And I Mean Ice!

Terry Williams

Jan 28

To celebrate the Year of the Rabbit, I’m toasting this bunny with a lapin libation that has local roots. Terry Williams, one of Houston, Texas’ “Bartender of the Year” winners, is a local star with international recognition as a master sommelier as well. He has managed both Anvil Bar and Refuge, Houston’s most famous bar program, Better Luck Tomorrow and Squable, joint restaurant collaborations between Anvil owner Bobby Heugel and James Beard winning chef Justin Yu, where he first created this cocktail. The drink is differentiated from a standard Negroni by way of its aging process, which occurs from exposure to clay shards. Clay aged spirits can be traced back thousands of years to Greek amphora used to store wine. Modern natural winemakers have revived this practice in pursuit of new flavor experiences outside of traditional wood cask aging. Portland bartender Douglas Derrick is credited with first aging a Negroni in clay about ten years ago to achieve a “subtle earthiness and minerality” that would avoid the tannins and oak imparted from barrel aging.

William’s clay-aged Negroni features added accents of orange and spice. Using a traditional non-glazed clay vessel, the aging process will take about two weeks to achieve the subtle mellowing and melding of flavors, which results in a drink that tastes more like a deliciously mild amaro than a bitter Negroni. Williams amps up the gin content to counter this effect, and speeds the process at his restaurant by aging the mixture with pottery shards. He puts his own unique spin on the drink with a quote and a nod to one of his favorite movies, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”. Fans of the movie will recall a scene when Bob Hoskins character, the detective Eddie, orders a “scotch on the rocks”, and then shouts at the retreating waiter’s back, “AND I MEAN ICE!”. Of course, this being Toon Town, the drink comes out served with a big rock. Which is exactly how you will receive the drink at Squable, too. Cheers!