The Brandy Bar + Cocktails

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Wed 5/3 – $5 brandy pour & Thurs 5/4 – $7 martini specials –

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Wed 5/3 – 4-9:00 PM – $5 brandy pour – Clear Creek cranberry – true to the fruit with a dark red color, lightly sweet, very cranberry in flavor or mango – pleasant mango taste, tempered with light alcohol overtones – not as sweet as you might think!

Thurs 5/4 – 4-9:00 PM – $7 martini special – The Martini has a crazy history. Of the 3 stories of how it was invented, the favorite is the Occidental Hotel that appeared in Jerry Thomas’ The Bar-Tender’s Guide (1862). During the Gold Rush, a miner from Sierra Nevada struck it rich & headed to San Francisco, straight to the Occidental Hotel in search of a libation. Later, the term “Martini” preceded the term “cocktail” which began as a beverage you’d order at a hotel, then died out with Prohibition, which is when cocktails were invented. During Prohibition, people started adding ingredients that weren’t typically mixed with spirits, so you would have less booze on your breath then hard alcohol. Fast forward to the 1960s, it becomes the Bond era. The drink began trending because everyone could see James Bond drinking it & they wanted to experience it. ‘Oh, he drinks Martinis—that’s masculine. The 1980s was “the self-destruction of the cocktail scene.” Everyone was calling all cocktails ‘Martinis.’ People called anything martini cocktails & not referring to the drink itself. Nothing fell into the category of a Martini except the shape of the glass. Bottom line – it’s incredible how important spirits are to the forming of America. choose from: Brandy Bar Martini – CB Frost, splash of gin, splash of vermouth; Pear Martini – Clear Creek pear, Cointreau, lemon juice; French Martini – CB Frost, Pineapple juice, Crème’ de cassis; Hawaiian Martini -CB Frost, Cointreau, light rum, coconut juice, pineapple juice, 1/2 price on Armagnac/Calvados flight

Sat 5/6 – 4-9:00 – Wear your hat and join us for the Kentucky Derby! Check out our Facebook page for more details. https://www.facebook.com/TheBrandyBar

Wed 4/26 – 4-9 – $5 sangria special & Thurs 4/27 – 4-9 PM No Parking cocktails

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Wed 4/26 – 4-9:00 PM – Join us for a mid-week Sangria special: $5 white sangria: Pinot grigio, brandy, pear, peach, mango fruits, and pineapple, pear & peach juices. Let’s get ready for an early summer full of sangrias and fun!

Thurs 4/27 – 4-9:00 PM – “No Parking” cocktails – What’s all this hoopla about parking downtown? Is this a new invention? When did “no parking and parking tickets/fines” originate?  Yikes, it goes back to possibly those first parking restrictions put in place in Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria in c.700 BC. The restrictions were made by their king Sennacherib (704 to 681 BC) and pertained to the sacred main processional way through Nineveh. The oldest parking signs ever discovered read “Royal Road – let no man decrease it”. The penalty for parking a chariot on this road was death followed by impaling outside one’s own home.

And about those outrageous parking fines? Parking fines were introduced in the 1950s in New South Wales, Australia. Up until about 1995, these fines were issued and processed by the NSW Police and the fines were processed by the traffic penalties section of the police staffed by clerical staff employed by the police. In New Zealand, parking fines are mostly issued by council parking officers, but can also be issued by police officers. Parking tickets are mostly attached to an unattended vehicle, or they can be posted to the address of the registered owner. Usually, the most common parking fines issued are those for parking over the time limit.

In Europe, parking tickets are heavily used. In Sweden, parking violations on streets are considered traffic crimes with a fine. If the fine is not objected to or paid within a specified time, the Swedish Enforcement Administration will claim money from bank accounts or other assets, relatively fast. The owner will be noted as a bad payer and will not get a loan or a new rental apartment etc. for three years.  

In addition to “no parking” signs, “no waiting” and “no stopping” are used in the UK and Europe. “No waiting” allows passengers to be dropped off or picked up but does not allow parking or waiting with the driver in the vehicle for long periods. Loading and unloading are usually also allowed, details and applicable times may be shown on a plate under the sign. “No stopping” does not allow waiting at all, even for drop-offs and pick-ups.

Foreign-registered vehicles in Europe cannot be fined. This is partly because it is too much work to find the owner in a foreign country, but mainly because it is not legally possible to claim money from a foreign resident person if they don’t pay voluntarily. 

But back to us here in the States? In 1926, American merchants listed downtown traffic congestion as their most serious difficulty. Unenforced curbside parking and the lack of off-street parking facilities were listed as the primary problems. Customers went where they could park.

During the Great Depression, city revenues dwindled. With parking meters, however, a new source of municipal income was found. Not only did the nickels paid in by parkers accumulate, but so did the fines imposed for overparking. By 1944, American cities were generating some $10 million annually from parking meters alone. Soon after came meter maids, who, because they were paid less than police officers, increased city revenues further. So bottom line, these complex parking rules, restrictions, and regulations are now an integral part of modern life and landscape and tied to the “$.”

Parking cocktails: Parking Paper – C & K American brandy, amaro, Aperol, lemon juice, Parking Shot Manhattan – Courvoisier, rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters, Pay at Kiosk Concord Grapy Cosmo – CB Frost, gin, Cointreau, Concord grape juice unsweetened, No Parking Zone Boulevardier – C & K Am. brandy, Campari, sweet vermouth, blood orange soda, 1/2 price fruit/infused flight 

 

 

Wed 4/19 – 7-9:00 PM – Songwriters Sessions and Thurs 4/20 – Train cocktails special

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Wed 4/19 – 7-9:00 PM – Join us for the monthly Songwriters Sessions with featured performers Mare Carmody, Carrie Morrison, and Andrew Thelston.     

Mare Carmody is a voice of southern songwriting, having lived in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina. Playing music has always been a way of life throughout her travels. Mare is currently part of the trio Carver Carmody & McIntire.

   Melodic and memorable, Carrie Morrison’s songs make connections. A native of Louisville, Ky., the singer/songwriter/pianist has been a popular act in Western N.C. for more than 15 years. She is keyboardist and vocalist in the Andrew Thelston Band and enjoys duo collaborations with Andrew and cellist Jamie Leigh Bennett.
   Andrew Thelston creates futuristic rock ‘n’ roll which echoes the past. In 2019, his original music was featured on the hit Netflix show “Lucifer,” and he was voted one of the top guitarists in the 2022 Best of WNC by the Mountain Xpress.
Hosting the event will be hosts Mare Carmody and Charlie Wilkinson. For more information, please contact:  WNCsongwritersessions@gmail.com
 
Thurs 4/20 -4-9:00 PM –  The first rail line into Henderson County began in Charleston, SC and ran through the town of Columbia, SC before pushing up the Saluda grade from Spartanburg into Henderson County. The railroad running from Charleston into the rugged and steep mountain terrain of Western North Carolina would not reach Hendersonville until 1879, and later Asheville in 1886. The locals were probably in the crowds that cheered when the train came roaring through on July 4, 1879. The original tracks of the Spartanburg-Asheville Railroad Company ran then, as today, through Howard’s Gap and parallel to the old Cane Creek Road. Approaching the equally steep grade from Asheville’s east side was the Richmond-Danville Railroad line that led from Marion & Old Fort and was not completed until 1889. The first rail line in North Carolina was chartered by the Wilmington-Raleigh Railroad Company in 1834 and an initial 161 miles of track was laid between Wilmington and Weldon in Halifax County. When completed in 1840, it was touted as the longest railroad in the world at that time.

    As the iron horse ploughed through the once isolated mountain hollers and passes, it brought with it easy accessibility to the mountain’s resources, and the thick virgin timbered forests fell to the aggressive logging titans. The locals would have been thrilled by the first signs of industrialization and cheered the initial economic boost to the community. Tragically, it became increasingly apparent that excessive commercial activities caused fires, floods, deforestation, and catastrophic erosion. The area was changing and so would the mountain’s close-knit families.

Train Cocktails:  Train derail – Douglas fir brandy, lemon juice, simple syrup, soda water; Railcar – CB Frost, rum, Cointreau, lime juice, Campari; Blue Train – CB Frost, Cointreau, lemon juice, curacao; Trainspotter – CB Frost, rye whiskey, elderflower liqueur, Heering brandy, dry sherry; 1/2 price US Flight