{"id":2248,"date":"2018-04-30T20:23:05","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T03:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2018-04-30T20:23:05","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T03:23:05","slug":"write-yourself-into-the-sweet-story-of-a-craft-cocktail-in-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/offcourse\/2248\/write-yourself-into-the-sweet-story-of-a-craft-cocktail-in-detroit","title":{"rendered":"Write Yourself into the Sweet Story of a Craft Cocktail in Detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The Sugar House is an artisanal craft cocktail bar which serves single barrel bourbons and batch booze with fresh-squeezed juices, house-made syrups and liquors, fresh basil and mint, and even specialized ice.
(Photo by Harrison Shiels)<\/p><\/div>\n

Successful suspense novelist Stephen King revealed, in his autobiography \u201c\u2026On Writing,\u201d that he drank so much Budweiser while penning his book\u00a0Cujo<\/em>\u00a0he doesn\u2019t remember typing a word of the bestseller.<\/p>\n

Oscar Wilde who, on the subject of drinking, wrote, \u201cAfter the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

J.R.R. Tolkien, who authored\u00a0Lord of the Rings<\/em>, penned, \u201cHo, ho, ho, to the bottle I go\/to heal my heart and drown my woe.\u201d<\/p>\n

A stylish speakeasy on\u00a0Michigan Ave.\u00a0in\u00a0Detroit\u2019s historic \u201cCorktown\u201d neighborhood recently celebrated the inexorable relationship between writers and booze with a special menu of cocktails inspired by \u201cThe Great American Novel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of\u00a0America’s greatest contributions to the world was the cocktail; and cozying up by the fire with a good book. So we decided to marry the great American novel with the great American cocktail,\u201d said Julie Haase, general manager of\u00a0The Sugar House.\u00a0The Sugar House\u00a0is an artisanal craft cocktail bar which serves single barrel bourbons and batch booze with fresh-squeezed juices, house-made syrups and liquors, fresh basil and mint, and even specialized ice.\u00a0The Sugar House\u2019s intimate setting has a century-old feel with dark wood and formal elements such as chandeliers, drapes, candles and custom glassware. It\u2019s the kind of gin joint one would expect to be either the setting for a classic novel or the haunt of a famed novelist. It\u2019s a perfect place to pretend you\u2019re an author and get lost in the sauce.<\/p>\n

A Confederacy of Dunces<\/em>, and\u00a0On the Road<\/em>\u00a0were both spirit-forward cocktails with rich flavors of molasses, coffee and maple, respectively.\u00a0My Antonia<\/em>,\u00a0To the Lighthouse<\/em>, and\u00a0Fahrenheit 541<\/em>\u00a0– a flamed cocktail – were all full of baking spices.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Adventures of Huckleberry Finn<\/em>, and\u00a0Grapes of Wrath<\/em>\u00a0are all bitter and complex, perfect drinks to sip and savor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cocktails ranged in price from $11 to $17.<\/p>\n

Scott Fitzgerald wrote\u00a0The Great Gatsby,\u00a0<\/em>which is what\u00a0The Sugar House called a concoction of Bruto Suze, Amaro Nonino Quintessentia, Vodka, Tonic, and Grapefruit Spray. Fitzgerald said, \u201cFirst you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Literature-minded Sugar House patrons tasted their way through elixirs dedicated to the likes of Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, Ray Bradbury and Cormack McCarthy, who said, \u201cThere is no such joy in the tavern as upon the road thereto.\u201d\u00a0Kerouac concurred by saying, \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned the only thing to do is to sit in a room and get drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirsty writers like those, and visitors from\u00a0Lansing, would be wise (and responsible) to enjoy the experience fully by hiring a convenient Dean Black Car driver to shuttle themselves and their guests back and forth to\u00a0Detroit\u00a0in comfort and safety. The service provides cars, SUV\u2019s and even a luxury bus so you can read and sip on couches with tables on the way there and back.<\/p>\n

Sugar House\u00a0should be able to reproduce some of the \u201cNovel\u201d cocktails upon request in the future.\u00a0Visit\u00a0SugarHouseDetroit.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0DeanBlackCar.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The

The Sugar House is an artisanal craft cocktail bar which serves single barrel bourbons and batch booze with fresh-squeezed juices, house-made syrups and liquors, fresh basil and mint, and even specialized ice.
(Photo by Harrison Shiels)<\/p><\/div>\n

Contact<\/em>\u00a0Travel Writer Michael Patrick Shiels at\u00a0MShiels@aol.com<\/u><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0His radio program may be heard weekday mornings on 92.1 FM.\u00a0\u00a0His latest book is \u201cI Call Him Mr. President \u2013 Stories of Fishing, Golf and Life with my Friend George H.W. Bush\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Successful suspense novelist Stephen King revealed, in his autobiography \u201c\u2026On Writing,\u201d that he drank so much Budweiser while penning his… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19164],"tags":[629,975884,1019758,2534,2834,1044570,980598],"class_list":["post-2248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-offcourse","tag-beer","tag-alcohol","tag-drinks","tag-liquor","tag-michigan","tag-detroit","tag-restaurant"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2018\/04\/image1-e1525144792936.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2250,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions\/2250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}