If you’ve never been to Twilight Sky Terrace seventeen stories atop the Madison Hotel in downtown Memphis, the view alone is enough of a reason to go… but their provocative cocktails make the experience even better. The 2015 season theme is the celebration of being “StarStruck.” With that comes a list of new, constellation-themed handcrafted cocktails.
I tried three of the cocktails, starting with the Space Kitty ($11) because I’m a sucker for Prosecco. The drink has Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka, rosemary-grapefruit syrup, fresh lemon juice and Proescco. The syrup is homemade, and I can tell on the first sip. I haven’t tasted anything quite like this before. You immediately get a hint of grapefruit and the drink packs a punch. The cocktail starts off tart. Then you get layers of sweetness, followed by layers of citrus. The supervisor for Twilight Sky Terrace, James McDermott, let me know that most of the juices in their drinks are freshly squeezed after I pointed out that you could see the remnants of the lemon juice in the glass. It’s a nice touch. You don’t even taste the vodka, but I love that because it’s well-masked for your enjoyment. This drink will sneak up on you!
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Up next was the Binary Sunset ($11), Mr. McDermott’s favorite. It consists of Avion tequila, lime juice, pineapple juice, and bitters. The bitters are laid on top of the drink for presentation, but the best part is that you can experience a flavor change. If you mix the bitters into the drink, the taste and color is completely different. Before mixing, you mainly taste the bitters. The drink doesn’t go heavy on the pineapple, which I enjoyed. I liked the cocktail better when it was mixed. Overall, it seemed lighter and was refreshing. The lime and pineapple juice makes the drink airy. These cocktails are very well mixed and I can tell a lot of time and effort went into creating them.
Lastly, I tried Orion’s Belt ($13), which has Hendrick’s Gin, St. Germain, lime juice, Prosecco, and is shaken with cucumber. I feel instantly refreshed, especially in the Memphis summer heat. I love that I can taste a little bit of everything, from the St. Germain down to the Prosecco. It all goes so well together. The cucumber highlights the effervescence of the drink. The best word I can use to describe this cocktail is crisp. Orion’s Belt was by far my favorite of the three. I even ate the cucumber!
Twilight Sky Terrace also serves food, and executive chef Max Hussey was kind enough to bring out his charcuterie and cheese plate ($13) to accompany the cocktails. There was so much on the plate I didn’t know where to begin and asked the chef where to start. “You don’t have to color inside the lines,” Chef Hussey said, “but my favorite way to tackle it is by putting prosciutto on the ciabatta bread with a bit of the pickled veggies.” What comes with this appetizer is up to the chef. I got ciabatta bread, a mix of vegetables, pickles, olives, Tasso ham, prosciutto, a local cheese called Dancing Fern, and creole mustard.
The bread is crunchy but soft… so good! The pickled vegetables are spicy and the Tasso ham is tender and hot, but not heavy. Don’t get me started on the cheese. It was soft, creamy and had a hint of spiciness to it. The prosciutto was sweet and a bit fatty. If you like spicy, you’ll love this appetizer. Thankfully Twilight Sky Terrace gives you plenty of bottled water to stay hydrated. My favorite combination was putting the cheese and prosciutto together on the ciabatta bread.
Overall, you’ll get an amazing experience at Twilight Sky Terrace. All of the cocktails are going to be available year-long as long as it stays nice out.
