This is the story of the best whiskey sour that I’ve ever had, and the ensuing quest to re-find it.
I was lucky enough to spend a week in China back in 2015. We travelled with a group of other Travel Agents; the idea being to expose us to as much China as could be reasonably expected in a week.
It was a whirlwind trip, but still very special. We traveled in the off season (January/February), and though we had to dress warmly, we were never uncomfortable walking around.
To give you a sense of where we travelled, here’s a glimpse of our itinerary
Some of the highlights for me (don’t worry, I’ll get to the whiskey sour) were, Shanghai generally and the bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing. We were lucky enough to get an upgrade at the Marriott Executive Apartments which was pretty sweet (no pun intended). It was a well appointed suite; with a huge whirlpool tub in the bathroom. The LuSong Yuan Hotel was also pretty unique. Most of the hotels we stayed in had a Western feel, but the LuSong didn’t. To give you an idea, here’s a picture of the bed in our room.
The hotel was situated in a “sort of” alley; with a few shops alongside. Hubby and I had some free time in the evening, so we wandered down the alley to check things out.
We popped into a local bar for a drink on our little outing; and on the chalkboard menu was a little drink with the name “S#*t Hot Whiskey Sour”. And it was yummy … how to describe it … it had just the right amount of sour (not much), a giant round (or was it square?) ice cube (nice touch), a little froth; so you know some work had been done on it; and a hint of sweet. I’m not doing it justice. We ended up spending more time in that little bar than we intended … you know how that goes.
As you can see from our itinerary, there was no opportunity to head back to the little bar on the whirlwind trip.
I spent the intervening years trying to find another Whiskey Sour that could match the excellence of the Beijing Whiskey Sour; to no avail. Some came close, that’s for sure and some were dreadful.
Fast forward to April 2019. Hubby and I were on our way to hop on a cruise ship in Sydney, Australia (more about that in a later post probably). It so happened that we found ourselves with a 9+ hour lay over in Beijing; and so we set off on a quest to find that bar and to have another “S#*t Hot Whiskey Sour”; then I could see if it lived up to the hype I had given it in my head. Plus it’s nice to have a little project on these layovers.
The adventure began before we even left the airport. We had to find the kiosk where we could pick up our “You’re Allowed Out Of the Airport” stamp; a challenge when you can’t speak the language. We wandered around until we saw some official looking posters leading to an official looking booth, and, as luck would have it, that’s where we needed to be!
Now, we didn’t actually know the name of the bar … and it took some sifting through the archives to figure out what the hotel was. We hopped in a taxi and shoved a piece of paper with what we thought was roughly the address of the bar.
It was a challenge, but kudos to the taxi driver, he got us fairly close to our destination. The traffic from the airport was very busy, but that wasn’t the most treacherous part of the trip. As we neared our destination, we entered a maze of alleys, barely wide enough to fit our cab. Our cab driver drove through the maze for what seemed like forever, then finally, hubby and I spotted the hotel.
We had the cab driver drop us off (we paid him) and off we went to find the bar. Easy you think, you’re home free. Not quite. We walked around and couldn’t see a bar that looked like the one in our respective memories. We were perplexed; we were certain we were in the right spot. We retraced our steps and did find a bar, but it didn’t look right.
We went inside, and sure enough, there was my “S#*t Hot Whiskey Sour” still on the menu (even though the menu had been revamped since we were last there). It turned out that there had been a new regulation requiring that the bar move it’s store front and window from the front of the building to the side. Why … I do not know.
And so we had made it; our quest fulfilled. We ate snacks and I drank my “S#*t Hot Whiskey Sour” … it was just as yummy the second time.
I’ve tried to find the bar for you in Google Maps. And here’s my best guess (but please don’t hate me if I’m wrong).
So, next time you’re in Beijing maybe treat yourself to the best Whiskey Sour. or maybe you know a better one? (but I doubt it).
