HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
•
DECEMBER 2012
35
FOOD & DRINK
SEAN FREDERICK GETS
a weary
look on his face when I bring up the
pickleback, and frankly it’s hard to
blame the guy. We’re at Citizen Public
House, Boston’s top brown-booze
bar, where Frederick and crew make
their bones on breathless paeans to
flavor profiles and custom-cra ed ice
spheres, not indelicate double wham-
mies of Irish whiskey and pickle juice.
But wait: It turns out that he likes the
drink; he’s simply vexed by the recipe.
“
A pickleback at its best is a per-
fect yin and yang of sweetness and
saltiness,” he says. “A er that one-two
punch fades, though, you’remostly le
with a lingering pickle flavor, so the
brine can’t be an afterthought.” The
staff auditioned upward of a dozen
juices for the supporting role, and
Frederick says he’s reasonably content
—
not thrilled—with the winner. “It’s
much easier to find an easy-to-shoot
Irishwhiskey thana good off-the-shelf
pickle brine,” he sighs.
The numbers would seem to
bear out that claim. According to
the Distilled Spirits Council of the
United States, American imports of
Irish whiskey reached
FOXY BROWN
A few of the Irish whiskeys
on offer at Brooklyn’s Char No. 4
PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF QUINN
THE IRISH HELLO
Move over, vodka. The fastest-growing
spirit in the United States speaks with a
jaunty brogue.
BY JOLYON HELTERMAN
