Cocktails

Happy Hour at Mango Peruvian Cuisine: Imbibing, Incan Style

Mango Peruvian Cuisine (1101 Lucas Avenue, 314-621-9993) The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., and late-night happy hour Monday through Thursday from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. The Deal: $5 margaritas, martinis and wines, $3 premium drafts, $16 pitchers of sangria and $5 select small-plate d ... More >>

Hendricks BBQ's Keyan Still: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Kaitlin Steinberg profiles Keyan Still of Hendricks BBQ. Below is a Q&A with Still, followed by his recipe for a "Hendricks' House Bloody Mary." Keyan Still is intent upon talking to ev ... More >>

Brio Tuscan Grille's Dirty Martini (With Cougar): Gut Check's Humpday Cocktail Suggestion

Wednesday. Hump Day. Congrats, you've made it halfway through the work week! Unfortunately, you still have two days to go. Dunno about you, but in order to survive the midweek blues, we're going to need a drink. Which brings us to our Wednesday Gut Check feature: "Gut Check's Hump-Day Cocktail Sug ... More >>

Three Kings' Pink Gin Julep: Gut Check's Hump-Day Cocktail Suggestion

Wednesday. Hump Day. Congrats, you've made it halfway through the work week! Unfortunately, you still have two days to go. Dunno about you, but in order to survive the midweek blues, we're going to need a drink. Which brings us to our Wednesday Gut Check feature: "Gut Check's Hump-Day Cocktail Sug ... More >>

Happy Hour at Canyon Café: Enter the Drinking Oasis

Canyon Café (1707 South Lindbergh, Frontenac; 314-872-3443) The Hours: Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. The Deal: $3 draft beers, $3 wells, $4 wines, $4 "Coyote margaritas" and select discounted dishes.

Farmhaus' All I See Is Gold: Gut Check's Hump-Day Cocktail Suggestion

Wednesday. Hump Day. Congrats, you've made it halfway through the work week! Unfortunately, you still have two days to go. Dunno about you, but in order to survive the midweek blues, we're going to need a drink. Which brings us to our Wednesday Gut Check feature: "Gut Check's Hump-Day Cocktail Su ... More >>

Baileys' Chocolate Bar's Laura Therina: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Jaime Lees profiles Laura Therina of Baileys' Chocolate Bar. Below is a Q&A with Therina, followed by the recipe for the Mexican Chocolate Martini.With the most romantic day of the year ... More >>

America the Jell-O Shot: A Boozy Dessert Experiment Involving the Lower 48

Earlier this week Gut Check talked to Salute American Vodka founder Pete Kelly about the product's launch in Missouri. Eager to concoct ways to taste test Salute American Vodka, we threw around a few ideas, until one stuck: red, white and blue Jell-O shots! For awhile, Jell-O o'clock was our favorit ... More >>

Sassy Jac's Laura O'Connell: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Alice Telios profiles Sassy Jac's Laura O'Connell. Below is a Q&A with O'Connell, followed by the recipe for the Capri Sun.In early May, a Soulard dining and drinking sanctuary rose fro ... More >>

Sanctuaria's Matt Seiter Brings Cocktails on Tap to New Orleans Cocktail Conference

It was a dangerous game for Gut Check to discover cocktails on tap. That's right, cocktails flowing freely right next to the beer taps. You can now get such no-hassle hooch at Sanctuaria (4198 Manchester Ave; 314-535-9700) and Diablitos Cantina (3761 Laclede Avenue; 314-644-4430). Gut Check spoke to ... More >>

Anheuser-Busch Test Markets Margarita-Flavored Beer

​You'd think that the brain trust at Anheuser-Busch InBev would have considered the margarita earlier. After all, the blend of tequila, lime juice and orange-flavored liqueur is one of the most popular mixed drinks in America. But, no. When the brewery first looked south of the border for inspirat ... More >>

The Famous Bar's Flynn Snider: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Sarah Baraba profiles the Famous Bar's Flynn Snider. Below is a Q&A with Snider, followed by the recipe for a Pumpkin Spice Martini. Flynn Snider's brain might as well be the bible of ... More >>

Interview: Joy Christensen Talks About The Fountain On Locust's New Menu

Mabel SuenJoy Christensen, owner of The Fountain On Locust​July is National Ice Cream Month, and the Fountain on Locust (3037 Locust Street, Midtown; 314-535-7800) delivers just in time to celebrate with an updated menu featuring plenty more drinks and frozen treats, plus a couple of brand new ... More >>

Salt Smash, Salt

Chrissy WilmesThe recently opened Salt ​We had the much-buzzed-about Salt (4356 Lindell Blvd., 314-932-5787) in mind for this week's column. Its website, which emphasized the farm-to-table, ingredient-driven focus, made no mention of drinks. It seemed certain that a place as on-trend as this o ... More >>

Molecular Boozestronomy with Oceano's Mary Stowell: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week Katie Moulton profiles Oceano's Mary Stowell. Below is a Q&A with Stowell, followed by the recipe for her Deconstructed Espresso Martini. Katie Moulton​Mary Stowell has worked at ... More >>

Happy Hour at Mazara Has Its Ups and Downs

Kristen Klempert​The Joint: Mazara 7923 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-725-3434 The Hours: Mon.-Fri. 5-7 p.m. The Deal: $5 Pineapple martinis, $4 well cocktails, $3 draft beers, $2 domestic bottles, discounts on select pizzas and appetizers. What's a pineapple martini?

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Drink: High-toned cocktails require top-shelf...ice?

Kold-Draft: The Machine Behind the Ice Revolution

www.kold-draft.comA Kold-Draft ice cube​If you've read this week's article on the ice revolution in mixology -- if you haven't, hurry! before it melts! -- you know that its local origins can be traced back to Ted Kilgore, now of Taste, using a Kold-Draft ice machine to Monarch when he worked there ... More >>

You Want Ice Cream with That? Boozing It Up at Fountain on Locust

Kristen KlempertHome of the ice cream martini? Gut Check'll try anything once!​The Joint: The Fountain on Locust 3037 Locust Street; 314-535-7800 The Hours: Tue.-Sun. 4-6 p.m. The Deal: $2 domestic bottles, $6 ice cream martinis Drinking your dessert? Gut Check has a word for that. We call ... More >>

Eclipse's Lucas Ramsey Takes the Mystery Out of Cocktails

Stew SmithEclipse bar manager Lucas Ramsey plies his trade at a 2009 cocktailin' event.​Lucas Ramsey, bar manager at Eclipse Restaurant in the Delmar Loop's Moonrise Hotel, not only works magic with elixirs, but on the drinker's psyche as well. One Saturday night, when faced with a gin-phobic ... More >>

St. Louis Happy Hours: Clayton

McGurk's Public House's Charlie Myers: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week Alissa Nelson profiles Charlie Myers of McGurk's Public House in O'Fallon. Below is a Q&A with Walters, followed by a video of him and special guest Ronnie Walters of McGurk's Soulard mi ... More >>

Mango Peruvian Cuisine: Good as (Incan) Gold

Kristen Klempert​The Joint: Mango Peruvian Cuisine 1101 Lucas Avenue 314-621-9993 The Hours: Mon.-Fri. 3-6 p.m. (Late-night Mon.-Thu. 9-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 10 p.m.-1 a.m. The Deal: $5 martinis, margaritas, select wines; $3 draft beer; $2 bottled beer; $16 pitchers of sangría. Select appetize ... More >>

Primatey Colors: Three Monkeys

Kristen Klempert​The Joint: Three Monkeys 3153 Morganford Road; 314-772-9800 The Hours: Monday-Friday 4-7p.m. Graveyard Shift happy hour Saturday 7-9 a.m. The Deal: $1.95 Domestic Bottles, $2 wells, $3 wines and $1off all drafts. Half off most appetizers. Graveyard Shift happy hour includes ... More >>

Sunday is N.I.C.E. - That's "National Ice Cream Day"!

​We have the Gipper to thank for this one. Sweets-loving president Ronald Reagan issued an official proclamation marking the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. Despite the cone's reputed creation at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, our town's not making a big deal of the holiday ... More >>

Kelly Washam of Novak's Bar & Grill in the Grove: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week Alissa Nelson profiles Novak's bartender Kelly Washam. Alissa Nelson​Kelly Washam never plans to close out her nights off at Novak's. "The staff here is so close. And there's a g ... More >>

Nightclubbing: Lola Spruces Up the Washington Avenue Neighborhood with Live Music, Cocktails and Food

Diana BenantiLola's got it all: music, impressive cocktails and ambience. It's not your typical downtown establishment, and that's a good thing. ​ Lola fills a niche that's been missing in the Washington Avenue scene: an upscale neighborhood joint where downtown denizens can sip, nosh and enj ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Pastis Plenty, 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar

User "Chriusha," Wikimedia Commons​Supposedly the world is running out of bitters. Not bitter people, mind you, but the cocktail mixer. Specifically, Angostura bitters, those that come in the ubiquitous paper-wrapped bottle with the yellow plastic cap. Just a few years ago, such news wouldn't hav ... More >>

Gut Check Gets Hitched

Perfect Margarita and Apple Juice

An Applebee's

Hendrick's Martini

Lester's Sports Bar & Grill, 9906 Clayton Road, Ladue; 314-994-0055.

Drinks Of The Year

Monarch,
7401 Manchester Road, Maplewood; 314-644-7175.

Al Smith's Feasting Fox,
4200 South Grand Avenue; 314-352-3500.

Mango,
7307 Watson Road, Shrewsbury; 314-752-8300.

Clayton on the Beach

Mango batida

Café Brasil, 2811 South McKnight Road, Rock Hill; 314-963-3535.

The Subcontinental

The Royale, 3132 South Kingshighway, 314-772-3600

Cîroc martini

Lucas Park Grille, 1234 Washington Avenue, 314-241-7770

Hotel Bars

Drink of the Week: A downtown highlight reel

Hot Chocolate

Bailey's Chocolate Bar is naughty -- in a nice way

Best Place for Cocktails

King Louie's

Always on Sunday

Brunch to your heart's content at Nadoz, 609 and La Dolce Via

Raspberry Margarita

Tejas, 44 North Brentwood Boulevard, Clayton, 314-862-1414

Raising the Bar

A week of the drink

Best Margarita

Maya Café

Best Martini

The Ritz-Carlton Lobby Lounge

Club 'Cello

Nik's Wine Bar, 307 Belt Avenue, 314-454-0403

Wild Apple Martini

12 North, 12 North Meramec, 314-721-7801

The Green Meanie

Hammerstone's, 2028 South Ninth, 314-773-5565

More Than Mean Margaritas

Pueblo Solis dishes up authentic, delicious Mexican -- and pours libations to match

Margaritas

Hacienda

Martinis

Ritz-Carlton Hotel