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Review: At Anna’s Place, Omaha’s underground history is served in original, beautiful cocktails
Tucked behind a softly lit door — that light green or red, depending on luck — in the lobby of downtown’s new Hotel Indigo sits the city’s latest speakeasy, serving a succinct lineup of original, artful cocktails. If the light is green, knock with the big brass door knocker shaped like a woman. (If it’s…
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The best zero-proof hot toddy for sub-zero Omaha
We spent the last week of 2021 in sunny Palm Springs (I know, I know, it was great) and wow, was the weather upon returning home the shock of a lifetime. We stood outside Eppley’s snowy, windy tundra in thin jackets, shivering while we waited for our taxi at 11 p.m. Ugh. I still feel…
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Nebraska-based Sandhills Elixir is the key to zero-proof cocktails for the holiday season
Yes, yes, you know I love a good Mr. November like the rest of us. But this year — particularly after 2020 — I’m all about the zero-proof cocktails. Just in time for both the holiday season and dry January, I’ve partnered with Sandhills Elixir, a Nebraska-based zero-proof spirit distiller in Valentine. They make absolutely…
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Our greatest hit cocktail, the Mr. November, is back for another Thanksgiving (now with video!)
I wrote what follows in 2020. I feel very lucky to say that, after glorious vaccinations and boosters, Sarah and I are planning to host several holiday events where the delicious cocktail I describe below will be served. Life during a pandemic remains challenging. Life in general is constantly shifting. But a Mr. November cocktail…it…
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A coffee and cocktail-filled eight days in Omaha
I don’t know about all of you, but I have really, really been enjoying being out and about this past week. Maybe it’s the extra zing I felt after I got my Covid booster. Maybe it’s that there is just so much new and exciting stuff happening around Omaha. Maybe it’s being invited to soft…
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It’s Negroni week!
I couldn’t have been more excited to be asked to judge the return round of Mercury’s Negroni Throwdown, this year the kickoff event to national Negroni week. Mercury is Omaha’s home for the Campari-themed event, and owner Clark Ross told me they’ll be running specials all week. The format of the Throwdown is simple: the…
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Cocktail review: The Cottonwood Room is a great place to return to indoor drinks
On a beautiful late April evening, I tugged on my mask, descended some stairs and entered an Omaha bar for the first time in 13 months. I was fully vaxxed, not quite relaxed and a little in awe of the scene before me. I heard the familiar clinking sounds, the low, comforting hum of a…
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Matthew’s three takes on the classic margarita
A margarita is a great goldarn cocktail. It’s a little sweet. A little tart. A tiny bit dangerous. A tad bit fun. So I am wholly supportive of you, Señor Home Bartender, if you want to stick with your tried-and-true recipe and make it until you meet your Dios. Here’s the basic recipe I use,…
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“It Tastes Like Liquid Cinnamon Roll” – A Christmas Cocktail Courtesy of one of Omaha’s Best Bartenders
You need a Christmas cocktail, and Clark Ross is here to help. The co-owner and cocktail impresario behind Mercury – my favorite Omaha cocktail bar – agreed to share a holiday drink recipe with you, (print the recipe here) the loyal readers of sarahbakerhansen.com. Consider it the holiday bookend to the Thanksgiving cocktail, the Mr.…
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Six patios I love, plus a recommendation on taking takeout outside
The summer of 2020 has been the summer where I do exactly none of the things that I enjoy about summer, and that absolutely includes drinking wine on as many restaurant patios as possible. (It also includes the College World Series and the Maha Music Festival, but I probably shouldn’t get started down this path.)…