The Double Standard Creates a Devilish Seasonal Cocktail

The Double Standard Creates a Devilish Seasonal Cocktail

PHOTO BY LORI EANES

The Devil’s Advocate


To celebrate summer, The Double Standard mixes good and evil in a devilishly delicious drink, The Devil’s Advocate, of gin, raspberry, and absinthe, mostly.

Good and evil combine forces this month in one hell of a cocktail. The Devil’s Advocate is a gin-and-raspberry-focused creation with dangerous tendencies. Mixed with three dashes of historically delirium-inspiring absinthe, this drink is a beautifully crafted mixture of full-power liquor balanced with fresh fruit flavors.

Deviously strong yet delightfully refreshing, The Devil’s Advocate is ideal for a summer weekend under the East Bay sun. At The Double Standard, a downtown bar that took the place of longtime fixture Ms. Kim’s Backyard, you can sip your damnable drink and reap heavenly results beside an enormous redwood tree on an expansive outdoor patio. Flanked with plants and lit by strings of overhead lights, the wood-paneled area is the perfect place to enjoy the berry brightness of the cocktail and appreciate the surprising hot-pink hue it imbues. You may not think the devil’s drink is the color of roses, but as it turns out, it’s not only pink, it’s garnished with a lemon peel. Somehow the juxtaposition of devilish flavor and angelic aesthetic makes for a deliciously unique concoction.

Owner Ali Tahsini has been in the bar industry for close to 20 years, and designing this original beverage started with thoughts of the season. “Right off the bat, I think raspberries are a summer fruit,” he said. And to counter the sweetness, Tahsini decided to bring in the low fire of gin and the light licorice of absinthe. His goal was to create something that would represent the role of bartenders in the midst of summer fun. “We’re the facilitator and moderator of the establishment,” he said. “And, at times, we’re the devil’s advocate.”

When you drop by The Double Standard to order your drink, you may want to keep this in mind, or you could be in for more frivolities than you intended. Or, just throw caution to the wind, keep your tab open, and allow yourself to luxuriate in the dark side, at least for a round.

The Double Standard, 2424 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 510-879-760, www.Facebook.com/TheDoubleStandardBar.


The Devil’s Advocate

Ice
Handful fresh raspberries, muddled
2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
3/4 ounce housemade ginger syrup
3 dashes absinthe
zest of lemon

Add all ingredients to a shaker, strain, and shake. Pour into a chilled coupe and garnish with lemon peel

Published Aug. 12, 2016 at 5:53 a.m.