Enjoyed: Sunday, March 12, 2023

Listed on the menu: Not on the brunch menu, but I found it on the cocktail menu as “House Old Fashioned”.

Ingredients: Bulleit rye whiskey, malted barley syrup, angostura, orange bitters, Luxardo cherry, orange garnish.

The occasion: Sometimes, the best things in life are those closest to home. And the best company to keep? People you’ve known for decades. On this particular Sunday, we joined four of our dearest friends for brunch on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. We followed our lovely meal with a stop at Rockfish Brewing Company, just a few blocks away, to continue our conversations.

My rating: **** out of 5. The cocktail was sweeter than I expected, likely because of a heavy dose of the molasses-like malted barley syrup. Yet the syrup did give the drink a distinct flavor, which complemented the eggs, pork, tomato, and potato of my meal. I would order it again for brunch, but maybe not with a more savory supper entree.

Final thoughts: It snowed! Yes, Charlottesville–the first we have seen all season! None of the big, wet flakes stuck to the roadways, happily, but we really enjoyed watching them fall from the sky and land on us as we walked the mall.