Behold the power of journalism! Or something. My Quest For The Drunken Lime article in Prairie Dog’s first ever drink issue prompted a response from Crave Kitchen and Wine Bar:

Hey Aidan,

Thanks for getting back to me. I’m a bartender at Crave Kitchen and Wine Bar and your article in the Prairie Dog, “Quest for the Drunken Lime,” caught our attention. I loved the article. It was a great way to highlight the bars downtown and a way to showcase the creativity of each location. Unfortunately in the area of creativity and effort, Crave fell short. I was the bartender responsible for your lackluster Drunken Lime. “VERDICT: Come on… I don’t know much about cocktails, but I can recognize a lack of effort when it’s charged to my Visa.” Come on is right. While my first effort was weak, one of other bartenders, Andrew Perrault, was the first to read the article and set out to make Crave’s true Drunken Lime. It’s built off your go-to drink, beer (lime beer to be more specific), and a couple of other liqueurs. Next time you’re in the area drop in, you can have a Drunken Lime on me, and if i’m not working tell them to put it on my tab. Even though the verdicts been settled, it’s worth a taste. Thanks again for getting back to me.

Talk soon,
Ryan

Well damn. That was a much more gracious response than I’d feared (my fears had settled on a brick-through-the-window scenario). I decided to try out Crave’s “true Drunken Lime,” which is like the true Cross. But much tastier. And not as woody.

Behold!

 

The Crave Drunken Lime contains:

1/3 bottle of Miller Chill Lime Beer

1/2 oz. spiced rum

1/2 oz. Smirnoff lime vodka

splash of Cointreau

lime juice

soda

3 squeezes of lime

Even though I’d named the Freehouse as the Home of the Drunken Lime (and only blocks away from the Home of the Big Drum Washing Machine), the Crave version is a great summer drink. Despite all the lime-based ingredients, the drink has a unique flavour somewhere to the left of lime: light, sparkling and not too sweet. As my companion and fellow taster said, “I could order these by the pitcher”.

In addition to the drinks, we also ordered the Wild Wings and the Butter Chicken flatbread, both of which were excellent. My advice: go to Crave before the summer ends and order their Drunken Lime.

Note: I did not ask if they’d hired a professional lime squeezer (known as a “squozer” in the business) to make the drink, but the limes looked pretty well squeezed. Certified Guild Squozers have pretty much priced themselves out of the market anyway.