You guys. I need a drink.
Okay, that’s not true. It’s Tuesday afternoon. I don’t need a drink or even want one right now, if you must know.
But from time to time, I want a drink. Not a craft beer, and not a glass of wine—although don’t get me wrong, these are solid drink choices. Except when I want an honest-to-goodness, grown-up, made-with-spirits, comes-in-a-real-glass kind of drink.
I want to walk into a dimly lit bar with red vinyl seats and hear Frank Sinatra or Sam Cooke playing quietly in the background. I want to walk up to the bartender and ask for an Old Fashioned or a Gimlet or a Corpse Reviver #2 and have that person know exactly what to do.
And most of all, I don’t want to pay $14 for a drink that should cost 7 or 8 bucks at the most.
Does this place exist? Is there a place in Fresno or Reedley or Clovis where a broad like me can order a well-made, reasonably priced drink and have a conversation with friends without having to shout over a jukebox, loud band or group of inebriated 22-year-olds?
Tell me, please. Because as our local saloons start to change, fade away, flame out too quickly, or literally catch fire (Landmark, Audie’s, The Republican, Livingstone’s, respectively), and nothing comparable comes along to replace them, I’m left wondering if the days of social drinking as we know it are coming to an end.
So help me out. Where’s a good place to get a drink in these parts?
I love where I live, and I also love what I do. I'm lucky to be able to work in a profession in which I get to build relationships; one that has me meeting new people each and every day and helping them to build new lives in my beloved city. I'm lucky enough to work in a profession in which I can marry cutting-edge technologies and marketing techniques to good, old-fashioned, nose-to-the-grindstone work. I am lucky enough to work in a profession that allows me to work as an advocate for my clients; to use every tool at my disposal to get a job done well for them, and with as little stress and expense as possible.
I love my city. I love my job. One inspires my excellence for the other.
Fresno? I say FresYES
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although i can’t say every bartender at these places can make a corpse reviver #2, strummers and veni’s both can usually handle your gimlet or old fashioned needs. brandon at strummers for sure can handle that. and as long as you’re in there between like 5 – 9, you can have a reasonable priced, well made drink without shouting over everything.
unless there is a soccer game on, and then you may have to put up with me, yelling at the tv.
It’s been awhile since I was at Veni’s. Can’t remember why I stopped going there, but it might have been the prices.
Richard’s. Limelight. Cosmopolitan. Manhattan…oh, and Schoolhouse in Selma.
I keep hearing about Lime Lite. It’s been a long time since I was there, so I’ll have to give it a go. Thanks for the suggestions!
You’re definitely looking for a good craft cocktail bar.
Fresno? Doesn’t exist; not yet at least, let alone a dedicated one. There’s been attempts (Republican), but nothing resembling what bigger cities have been doing for the past several years; SD and SF, to note. Fresno’s not quite ready or fully market-mature for this category yet (shocker), because as you touched upon, not many people ( especially millennials and DT / Tower) are willing to spend upwards of $11 for a drink. However, there are places like Annex Kitchen and Cracked Pepper (and on the lower end, Eureka which is doing a commendable job); these of which have exceptional cocktail programs that are pushing hard to introduce and hand-hold Fresno in the journey. But hey, “Fresno” wouldn’t be Fresno if it didn’t have to be forced to see what is currently cool, hip, and trendy. All of the places I mentioned are doing craft cocktails in the truest, literal sense, or, the ‘right’ way. And by right way, I’m not talking about Cosmo’s, Manhattan, or any of the Fresno staples mentioned above; certainly not Stones. Those places, and Fresno in general, just do not have much of a reference point for a great craft cocktail. If you ever ask for an Old Fashioned, and it’s a muddled, maraschino-cherry, pink / beige mess — hightail it out of there. All the places mentioned in your article, do an OF just like this.
Anyways — I feel the pain. I truly do. Sometimes I just want to go to a casual place after work, surrounded by the ambiance you described above, but it’s just not happening in Fresno yet. Cracked is a little too stuffy for happy hour, and Annex is too ‘restaurant-y’ to just hang at the bar for a couple hrs. Eureka is your best bet so far, but it’s blaring with screens and top-40 radio circa 2005, which is a good / bad thing.
Cheers.
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Yup. All of this.