Metro Brasserie's cocktails worth the price

Aperol Smash (Credit: Courtesy Metro Brasserie)

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By Megan Finnerty
Metromix

Even before polite dinner-table conversation became about all the trips, purchases and meals we're not spending money on, I still thought $10 was a lot to pay for a cocktail.

I always felt the drink would have to be so very, very good to account for such a financial excess that it was almost better if bars just not bother.

But Metro Brasserie's new menu of summer cocktails looks drinkers in the eye and doesn't flinch. (Most) cocktails here are $10, they have always been $10 and they're going to keep on being $10, apparently. And when I asked beverage director William DeGroot how he could fail to capitulate to the widespread pressure to drop prices, run extended happy hours, something, he looked me in the eye as well, and didn't flinch.

“Because our drinks are that good,” he said.

And at Metro Brasserie at SouthBridge, you pay for what you get.

The tangerine-colored Aperol Smash is a mix of vodka, Aperol Liqueur aperitif, lemon juice, smashed white grapes, mint and lemon peel, served short, over ice. The unusual, bright-orange Italian liqueur at the heart of the summery cocktail is a blend of bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb and herbs, using a recipe that dates to 1919. It's sweet, but not too, with the mint balancing the bitterness of the aperitif.

Chrysanthemum Cocktail is actually a martini of dry vermouth, Benedictine and absinthe, garnished with an orange peel. The dark-yellow drink has a super-sweet, vaguely medicinal taste first popular at the turn of the previous century, with an aggressiveness characteristic of those cocktails.

The Pompier (French for firefighter) is a mix of dry vermouth, crème de casis, soda water and fresh raspberries, served tall over ice. It's an incredibly dark, sweet drink that's fairly alcohol-forward. The deep raspberry-colored cocktail is girl-friendly both in its fruity presentation and its candy-like taste. Traditionally it is an all-day, sipping drink, but it would need a lot more soda for me to be able to enjoy it for a prolonged period of time.

Guests also can try the light, sweet, tart Lemonade Normandie, made with crème de pêche and pink lemonade, garnished with a mint sprig, and the L'Amande Pastis, a mix of Pernod pastis, soda water, Orgeat syrup (which is made from almonds, sugar and rose water or orange-flower water) and garnished with an orange peel.