Drink #23 Hurricane

2.21.2012

So get this crap, of course it’s my first time celebrating Mardi Gras and the room was literally packed wall to wall with loud drunk people covered in weird masks and beads. I couldn’t get to the bar for 20 minutes and then was almost ignored by a bartender before being thrown a drink. What the hell, right?

Then I could barely find a place to stand. Oh and the music, sure it was really swinging and brassy, but it was so loud and people were just throwing beads in the air and dancing…

Wait, what? But.. no see… oh, really? Every Mardi Gras? Worse? Really?!

Oh. Then scratch that. Apparently everything was status quo. My bad.

So of course it was Mardi Gras–a national drinking holiday– and we didn’t have as much time to hang at Acadiana as we wanted, but Joe and I decided to quickly pop in during happy hour for a quick drink and to grab some beads. Oddly enough, getting the drink took a while and apparently I didn’t warrant any beads because I didn’t show my boobs they had already ran out by 6pm–or so I told myself so I didn’t walk away crying.

We adore Acadiana, it’s a more upscale southern comfort restaurant in DC that has–hands down–one of the best prefix brunches in the city complete with raw bar. There are several great places to go for Mardi Gras in the District, but Acadiana is up towards the top of the list and I wasn’t passing this up.

Once I was able to swim through the crowd of party people and call my order to the bar, I had in hand my very first Hurricane. If you’re not familiar, a classic New Orleans Hurricane is a cold mixed cocktail made with fruit juice, syrup, grenadine and rum.

Acadiana’s Hurricane is called a Category 5 and is made with a secret mix of fruit juices, grenadine and El Dorado light & Gosling’s dark rums. And then I think they stir it with a bolt of lightening directly from Zeus’ himself.

I could taste pineapple right away, strawberries, touch of lime? coconut? It was sweet and tart, had a nice medium burn. In fact it had this fun fruit-burn-fruit effect in every sip. Just as you’re tasting the rum and it’s alcoholy bite, the rich fruit flavors snuck back in with this almost crisp, apple-like finish. It was satisfyingly islandy and I enjoyed it very much.

Oh, did I mention we could only stop in briefly? And that it took longer than anticipated to get the drink from the bar? I mention it again because after a few deliberate sips to really capture the flavors, I drank that puppy pretty quickly so we could go.

And… wait for it… I got kinda tipsy. Now, I wouldn’t say drunk, but shortly after walking out of Acadiana I could tell the alcohol was hitting me. I watched the bartender make that drink–over half of that glass was straight rum. I could taste it.

Everything got funnier. And I got louder, apparently. And I started “shooting” Joe on the very crowded Metro with “love bullets”. And when we were in the Petworth station one of the overhead lights when out and I got excited and started laughing and pointing it out. This sounds much crazier than it was, but if you know me, then take my goofier moments and crank it to 11.

Joe was amused.

It faded quickly, but it was pretty fun. And I like getting the giggles for no reason even if its typically during church or a funeral. So, for those of you waiting for me to get shit faced, this was not a wish fulfilled, but it was a step on the way to your hopes & dreams I suppose. And I did do a little funky dance in the middle of the street.

But then again, that’s much like a crazy wall-to-wall crowd at Mardi Gras, you know: not unexpected.

Cheers and Happy Mardi Gras, Ben


PS: Am I going to plug that I had a brief write-up and interview over at FamousDC again? Yes, yes I am. But were you expecting that I’m also going to be featured on another well respected and kick-ass DC blog on Friday? No, I bet you didn’t. Details coming tomorrow. Maybe I am becoming famous? Zeus, help me now!