Usually after I’m requested to go to a bar, it’s a brand new operation — so recent that always the paint isn’t even dry. I had no thought after I stepped into Austin’s Swift’s Attic that it had been round since 2012 — with common supervisor and beverage director Curtis Hansford on the helm for nearly its whole lifetime.
Swift’s Attic — which might be discovered on the highest flooring of pretty brief constructing in downtown Austin — is each bar and restaurant, and it’s powerful to inform which is the main focus, because the sq. footage appears about equal for either side of the home. I skilled each the meals and the drink. I’m nonetheless unsure which one I appreciated higher.
However let’s begin with the drinks.
Swift’s Attic has a sizeable assortment of whiskeys that are outlined in broad strokes at the back of its menu. If you wish to get into specifics, you’ll must inquire verbally. Somebody stole the flowery, printed menu some years in the past and Hansford by no means made a brand new one. Extra doubtless than not you’ll begin your night with one among Swift’s cocktails. Arguably essentially the most well-known of those are its assortment of ice ball cocktails, that are a “Swift’s Attic unique” that freeze every kind of goodies into an ice ball, then have the primary spirit poured on prime. The Ice Ball Oldie is a spin on the quaint that features Cherry Heering, orange, lemon, and and Luxardo cherry all frozen into ice. Tin Cup whiskey is poured on prime. Because the ice slowly melts, the flavoring brokers imbue the whiskey with varied delights, turning into stronger and stronger over time. Swift’s invitations you to “reload” with one other shot — or another spirit — if you wish to proceed the evolution, which may final for a number of hours when you tempo issues out.
I additionally liked the seasonal Pay-pa-plane, which provides strawberrry-and-orange-peel-infused Aperol to eight 12 months outdated Dickel, lemon juice, and Montenegro to refashion a contemporary traditional, loading it up with fruit notes. The Ubriaco, one other seasonal, refashions a margarita once more by including that very same fruit-infused Aperol to the traditional recipe, brightening it up and making for a brisker, fruitier tequila cocktail.
Hansford creates all of the drinks right here himself — typically with only a second’s discover — and infrequently opts for slight variations on the classics. His Razz-Beret provides raspberry infusion and yuzu syrup to Prosecco to remake the French 75, whereas Your Favourite Drink provides butterfly pea flower-infused vodka to offer a French 76 some vigorous shade. (Hansford, by the best way, takes credit score for introducing the world to butterfly pea flower as a purple-blue cocktail colorant, saying he acquired the concept from his grandmother, who would put it in her tea again in Costa Rica.)
On the meals facet, Swift’s menu is wildly eclectic and constructed round Texas favorites, typically spun with Asian components. (Swift’s mother or father firm additionally operates two Chinese language eating places.) Charred edamame, with a facet of salt and unflavored pop rocks that you simply dip them into, are too loopy (and enjoyable) to cross up, whereas the How We Roll reinvents the sushi roll as a supply mechanism for uncommon sirloin steak as a substitute of uncooked fish. The galbi dipping sauce is just too good by itself to cross up.
For an entree, we opted for the combined grill Texas Struggle, which features a kaleidoscope of shrimp, wagyu jalapeno and cheddar sausage, and zucchini atop a layer of cheddar grits. The plate doesn’t look notably daunting, nevertheless it was loads of meals for 2 folks to share — and that sausage is a number of the greatest I’ve ever had.
One thing of a hidden gem that’s barely off the crushed path for downtown Austin watering holes, it’s a spot I’ll positively be returning to — each for dinner and drinks.
315 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701
swiftsattic.com
Swift’s Attic, Austin
