The most iconic Chicago department store of them all, Macy’s has a café on the seventh floor, just south of The Walnut Room. Bar Cart Stylings were handled by Chicago Style Influencer Helen Berkun. The Violet Hour mixologist Abe Vucekovich teaches James Beard Award-winning, pre-prohibition style craft cocktails at both Shedd Aquarium and Macys.
For the men, it was limes, cherries, black jellybeans held the black and crystal theme together. Bright, natural colors into the home were a constant over the both carts. Use it as your kitchen fruit storage device that you can wheel to different rooms.
Books for elevation, personal memoirs are a plus. Don’t buy a vase; try a beautiful tumbler with a flower instead.
The Old Fashioned has been a Violet Hour best seller for eleven years.. .it is the quintessential cocktail. The first time hearing the word cocktail was when it was used to describe the Old Fashioned.
The cocktail was a medicinal remedy of components meant to ail you after a long days work. Back then most grocery stores also served as taverns and bars. A bartender would give you all the ingredients and ask you what spirit you preferred.
By the 1850’s during the Industrial Revolution, different cultures brought traditions and spirits, from every corner of the globe. Absinthe, Italian Amaro and fruit based liqueurs all made their way into cocktails. Many people were drinking peach and pear brandys from Europe. It was all DIY; the consumers would make it themselves.
The Civil War changed things and people longed for a simpler time. Instead of describing the nuance of spirits patron want bartenders to just make a cocktail the old fashioned way. A newspaper article on it immortalized it as ‘the old fashioned way’
Whisky. Demara. Angostra Bitters.
—Nkosi
Other Notes:
-The most important thing ever is the garnish a lemon peel. Orange has a lot of oil. Lemon is brighter a lot of people see droppers and think its too esoteric to demonstrate how much oil comes out of one expression he lights the lemon on fire one expression of lemon coats the glass completely with oil.
– Whiskey preference in a Violet Hour Old Fashioned is anything that is bonded. 50% ABV, and 100 proof aged 4 years minimum. They collect lovely honey, cinnamon and caramel notes, many are 6-8 years old.
-Big Star (across the street from Violet Hour) squeezes 35 liters of lime, lemon and pineapple everyday.
-Philadelphia Fish House Punch was the night’s other drink. Fisherman in Philly back in 1732 decided citizens needed of their own state. It was an FU to Great Britain who ran the show here in those times. America wasn’t a thing until 1776.
-The Violet Hour is James Beard Award-winning craft cocktail bar at 1520 N Damen Ave in Wicker Park
-Vintage Table Decor Furnishings for the event were handled The Festive Frog in Lake Bluff