By END
December 4, 2009
Winter has officially arrived. The Halloween candy is long gone, I've woken up from my turkey induced tryptophan nap and there are currently snow flurries falling from the sky. It's time to break out your winter coats people. Or in my case, because my body has not learned how to handle the cold weather thanks to all those years growing up in Florida, my long underwear (yes I do wear it sometimes and I'm not ashamed to admit it), my fleeces, winter coat, hat, gloves, ear muffs, scarf... you get the idea. Another way to keeping warm, which I prefer, rather than weeble wobblin' with all my outer gear is to sip on winter type drinks. For me, those kind of drinks tend to be the martini's, red wines, and bailey-esque ones. With that in mind my new adventure brought my partner in crime and me to the Top Hat Club.
The Top Hat Club is located in a restored historic building off Main street on the East side of Green Bay. We parked around back in the free lot and walked in. The place was dimly lit and the heat was blastin'. Already I was in love. It's not a big space but with the exposed brick walls and the low lights, Top Hat Club impressed upon me warmth and coziness. The bar is against the right side of the building and it extends in a long rectangular shape towards the back. There are also tables lining the opposite wall if you're not interested in sitting at the bar. Towards the back there was a couple of couches and lounge chairs for a more intimate setting. I couldn't get a closer look for there was a rowdy party full of dressed up ladies and gents. Some of these ladies were decked out in sequin dresses and the guys were in tuxes and they were full of the Christmas spirit, very merry if you know what I mean. I wasn't gonna intrude on their parade ;) The scene was full with an array of all walks of life. You had your super dressed up folks mixed with the jeans and sweater crowd. Older and the newbies to being 21.
We grabbed a table across from the bar, it had a menu on it, so we thought we'd take a quick look and pick out a drink. We ended up sitting down in order to read the whole thing. The menu is pages long of martinis, fruit juice blends, mojitos and more. They shouldn't call it a menu, it's more like a book! I'm old enough in years to know what I like and what I don't like but this magazine had me picking out, like, 10 different drinks I wanted to try because they all sounded awesome. I kept reading a new description going, "Ooooo, I like this one more..." The winner, you ask? The Oatmeal Cookie Martini: Irish Cream, Cinnamon Liqueur, Jagermeister, and Butterscotch Schnapps. The ingredients of heaven in a glass. The prices for martinis are amazing, $7! In Chicago, try anywhere from $10 to $15 depending on the fanciness of the establishment. My girlfriend ordered a mojito for $6. I'm convinced the bartender was a fembot and not human, how she can memorize every drink and all their mixings is incredible. She was good. Very good. In 2 minutes flat she muddled mint for the mojito and shaken not stirred my martini to perfection. There is also beer on tap and in bottles or a small wine list if you prefer not to go the liquor route. Beers were $3.25 for doms and $4 for imports. The night was great with warm drinks, good company, and a cool atmosphere, the only thing missing was me clothed in my jammies and not dressed up. But I don't think the world is ready for me to sport my jammies in public just yet.
