Kaitlin Steinberg

On Monday night, when we decided to go out for an early Hump-Day drink, a storm was on the horizon, but we chose to tempt fate anyway. We jetted up to the top of the Moonrise Hotel to check out the recently opened New Moon Room (6177 Delmar Boulevard; 314-721-1111) and snag a cocktail at the bar.

Bartender Tony Saputo (who, incidentally, has already been interviewed for this column when he was downstairs at Eclipse) made us a Sidewinder, which is the same drink we fell in love with at the New Moon Room media preview event. We gathered our drink and stepped out onto the open roof to enjoy the cool night air.

The relaxing evening did not exactly go as planned.

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"There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars...In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another."

If Chapter 3 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel The Great Gatsby doesn't make you long for a bottle of Champagne or a gin martini, you deserve Prohibition. It throws you headlong into one of Gatsby's famous parties, complete with a seemingly endless supply of bootlegged booze. The narrator, Nick Carraway, describes "floating rounds of cocktails," and a band playing "yellow cocktail music." At one point during the party, a woman "seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the canvas platform."

Like the party, Prohibition was in full swing, but the wealthy and careless people of Fitzgerald's novel (and the rest of the country) cared not a whit.

Yummy cocktails after the jump!

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Salute American Vodka

In April Gut Check talked to Emily Gifford, representative for Salute American Vodka's parent company, Better Brands BevCo., about the company's first big contest in St. Louis. Dubbed "Battle of the Bartenders," the competition kicked off its first round on Monday, April 22.

Tonight the competition enters its final round, with a showdown pitting eight local bartenders against one another at Three Sixty St. Louis (1 South Broadway Street; 314-241-8439) from 7 to 10 p.m.

Curious who the eight finalists are -- and which restaurants and bars they'll be representing?

See also:
- Calling All Local Bartenders: Salute American Vodka Hosts "Battle of the Bartenders" Contest With $1,000 Cash Prize
- Q&A With Pete Kelly, Founder of Salute American Vodka -- Released First in Missouri

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Kaitlin Steinberg

We challenge you to introduce us to a nicer, more modest and gentlemanly bartender than this guy.

When we told Alex Ettinger of Vino Nadoz (16 The Boulevard, Richmond Heights; 314-726-0400) that we wanted to interview him for this column, he was so honored. He began to worry if he was dressed nicely enough. He apologized for giving answers that he thought weren't interesting enough. He laughed genuinely at our stupid jokes.

It's refreshing to meet a guy like Ettinger in a field where being cocky sometimes seems like a prerequisite. Not that we mind cockiness either. We just want a good drink, and Ettinger delivers.

He's been bartending for three years, but he actually started out as a chef. He even went to culinary school and worked at a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona, for a while. Eventually, he wants to open his own restaurant, but for now, he's pretty content to serve up taste drinks to thirsty patrons.

"I like dealing with people, and I like making people happy," Ettinger says. "In the kitchen, you're back there away from everyone. Out here behind the bar, you get to actually see everyone who's happy."

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There's something to be said for a Saturday afternoon spent glued to the television as over-exhuberant moms and their thrifty pals ran willy-nilly through the aisles of a grocery store, grabbing everything they could fit in their carts in a minute and a half. The nail-biting drama of Supermarket Sweep is just missing from cable television these days.

GIFSoup

Luckily for St. Louisans, Dirt Cheap Liquor (8455 Gravois Road, Affton; 314-351-7714) is bringing this great American pastime back at its second annual Dirt Cheap Party Sweep. Unfortunately, Gut Check missed the deadline to apply to be one of the lucky sweepers. The good news is the Party Sweep is somewhat of a spectator sport, so we don't have to miss all the action.

And did we mention there's a giant dancing chicken in a tie-dyed shirt?

We didn't? Well there is. And she's glorious.

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If ever you needed a good excuse to drink, this is probably it.

This Sunday, May 19, Circle of Concern, an organization that feeds the hungry and provides assistance to low-income families in western St. Louis County, will host an event it's calling Amazing Taste. At the event guests will be able to taste more than 600 unique wines, beers and spirits from at least 90 vendors partnered with Lukas Liquor Superstore.

Wine, beer, spirits and helping others. Call Gut Check philanthropic, 'cause we're in!

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Clint Sloan pouring champagne | image via

Think you know champagne? Do you understand the importance of an assemblage? Or how to make a fine cuvée?

On Monday, May 13, The Wine Merchant, Ltd. (20 S. Hanley Road, Clayton; 314-863-6282) is hosting a special champagne class where guests can learn all about the beloved bubbly brew. The class will be lead by guest instructor Clint Sloan, who was recently named one of the top sommeliers in the country by Food & Wine.

In preparation for the class, The Wine Merchant will be pouring L. Aubry Brut Premier Cru Tradition this evening, so stop by for a sneak preview!

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Bielke gestures to the insane array of tequila available at Miagro | Kaitlin Steinberg

The agave has been juiced, the limes have been purchased and the tequila has been stocked. Milagro Modern Mexican (20 Allen Avenue, Webster Groves; 314-962-4300) is ready to make hundreds of margaritas in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Milagro isn't hosting a garish Cinco party, but as the winner of RFT's "Best Margarita" in 2012 and one of the bars with the best tequila selections in town, Milagro is bound to attract a tequila-loving crowd.

If you stop by the Webster Groves Mexican restaurant during lunch, you'll be greeted by Craig Bielke, general manager and lunchtime bartender. He claims he's not really a bartender, but his lack of bartender title belies his skills.

Though he's been working for Milagro for the last few years, Bielke got his start as a sushi chef in Texas. He credits his sushi training with helping him understand the subtleties of crafting a stellar cocktail.

"There are so many little ingredients that make a roll really good," Bielke says. "When you become a sushi chef, you don't get to touch rice for five years. The tiniest variation can make sushi rice good or bad. It's the same thing when you're crafting a cocktail. The ingredients might be pretty simple, but if you put too much of one thing, it's not balanced."

Bielke's boss was a sushi chef from Korea who had trained for ten years in Japan to become a master. He wanted to send Bielke to Japan to continue his training, but Bielke decided sushi was no longer his thing. He moved to Missouri to attend Eden Theological Seminary. The seminary may not seem like the obvious choice after studying to be a sushi chef, but the move from seminary to bartending is even more surprising.

"I decided that bartending could be a type of ministry," Bielke says. "I get to talk to a lot of people. I get to do what I love to do. I love business. I love the challenges that business presents. And I get to host a party with 150 to 300 guests every night. How cool is that?"

Hey, no arguments here.

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Kaitlin Steinberg profiles Craig Bielke of Milagro Modern Mexican. Below is a Q&A with Bielke, followed by the recipe for a "Carpe Dia."

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Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the successful clobbering of the French military by a group of ragtag Mexicans defending the town of Puebla de los Angeles. France had been trying to carve out an empire in Mexican territory, and when the country sent 6,000 troops to the small town in east-central Mexico, they were confident they would overthrow the Mexican army. Thanks to some stellar planning (and heavy artillery) the Mexicans defeated the French, killing 500 soldiers.

The holiday isn't that special in Mexico outside of the state of Puebla, but here in 'Merica we like to celebrate the French getting cut down to size by feisty Mexicans. And how do we do that?

With tequila. Lots of tequila.

To help you celebrate, we've compiled a list of the restaurants with best tequila selections outside of Mexico. Actually, these are just the ones in St. Louis, but they'll definitely do the trick.

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With the Kentucky Derby happening this Saturday, we thought our readers could use a mint julep to help them ride out the rest of the week until the inevitable drinking and partying associated with both the Derby and Cinco de Mayo the following day.

Jennifer Silverberg

We ventured to Sanctuaria (4198 Manchester Avenue; 314-535-9700), the tapas and cocktail bar headed by master mixologist Matt Seiter, in search of the perfect mint julep, and bartender Nate Kromat definitely delivered.

Served in a chilled silver goblet, the Sanctuaria julep is worthy of a sweet Southern belle sitting on a warm Kentucky porch in May. It's not too fancy or avant garde. It's lots of mint and lots of bourbon and just the right amount of sweetness. And oh, that mint!

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