In the Knick Knack Sazerac, Watershed Apple Brandy drinks like a refined aged spirit with notes of wood interaction and hidden vanillas, but when introduced to bitters, golden and red apple notes come alive.
KNICK KNACK SAZERAC
2.25oz Watershed Distillery Apple Brandy
.25oz Rich Simple Syrup (such as turbinado)
4 dashes Peychaud Bitters
Absinthe for Rinsing
Remove a chilled Old Fashioned glass from the freezer and pour in enough absinthe to coat the inside of the glass, making sure to discard. In a mixing glass combine the syrup, bitters, and brandy with ice and stir until well chilled. Strain into the chilled glass, and garnish with a lemon peel.
The Harvard on the Hocking, while a nod to Ohio University, was also an introduction to a new way of looking at the Manhattan. A blend of apple brandy, spicy rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters sounds like familiar flavors, but this revisited classic was topped with soda water to add light effervescence and brighten the flavors. This simple addition changed the whole structure of the drink while opening up flavors sometimes hidden by simply stirring.
HARVARD ON THE HOCKING
1oz Watershed Distillery Apple Brandy
1oz Rye Whiskey (Avoid Canadian, as you want a spicier finish)
1oz Sweet Vermouth
4 dash Angostura Bitters
2oz Soda Water
Stir all ingredients except soda in a mixing glass until well chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and top with soda. Garnish with the oils of an expressed orange peel.
Other pages harkened to different places and times, such as the Kitchenwares Lot. This housed some stirred cocktails that weren’t as aged and brooding as the Uncle’s basement. Lighter offerings like a drink modeled after the post-soccer-snack Ants on a Log, or the Lazy Susan, became quick crowd favorites. Making sure to create an environment of inclusivity, these pages also featured non-alcoholic cocktails such as the Shrub-a-Dub-Dub, which offered a way of preserving seasonal ingredients brought to us by our local farmers. For those unfamiliar, a shrub is essentially a sipping vinegar made by steeping fruit or veggies in vinegar softened with sugar or honey and topped with soda to enjoy. The end result is a soft and subtly sweet beverage that is only slightly sharpened by the acidity of the vinegar.
LAZY SUSAN
2oz Watershed Distillery Bourbon Barrel Four Peel Gin
.5oz Simple Syrup
2 dash Orange Bitters
2 dash Angostura Bitters
Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass until well chilled. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over a large ice cube, garnishing with a lemon and and orange peel
The Lazy Susan, while simple in structure, was a new way to enjoy the Old Fashioned with bright citrusy gin notes found floating alongside tried and true barrel aging. The Ants on a Log however required a few extra steps, and some new ingredients but well worth the effort.
ANTS ON A LOG
1.5oz Golden Raisin Infused Watershed Distillery Bourbon*
.5oz Rainwater Madeira
.25oz Watershed Distillery Apple Brandy
.25oz Honey
4 dash Celery Bitters
*To infuse bourbon simply pour your desired amount over golden raisins and let rest at room temperature overnight. Strain out raisins for use. Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass until well chilled. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over a large ice cube.
Our Garden Tools Lot featured a simple cocktail that instantly became a crowd favorite. Sitting in front of a shed next to a pair of grass-stained Buddies (those iconic all-white New Balances), the garden tool cocktails were expressions of the family garden or the herbs that sit near the windowsill. The Sage Advice, a highball recipe, was modeled after the wisdom passed down from generations to drink makers. Made using chamomile infused Guild Gin, sage simple syrup, and grapefruit bitters, this drink is spring in a glass.
SAGE ADVICE
1.5oz Watershed Guild Gin
.75oz Sage Simple Syrup*
.25oz Fresh Lemon Juice
4 dash Grapefruit Bitters
Soda Water
*To make Sage Syrup, first make a simple syrup by combining equal parts sugar and water and stirring to dissolve. Add a small bunch of sage to the finished syrup and let it rest refrigerated overnight. Remove sage before use. The syrup should last 3 weeks refrigerated. In a collins glass filled with ice add gin, syrup, juice, and bitters and top with soda. Gently stir to combine flavors and garnish with a large slice of grapefruit.
One of my favorite additions to the menu was the final lot titled, “Checkout.” These drinks were meant to replicate things you might find near the shoebox-turned-cash register as a final ditch effort to squeeze a few extra pennies out of yard sale goers. We offered a Roman Coke named for Rum and Coke, but through a Midwestern Mumble which, interestingly, did not feature Rum or Coke. A worldly blend of amaro, bitters, and lime acid created a low proof sipper that tasted like the two-ingredient classic. Also featured at the checkout table was our homage to the tableside lemonade. THE Ohio State Fair (truly emphasizing THE) was a blend of homemade lemonade mixed with the fresh flavors found at the fair. A yellow and green plastic cup was designed to replicate the Lemon Shake Up cups with Watershed Kitchen & Bar written around the edge. The cocktail was filled to the brim with crushed ice and poured in was a decadent and bright gin cocktail. Though you’ll have to find your own lemon cup, this recipe can also be scaled up to fill a pitcher.
THE OHIO STATE FAIR
1.5oz Watershed Four Peel Gin
.75oz Lemon Shrub*
.5oz Honey**
Soda
Shake all ingredients except for soda together until well chilled and strain over ice garnishing with a cut lemon wheel.
* To make lemon shrub: Fill a mason jar with cut lemons and cover with apple cider vinegar to the top. Seal the lid and let rest on countertop overnight. The following day, add ingredients and one cup of sugar to a blender. Blend on high until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and keep refrigerated.
** We made a honey syrup with lemon meringue tea. To make simply make 2c of lemon meringue tea by steeping bags in boiling water. Add 2c boiling water to 1c honey and stir until dissolved.
The introduction to the Yard Sale menu featured an image of a handmade sign plunked into a lawn next to a telephone pole adorned with balloons, a proper Yard Sale heads up around the neighborhood. The following page was an introduction I wrote explaining what the Midwest means to me, and how the hospitality and flavors create instant nostalgia. Turning each page of the menu feels like walking to a different section of the sale, and as you pass you can almost hear the hushed conversation of, “Hey remember when?,” the cars passing and slowing down, and the chirping of birds overhead. The menu is meant to offer an opportunity to hit pause. As you flip each page you step into a place you’ve likely been before, as you see things that may have helped define your upbringing. If you are from the Midwest, exploring this menu is like visiting a family member over the summer. And if you aren’t, it’s like opening a familial history book into moments that created cherished flavors and memories.
It was important to us that we create something so time-honored and familiar and to get everything right. I’m thankful to the marketing team for hand selecting trinkets to be placed with the cocktails and for others (including our owner, Greg!) to open their homes so that we may photograph odd sections of it. While the idea of a Yard Sale or Midwestern Menu sounds good on paper, it would have never left the drawing board if not for the creative and thoughtful eye of designer Greg Davis who was able to place the drinks and treasures into a time capsule that felt new and old at the same time. I’m thankful for the bar team, for they shared more than just drink recipes. They shared pieces of themselves, revealing who they are and where they’ve been. They brought family members, stories, travels, and more to the forefront to share with the masses and for that I am grateful. Most importantly, thank you dear reader/enthusiast/cocktail makers/ and guests for your willingness to try our offerings, for perusing our wares, and leaving with newfound experiences. I can’t wait for the day that we place a sign in the yard adorned with balloons that says we’re open.
Josh
Scroll through the Yard Sale menu below and be sure to check out the rest of our cocktail menus here
