Bartender Blends with Spirited Creativity

Charley McCologh is just the sort of guy you want behind the bar after you’ve spent a long week travelling the I-95 corridor. He’s affable, funny and refreshingly creative when it comes to cocktails. Charley is the resident mixologist at the Greenhouse Grill, located at 12 Unquowa Place in Fairfield, down the street from the train station. Charley can mix every drink you’ve ever heard of, and, with more than 50 specialty drinks on Greenhouse Grill’s menu, plenty more you haven’t.

“The Shirley Temple is probably my favorite drink to make, though,” Charley told me at a recent Happy Hour. “I put three cherries in it instead of one, because when I was a kid, that’s how I always thought they should be made. Never thought I’d be the guy with the power to decide that,” he laughed.

In considering my cocktail options, I deferred to Charley. “You’ve got to try the Kicking Mule,” he said of his amped up twist on a traditional Moscow Mule. Charley’s version is made with vodka, freshly grated ginger, muddled cilantro and jalepeño, and topped off with ginger beer. I will admit to raising an eyebrow over the jalepeño, but I was convinced I was in good hands.

After a few moments of muddling and shaking, my drink arrived. I took a skeptical sip and was immediately converted. This fresh, crisp drink is a perfect warm-weather margarita alternative. The jalepeño doesn’t dominate, it just sneaks in a little bit on the back end, and the cilantro adds a brightness to the mix. It’s absolutely delicious.

“I was making a chimichurri sauce one night,” Charley said.  “And I thought, ‘how can I get cilantro into a drink?’ That’s kind of how the Kicking Mule came to be.” Charley did admit that most people need a little convincing before they’ll order it. “They see the jalepeño and they get a little scared.” But I’m here to tell you to buck that trend.

“Usually I pick a liquor and start there,” Charley explained his mixology strategy. “Then you always have to add elements of tart and sweet. So you need a citrus or a liqueur and maybe a simple syrup. But I like to get creative, too. So I work with the guys in the kitchen and I used a lot of their fresh ingredients, and I like to incorporate our fresh herbs, too.” He pointed to a glass full of fresh rosemary, harvested from the Greenhouse Grill’s hanging herb garden, suspended over the dining area in the greenhouse.

I sampled several of Charley’s concoctions on this visit, like the light and summery Mandarin Blossom Cooler, which incorporates St. Germain Elderflower liqueur. And the Lunar Rose, which is a romantic blend of pink grapefruit juice, Grand Marnier, rosewater and champagne, and garnished with a single rose petal.

After all that sipping, I also opted to sample something from the kitchen, lest that Kicking Mule come back to kick me right between the eyes. The bruschetta with goat cheese crostini tempted, and the five cheese pizza made a convincing case for itself. But in the end it was the evening’s special, seared tuna with avocado and grapefruit slices, that proved too tough to resist.

“I just like helping people try things they wouldn’t ordinarily try,” Charley said. “I like to make people happy. That’s the best part of what I do.”

Do you have a favorite summertime cocktail? Share your recipe here.

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