Bottoms Up: Grill Marks

In the midst of the holiday season, one of the best benchmarks to get you in the fa-la-la mood is cold weather. The drop in temperature brings chills of excitement for ciders, robust stouts and rich red wines.

But when the weather outside is frightfully warm, you have to get creative to get in the festive mood.

That’s where Grill Marks comes in.

The Vista burger joint has been open since August, and one of its biggest draws is its “shake hut.” Made from in-house-made vanilla ice cream, Grill Marks’ “adult shakes” are your answer to getting a much-needed cold rush – with a kick – this season.

“I’m not sure where the original idea for the adult milkshakes came from,” said manager Mike Coral. “I believe the owners were looking back at the original diners that you’d go to, and you’d have a burger, fries and a shake. So they started out with the shakes and decided to infuse them with alcohol.”

And they definitely went all out when it came to figuring out ways to do it. There’s a science to how the “shake-tails” and nonalcoholic milkshakes are made, to create a nice balance of flavor that’s not overpowered by alcohol. In addition to a selection of nonalcoholic shakes, they also make beer shakes and floats – part of the reason Grill Marks goes through 25 three-quart containers of ice cream a night.

But you can’t live off alcohol-infused milkshakes alone. There’s a full bar here, too.

“The shakes are one of our focal points, but we pride ourselves on having more top shelf-style drinks,” Coral said. “Even our house liquor is what most people’s mid-level shelf would be. Our house vodka is Smirnoff. Our house bourbon is Jim Beam. Only quality alcohol goes into our drinks.”

Locally brewed beers like River Rat and Conquest are served from taps that are infused with nitrogen to keep the pipes ice cold for a perfectly chilled pour each time. Bartenders create new infused spirits just about every other week for drinks classified on the menu as “dazed and infused.”

For example, right now they have a jalapeno-bacon-infused vodka used primarily for spicy jalapeno Bloody Marys, and a blueberry lemon vodka used to make a blueberry lemonade drink.

“We have a lot of stuff that we do that’s fresh,” Coral said, “like our margaritas are all fresh-muddled juices. We don’t use a mix or anything like that.”

So if you need to chill, Grill Marks could offer you the perfect place to try out your new Christmas sweater – in 75-degree weather.