2 weeks Ago
The Bartender: Krystin Reuber The Bar: PostBoy 207 N Whittaker St, New Buffalo, MI 49117 Soju: It’s the Asian vodka. When I lived in Korea, $3 soju was the alcohol you bought at the corner 7-11 at 1 am after you’ve already had enough drinks to ignore how harsh it was. The soju Krystin Reuber brought to PostBoy is a little different.
“When I talked to the chef (James Galbraith) about the restaurant’s Asian influence, I said, ‘Game on!’” Reuber said. “I absolutely love Asian – Japanese and Korean – style food, drink, décor. I took an opportunity to bring some great drinks, great sakes, onto the menu.
” And soju! Soju, similar to sake, is made with rice, but it’s distilled as opposed to fermented. The yogurt soju in Leisure Suit Larry gives the cocktail a clear and clean flavor that may trick you into thinking you’re drinking dairy. Larry, which also contains yuzu sake and grapefruit juice, tastes like a citrus smoothie.
Reuber described it has having a “certain tang,” I think I agree. It’s the kind of dangerous drink that doesn’t really taste of hard liquor, you could have one or three and then suddenly you want the cheap stuff but the nearest Korean minimart is thousands of miles away. Reuber isn’t trying to get her patrons drunk, but she is trying to make her drinks drinkable.
“I think a lot about my cocktails,” Reuber said. “Is it going to be good to the last drop? Are you going to be able to drink the entire thing and want to order another (now or later)?” That means everything, from the aesthetics to the ingredients to how the ice melts in the cup. Leisure Suit Larry comes with a giant ice ball; a potential limiting factor as Reuber says she can only make so many of those an hour.
Reuber is trying to give soju the moment she feels it deserves. In addition to Larry, the cocktail menu also features an elevated “soju bomb,” a shot of rice wine poured into Prairie Artisan Ales’ Rainbow Sherbert beer. “It’s a flavor bomb in your mouth,” Reuber explained helpfully.
“We want people here to eat and drink things they normally wouldn’t try and make it approachable. I think our drinks our comfortable and not pretentious.”.
