Oyamel Happy Hour

This is the Thursday Thurst with Jackie Carl. Today is a very special day because it is the birthday of our dear friend Dr. Christine Bender, who introduced Jackie and I. Happy Birthday Christine!! We love you! Take it away, Jackie...

Valentine’s hangover? Yeah, me too. Now all we have to look forward to is some unexpected warm days, and the smell of Irish kegs which you’ll help kick in a month. Sorry because of not feeling well this week, I haven’t been out in a while. But just like the month of February, this post is short and sweet.

Before stepping out to a delish dinner at Mama Aiesha’s on Valentine’s Day, my sweetie and I decided to stop by one of our favorite happy hour spots, Oyamel, located in Penn Quarter, for one of their fabulous margs. Much to our dismay, the original happy hour was not going on, due to their Valentine’s Day pre-fix dinner. Bummer. However, the creative bartenders there did not forget the day of love, and concocted a few specialty cocktails to create some mischief for couples that night. One word: Aphrodisiacs.
At the lofty price of $12 a pop, you can tell these drinks were made with love, passion sweat, and baby dove tears. Ok not really, but the ingredients were so interesting I couldn’t even remember them all… so I just took a picture of the menu.

The Honey Almond was sweet and silky with creamy froth on top. And although it’s hard to tell, there was faint pink frothy heart in the center, which was amazingly still visible after the drink was finished.
The Grape Basil was my favorite. With the tangy and sweet grape and strong basil bite, this drink was accented by a scoop of crushed ice, that you could mix through the glass as the flavors married together.
Did I mention they both also have booze?

After flirting with our senses, we headed off to dinner, a little giddier than before.
Although these drinks are probably not available again right now, Oyamel has a great happy hour, and all of their drinks are made with great skill and flavor. Their schedule is 4:00pm to 6:30pm Sunday through Friday- $5 classic margarita, ponche and select draft beer; 2 for $5 taco specials; half off select wines by the glass. Get on their mailing list because they often do dinner specials and may bring a couple more tricks out of their cocktail sleeves! (ahem – margaritas with “air salt”).

Lessons learned: To make your honey smitten on Valentine’s day, would you rather send $200 of roses or a $12 aphrodisiac? Do the math.