After the trauma of my annual visit to the women’s doc, where I was reminded, in a one hour time span, of my “un-marriedness” (Receptionist: Is this under your husband’s insurance or yours?), my “singleness” (Gyno:  Is there no one special in your life right now?), and my “lack of children-ness” (Gyno: That uterus of yours is just begging to be used!), I was more than happy to spend a Friday night being reminded of my “fabulousness” with friends and drink at APO (formerly Apothecary). With no hint of irony, I happily chose the Blushing Bride (Henrick’s gin, rose syrup, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, and barrel aged bitters) as my first drink of the night and began to soak in the atmosphere:  vest-clad “barkeeps” who are lively, extol the merits of the movie “Junior“, exclaim at your good drink picks, and place bets on whether you can drink through the entire menu (I’m still not sure if Kellie was successful in that endeavor); the stark white brick wall screaming for patrons to do their handy-work (which, of course, we did…see Exhibit A); and, the great soul classics playing in the background (who doesn’t love a little Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers and Barry White?)

Exhibit A: We were one of the first tags on APO's wall

APO’s specialties are its creative, hand-made drinks, which are both time-consuming to construct and wallet-busters but worth the wait and the money, nonetheless.  Kellie, at the great recommendation of our barkeep (who, by the way, were named 2008′s Best Bartenders by Citysearch and it was easy to see why), started off with the Drury Flip – a play on classic egg nog, combining stout, rum, orange marmalade, nutmeg and egg (um, delicious!) – and it went on (and on, and on) from there.  By the end of the night (or around 10 – we started drinking early), we had plowed through most of the noteworthy drinks on the menu: the Booty Collins (green tea infused gin, passion fruit, agave nectar, lemon juice, cayenne, yohimbe, valerian root, house made seltzer and brandied cherries);

The Booty Collins

the Moroccan Fashion (bourbon, Fernet, mint tea, chocolate, and barrel aged bitters);

The Moroccan Fashion

and, the Roaring Inverno (cachaca, amaretto, Cynar, kumquats, lime, brown sugar, cinnamon).

Our great barkeep putting the finishing touches on the Roaring Inverno...not to be confused with the Roaring Inferno...my bad!

The well-stocked bar was even able to support one of my favorite drinks, a Pimm’s Cup, which helped elucidate the fact that Kellie actually is the other half of my brain when we both exclaimed in unison, “The Pimm’s Cup is to Wimbledon like the Mint Julep is to the Kentucky Derby!!” My favorite drink of the night was the Immunity Idol (gin, elderflower liqueur, champagne, pineapple and orange juices, orange bitters, echinacea, hawthorn root and liniment) with its “inebriated berries,” giving us a great Halloween costume idea for next year (getting drunk in a strawberry costume).  Kellie ended the night with the Desert Rose (anejo tequila, Aperol, Italian red vermouth, rose-water, bitters) – a painfully strong drink, even after the dulling that 6 other drinks brings to the palate.  In all, we consumed 13 different drinks (with no hang over to speak of in the morning), spent over $200,

Proof of the damage

and, had it not been for the complimentary soft pretzel crosses, would probably have been carried out of the place.  Unfortunately, food is not on the menu (supposedly it’s coming soon) so caution to all considering a trip to APO:  you will have to eat something beforehand unless you plan on taking the lush-honors, which on this night, Kellie and I were more than happy to do.

After it had been determined that we blew our entire bi-weekly food budget on drinks (all in the name of research, people!), we ventured down the block to what we thought, at the time, was heaven (or its closest approximate):  the open-late, $9.99 Indian buffet, New Samosa.   Now, we quickly determined that this was by no means the best Indian food either of us had ever had but the warm naan, greasy chana masala, and tender tandoori chicken was enough to get us through our late-night, drunken munchies and send us on our merry ways.

The Aftermath

Overall, our night out to APO was just the right cure for my post-gyno distress and it certainly merits another visit on another pay day — at the very least so Kellie and I can win that bet!