Rum Runners Weekend

Nearly a century ago, the bootleg trail from Canada to New York City ran smack through the Adirondacks. Bootleggers risked life and limb transporting locally distilled hooch and smugglers ran whiskey from Canada, eluding dry agents and spawning crime and corruption. Chestertown and its surrounding communities recently commemorated this period in history with related activities.

It was a damp and drizzly Thursday night at Warrensburg’s Luck E Star Cafe where the Greater Warrensburg Business Alliance hosted a 1950s-era Car Hop. Among the vendors, we hawked books and passports as the drama unfolded. Those gathered were whisked from the 1950s to the roaring ‘20s when a carload of rumrunners screeched into the parking lot and piled out of their Model A. Within seconds, the law appeared on the scene in pursuit. Smugglers scattered like rats, slipping into any hiding place they could find. Perhaps the heat considered our Happy Hour in the High Peaks booth a likely refuge for Prohibition outlaws – they were on our tent like feathers on a flapper. We decided to scram before the bulls started asking questions and we were long gone before the feds pinched Wesley, his moll Giselle, and the rest of their gang. We’re no stool pigeons.

Later, holed up at Pammy’s Pub, we nibbled one while spittin’ about the night’s turn of events. All indications were that something was going down in Chestertown, masterminded by thugs from the Tri-Lakes Business Alliance. Finding it necessary to infiltrate without calling attention, we hit the thrift store and dug up grandma’s furs and jewels to costume ourselves in high style.

Friday night we dolled up with feathers and fringe. Piling on marbles and paste, and acting on an informant’s tip, we headed to the Panther Mountain Pub where we found a packed parking lot. This juice joint was jumping. We staked out the door until we purloined the password from a fella with a doll on his arm. “Donnie sent me,” we whispered to the bouncer when he slid the false window open. He opened the door and we passed through time into the speakeasy.

Flappers and dandies, thugs and dames, all in swanky threads, filled the pub. Jazz from the Jive Five could be heard over the gum flapping. Blending in, we grabbed some corn from the Jane at the bar. Wesley, the butter and egg man, was putting on the ritz, surrounded by lookers and waving a fat stogie. Hoping to get a handle on what was going down, we picked up a copy of the Rum Runners Weekend scandal sheet from a nearby table and overheard plans for a Saturday morning rum run from Pottersville. People were talking about a vaudeville show and Babe Ruth Battle of the Bats scheduled for Saturday. So as not to blow our cover, we joined the flappers on the dance floor and showed off our Charleston moves. Soon the band called it quits and made a clean sneak out of there.

Saturday morning in Chestertown began with a rumrunner car chase from Pottersville to Chestertown. After the excitement was over, the townspeople gathered at the rec field to relax and enjoy a few hours at the Babe Ruth Battle of the Bats Homerun Derby. Then it was off to the vaudeville show at the Carol Theater (a.k.a. The Strand). A leisurely chew at a local hash house was followed by a couple of drinks at the P-House speakeasy.

Saturday night the same bruno at the door admitted us to a mobbed house at the speakeasy. If the hooch flow was any indication, we could conclude that the morning rumrunners had eluded capture. An unidentified source told us that an earlier raid by feds looking for Donnie, the big cheese, who was on the lam at the Strand Theater, led to the mistaken collar of a decoy. Somebody fingered Donnie and he was taken into custody, but he must have given the coppers the slip because he was here in the thick of it. Another big shot from the Tri-Lakes Business Alliance, Cindy Mead, was on hand snapping souvenir photos like she was the bee’s knees.

The Jive Five jazz band played to a full house of hoofers competing for top billing in the Charleston contest. Though they were behind the eight ball most of the time, the judges, John, Joan, and Julie, finally picked the winners and first place went to Jeni Ferguson. Adirondack newshawk John Warren and his squeeze were among the dignitaries tipping a few that night. Grand-nephew of Denis Warren, John was flapping his gums about the exploits of Denis, who was left for dead on the side of the road on his return from a Montreal run.

By the time the Temperance Society women showed up with their placards declaring war on demon liquor with such slogans as Girls, wait for a temperance man and lips that touch alcohol will never touch mine, the crowd, wary and suspicious, began to dissipate.

When it comes to Prohibition and the denial of the public’s thirst for intoxicating beverages, we are historically on the wrong side of the law. Smugglers, bootleggers, moonshiners, outlaws, miscreants, vagabonds, ruffians, scoundrels, and hooligans are revered as mythical superheroes when keeping the public’s supply of booze was (ineffectively) curtailed during Prohibition.

If Chestertown’s recently observed Rum Runners Weekend is any indication, with its reenactments of lawlessness and the idealization of thwarting the nation’s efforts at temperance, then we can say with fair certainty that drinking is popular again. We’re not just kissing our onions when we tell you the overwhelming success of this year’s Rum Runners Weekend ensures that it will be back next year. Hope to see you there. Tell ‘em, “Donnie sent me.”

Drinking is Popular Again

We’re back! Winter found us sequestered at Pammy’s Pub finalizing (and editing, editing, editing) bar reviews for Happy Hour in the High Peaks: An Adirondack Bar Guide. Add to that the preparation, primping, and posing of 46 cocktails for their close-ups, and it’s easy to see why we’ve been absent. Spring coaxed our creativity with a marketing plan and promotion schedule. Summer put us on the road throughout the Adirondacks, selling and signing wherever we were welcome.

With all that attention to detail and embellishment, the realization hit. The current trend toward drink artistry, rather than guzzling gluttony, has led to a focus on flavor and presentation. Complicated preparations, the use of local and home grown ingredients, and the almost daily arrival of spirited new flavors populating liquor store and beer aisle shelves have prompted an emphasis on savor over swill. Drinking is popular again.

The Adirondack Park, with its growing number of breweries, distilleries, and wineries, is keeping up with its metropolitan counterparts without sacrificing its own identity. Breweries are winning awards, bars like Matt’s Draft House in Inlet and Judd’s Tavern in Lake George offer extensive beer lists, and demand flourishes with expectations.

Quality now outranks quantity, at least among those of us with a taste for flavor and a modicum of discretion. Consuming liters of bargain-basement hooch and cases of watery beer is a vague memory better left to the collegiate masses. Like reading from a gourmet menu, drink selection has become a thought-provoking experience. A cocktail is capable of suiting any purpose, from light aperitif to rich dessert. Among those who have sought to make an impression, Lake Placid’s Liquids & Solids at the Handlebar demonstrates exactly that virtuosity, as well as a penchant for fresh and unique ingredients, with an eclectic liquids menu.

This doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Even the simplest drink becomes a fancy cocktail with the addition of herbs, spices, and garnishes commonly found in the kitchen. Presentation can be as simple rimming the glass, or spearing a shish kebab of fruit. Trading the old pint glass for a snifter cranks that draft beer up a notch.

Beyond the drink experience lies the event built around showcasing those tasty wares. Labor Day and the conclusion of the official summer season bring the unleashing of ever more clever devices designed to lure locals and entice visitors to return. The Adirondack Nationals Car Show, held in Lake George the weekend after Labor Day, leaves in its tracks a pileup of autumn attractions. Octoberfests (Lake George, Lake Placid, Old Forge) and all their brewhaha hit their stride in the fall. Sunday football pools, food and drink specials, and dinner pairings (both wine and beer) are just a few of the enticements used to keep the momentum going just a bit longer. Then there are the more creative events.

Like fashions, movies, and hairstyles, everything old is new again. Classic cocktails like the Manhattan, Old-fashioned, and Gibson are experiencing a revival, often with a fresh new twist. The Adirondack region has its own place in Prohibition history, and this weekend you can slip into a local speakeasy (upon uttering the password, of course). Celebrating the area’s role in the whiskey smuggling trade, the Tri Lakes Business Alliance presents Rum Runners Weekend, complete with an antique “rum-runner” car chase and police pursuit from Pottersville to Chestertown, dinner specials at area restaurants, Speakeasy Nights and a Charleston contest. We’re getting our flapper dresses, fox stoles, and cloche hats out of mothballs for this one. Whether we order a Sidecar, a Southside, or a White Lady at the Panther Mountain Pub, we’re sure to get a blank stare from the bartender, so here’s the recipe for the White Lady.

White Lady
1 ½ oz. Tangueray London Dry Gin
¾ oz. orange liqueur (triple sec will do in tough times, but Cointreau is best)
¾ oz. fresh-squeezed juice of lemon
Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

Many of us came of (drinking) age before the law reverted back to its pre-Prohibition limit (21) in 1985, and before stiff penalties drove us off the road. Since then, we’ve had to find ways to drink responsibly. One solution we’ve found is to make more interesting choices, experience new flavors, and enjoy the social aspects of going to a bar. Drinking may be more challenging than it used to be, but it isn’t going away. A lesson learned from Prohibition. And it’s popular again. If it’s not, we intend to make it so.

O.P. Frederick's Restaurant and Tavern, Chestertown

Yet another gem was unearthed while mining the Adirondacks for the 46 best bars and taverns. Located at the backwater of Loon Lake near the intersection of routes 8 and 9 in Chestertown, O.P. Frederick's Restaurant and Tavern is a year-round destination highly worthy of a visit. Much of their clientele are seasonal residents of Loon Lake, snowmobilers, and skiers from Gore Mountain. Many non-seasonal locals enjoy the tavern in the off-peak seasons.

Noting the (working) phone booth as we entered the tavern on a wintry Saturday afternoon, we were greeted by the warmth of the ancient and ornate parlor stove in the corner. Though the portly cast iron stove was grand in scale, the heat was significant yet never overwhelming. The lighting and the music that played in the background were equally subtle.

Preliminary digging at O.P. Frederick’s website promised an assortment of martinis and Pam already knew she was going to try the apple, ordering immediately as Kim reviewed the beer menu. Barely able to contain her anticipation, Pam pondered whether her martini would be a green apple martini or a sweet, apple-pie-like martini. As expected, it was sour green apple in a Jolly Rancher flavor and color. She launched into the verbal design of an apple pie martini as she sipped.

Kim, equally enthused with the beer selection, decided on Brooklyn Brewery’s black chocolate stout, a Russian imperial stout, rich, dark and aromatic, revealing new and subtle flavors with each swig. In addition, Lake Placid Ubu ale and LaBatt Blue are always available on tap, along with a rotating pair of regional beers – two Magic Hat seasonals at the moment - and Blue Moon. Among the 15 bottled beers listed, Kim discovered Franziskaner Weissbier, assorted domestics, and Beck’s dark. Though not the motherlode, the beer choices are appealing and well selected. Drink prices are a little on the high end for the area, and O.P. Frederick’s does not have a Happy Hour.

We introduced ourselves to the friendly and easygoing bartender, Leana, and soon launched into a barrage of fact-finding questions. Leana has been at O.P. Frederick's for eight years. We soon discovered that our paths had crossed years before at the former Colonial Arms in Warrensburg. We briefly reminisced about mutual acquaintances from those early days in our drinking careers as Leana tended to other patrons and the wait staff.

Though the tavern at O.P. Frederick's has an official capacity of 40 persons, the bar itself seats eight. Three pub tables along the wall can accommodate nine more and a wall bar toward the back has seating for four. Two TVs are strategically located for watching whatever big game may be on. A modest deck out back offers picnic table seating in warmer months, overlooking the backwater edge of Loon Lake. Plaid tablecloths adorn the dining tables, with matching valances on the windows. A pair of snowshoes, mounted fish and game trophies and wildlife prints grace the pine walls, but we were more captivated by old black-and-white photographs and the nostalgic 1950's era framed Winchester Rifle posters depicting a winter scene with a rabbit and another of a deer in flight.

O.P. Frederick's is a restaurant and tavern and also offers accommodations at the adjacent Alp Horn Motel featuring five units. The complex has been owned by Robert and Vivian Frederick for the past 20 years, but the location has plenty of history as the Loon Lake Colony before that. We had an opportunity to meet Bob Frederick (wearing cargo shorts on this January day) during our visit and found him to be a very gracious host, proud of his establishment and eager to share history and memorabilia.

The dinner menu includes appetizers (smoked trout and duck burritos among them) from $5.99 to $9.95. Entrees from seafood and steaks to sandwiches and pasta range from $6.95 for a basic burger to $24.95 for surf and turf. Dinner and drink specials such as early bird and $5.00 burgers are featured throughout the week, and coupons can be retrieved and printed from their website. Show your Gore Mountain ski pass and get 10% off your meal. The tavern and restaurant open at 4 p.m. with dinner served until 9 p.m. The bar closes between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. depending on the season. O.P. Frederick's is closed on Mondays all year. They are known to close up for a few weeks or the whole month of December and again in April.

O.P. Frederick’s is a warm, congenial place with affable and welcoming patrons. Whether prospecting for food, drink, or both, you’ll find a vein of hometown friendliness, good food and a variety of liquid refreshment.

The Wine Bar at Friends Lake Inn, Chestertown

We pulled into the gravel parking lot on this sunny winter Saturday, not sure what to expect from the Wine Bar at Friends Lake Inn. The first sight to greet us was a stream tumbling gently over rocks just outside a tiny structure we later learned was the sauna. A tiny footbridge traversed the waterfall where the stream began a steeper descent. Approaching the main building, screened balconies and seven gabled dormers emerging from the cedar shake roof of the inn’s modest grey clapboard exterior, we were greeted by one of the inn’s arriving employees who entered with us and pointed the way to the bar.

The Wine Bar and its dining area features beautifully crafted mission oak cabinetry with brass hardware. Gleaming wine glasses, each polished by hand, neatly hang like rows of crystal bubbles. Two of the room’s oak-paneled walls are constructed almost entirely of windows, inviting plenty of natural light. Overstuffed leather sofas and chairs in two separate common areas invite those not afraid to relax. The Wine Bar dining area has tables to seat 40 to 50 guests. The bar seats 8. Though no formal happy hour is featured, weekly drink specials encompass mixed drinks in summer months and martinis and mixed drinks in the winter season.

The Wine Bar at Friends Lake Inn is much more than its name implies. Located on Friends Lake in Chestertown just far enough from the main highways to feel secluded, this elegant country inn speaks of luxury, yet maintains an air of unpretentious hospitality. Though renowned for their superior wine collection, we were looking for something of the beer and liquor variety. As Pam took her time looking over the liquor selections, Kim found a draft beer to please her tastes. The bar regularly serves Stella Artois, Samuel Adams seasonal (Winter Lager) and two regional brews (Long Trail Hibernator and Davidson Brothers Brown Ale). The impressive wine menu boasts 30 different red and white wines by the glass.

Just as Pam was discovering the drink specials board, the bartender, Hawazin, suggested she might want to see the martini menu. Like a giddy five-year-old on Christmas morning, Pam’s eyes lit up as she smiled, her head bobbing in enthusiastic assent. With ten martini choices, she narrowed it down, eliminating the fruity, and selected the Espresso Martini: triple espresso vodka, Tia Maria and a shot of espresso served in a chilled glass and garnished with freshly peeled (and knotted) lemon zest. Though pricey at $12 to $16, one is all you will need to put a glow in your cheeks. The signature martini, Friends Lake Inn L'Orange Martini, sells for $22 and features Grand Marnier Cent Cinquantenaire (150th anniversary blend), Grey Goose L'Orange, fresh lemon and organic wild clover honey.

Much more than a bar, the Wine Bar offers appetizers of artisan cheeses, crab cakes, mussels, soups and salads. Entrees include flank steaks, cod filet, Black Angus burgers and an open-faced elk sandwich, to name a few. The Wine Bar is open for dining Monday through Thursday 4 to 9 p.m., Friday 4 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday 2 to 9:30 p.m. and Sunday 2 to 8:30 p.m. The bar has last call at midnight. They are open year round, but close Monday through Wednesday in the off-season from November through Christmas and from mid-March through late May. Just in case, check the hours on their website before you go. Musical entertainment is occasionally featured. Rich Ortiz, a local favorite, will be performing on New Year’s Eve. Cell phone reception is spotty, but The Friends Lake Inn does have WiFi.

We met Ellen and Hal, a couple who has made the Wine Bar a favorite destination for over 20 years, stopping in frequently on their way to Brant Lake. The Wine Bar at Friends Lake Inn is not for the faint of wallet, but is well worth the visit. Dining specials are offered on Sundays ($7 entrees before 7 p.m.) and Thursdays ($17.95 three-course dinner). The atmosphere is charming, warm and welcoming and the service is superb and professional.

Panther Mountain Inn, Chestertown

The Panther Mountain Inn is located in the heart of Chestertown on Main Street.  The pub is found on the lower level of the Inn.  The building is built into a hill, so both are above ground.  The Inn, which has been in business for about 50 years, has 13 rooms (I guess the owners are not superstitious).   The new owners have been in business for less than a year.  They also own a local taxi service, and encourage patrons to take advantage of a cab when necessary.

There was a birthday party in progress in an adjoining room, and at least a half dozen patrons not associated with the party were scattered throughout the bar.  The long bar was setup to seat about 20 patrons, but there was room for many more if needed.   The bartender, Ed, informed us that we just missed  a large crowd of snowmobilers.  The Panther Mountain Inn is located on a snowmobile trail that runs through town, and looks forward to various groups dropping in for food and drink at various times throughout the day.  A group of 5 or 6 snowmobilers came in while we were there, the pungent odor of gasoline lingering on their snowsuits.   

The pub is open 7 days a week from noon to close.  They serve sandwiches, wings, (basic bar fare), throughout the day and night for a very modest price.  I have heard that their sandwiches are delicious, but can only vouch for the wings that I found most delectable and not too messy.  Though they don't have a happy hour, or daily drink specials, they do even better by having reasonable drink prices all day long.

A pleasant, comfortable place to drop in anytime of year, you'll find friendly staff, good food at a good value.

Bottoms Up!

More Creations in the Lab

We've been at it again. New drinks are flowing all the time. Tonight we worked on the Blue Line and the Blue Line Martini, both works in progress, but they show definite promise.

Blue Line Cocktail

Blue Curacao

White Chocolate liqueur

Vodka

Milk

Shaken over ice and served in a cocktail glass.

Blue Line Martini

Blue Curacao

Tangueray gin

Fresh blueberries

White chocolate liqueur

Milk

Blenderized and garnished with 3 fresh blueberries.

The Black Fly Bite

Opal Nera Sambuca

Cherry Brandy

Grenadine

This weekend we travel to the Panther Mountain Inn  (P-House) in Chestertown. We haven't been on the road in a couple of weeks so this should be fun!