Fall Cocktails and Headstands: Drinking With Chad Solomon and Christy Pope from Midnight Rambler

If you haven’t heard about Midnight Rambler in Dallas yet, you need to. Having recently earned D Magazine’s “Best Cocktails” in August 2016, the subterranean bar at The Joule is all about old school rock ‘n’ roll paired with creative – and delicious – drinks.

With a new cocktail menu (this is #6) by co-creators and husband-and-wife team Chad Solomon (who got his industry start at Cellar Bar at the Bryant Park Hotel) and Christy Pope (she started out at cocktail mecca Milk & Honey), with a “dark tropical” theme – think a variation on Tiki, featuring flavors from the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa and Asia – we thought it was time to catch up with the tenanted duo to find out more about their favorite cocktails, inspirations and what’s next.

The new menu features cocktails including the Indochina Bamboo with Fino Shery, Blanc Vermouth and lemongrassthe Samoan War Club with 12-year Jamaican rum, Rhum Agricole, VSOP, Bay Rum Falernum and Gula Jawa inspired by the war clubs that inhabited the Polynesian island and the sour-based Tiger Style with Bavaria Arrack, Calamansi, palm sugar , Pippali, egg white and Cassia aromatic extract. It’s inventive and creative and there really is something for every taste.

So let’s go Drinking With Midnight Rambler’s Chad Solomon and Christy Pope!

Favorite place to hang out for a drink?

Christy: Midnight Rambler. We love inviting friends to hang in our bar because we love our music, and drinks, of course!

Chad: In Dallas Fort Worth, I like the Armoury, or Off The Record.

Go-to drink order?

Christy: Negroni, but my “guilty” drink pleasure is Miller High Life, “the Champagne of Beers.”

Chad: Old Fashioned, or Beer/Shot combo, but I also have a personal “guilty” drink pleasure creation – the Lone Star Sbagliato, a Negroni Sbagliato using Lone Star beer instead of Prosecco.

First time getting drunk?

Christy: Don’t remember, which is probably a good thing.

Chad: End of my senior year of high school: Cuervo Gold & OJ

What ingredients or techniques are you most excited about right now?

Christy: Aromatic essences and Batavia Arrack (ed.note: a distilled alcoholic drink from Asia made from the fermented sap of coconut flowers, sugarcane, grain or fruit.)

Chad: Essential Oils, Centrifugation, Low Pressure Distillation, Sous Vide Maceration.

Indochine Bamboo at Midnight Rambler

The Indochine Bamboo at Midnight Rambler

Coffee or tea?

Christy: I am obsessed with coffee!

Chad: Both, please!

What’s your hangover remedy?

Christy: 2 aspirin, water, and preferably a LOT of sleep, although a head stand can do wonders too!

Chad: Green Tea, Chia Seed, 2 aspirin, and a screaming orgasm.

Best eats when you are drinking or – dare we say – drunk?

Christy: Eggs!

Chad: Chips and salsa.

Where is your fave spot for a super chill night out and favorite hidden gem?

Christy: Chicken Scratch in Oak Cliff for a chill night, and Here in East Dallas as a hidden gem.

Chad: Chill night at Ten Bells, Chat Room in Fort Worth is a hidden gem.

Ten Bells Tavern in Dallas

Ten Bells Tavern in Dallas

Do you have mentors or someone you look up to in the industry? Who can we thank (besides yourself) for your delicious work?

Christy: Sasha Petraske, Joseph Schwartz, Audrey Saunders

Chad: Audrey Saunders, Sasha Petraske

What are you most proud of in your career thus far and what’s next?

Christy: Creating the CBS Sunday Morning Show cocktail and being featured on their show was pretty stellar! We have collaborated on a forthcoming exhibition called “Shaken, Stirred, Styled” with the Dallas Museum of Art opening in November.

Chad: Midnight Rambler has had a stellar year- winning awards in DFW for “Best Cocktails,” and “Bar of the Year,” as well as being nominated in the top 10 for “Best Hotel Bar” at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2016.

What is something interesting that people may not know about you?

Christy: I am a Mom now (we have a 20 month old daughter)

Chad: Father to a 20-month old daughter.

1530 Main Street, The Joule, Dallas, TX, www.midnightramblerbar.com

 

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