Enjoyed: Saturday, June 24, 2023

Listed on the menu: Yes, as “Westside Old Fashioned”

Ingredients: Westside Thoughtfully Made Whiskey, house-made smoked peach syrup, bitters.

The occasion: Our children gave us tickets for an afternoon sightseeing cruise through the Ballard Locks. The tour started in Lake Union, then through the locks to Puget Sound, then ended at Pier 54 in downtown Seattle. We admired the recreational vessels, the bridges, the houseboats, a passing cruise mega-ship, the distant Olympic Mountains, a handful of seals, a lighthouse, and then the magnificent Seattle skyline. To complete the afternoon, we made reservations at Ivar’s, right there at the waterfront. I feared the proximity to Pike Place would make the restaurant too “touristy” but we ended up with a memorable meal at a table overlooking Elliott Bay.

My rating: ***** out of 5. The smoked peach syrup was the first flavor we smelled and tasted in this cocktail. What a lovely combination! As we continued to sip, the rich raisin notes of the whiskey warmed us. Westside Whiskey, I later learned, is a single malt made in Seattle, with Washington-grown barley and water from the nearby Cascade Mountains. The whiskey resembles Scotch more than bourbon, which explains why the smoked peach paired so well with it.

Final thoughts: Ivar’s was one of the largest restaurants I have ever visited. We didn’t see “acres of clams” but Husband did feast on a two-pound Dungeness crab and I had a generous portion of Ivar’s World Famous True Cod Fish ‘n Chips. And we learned our waiter was a graduate of the University of Virginia, so we got a kick out of all his comments about our town of Charlottesville.