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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/30177
SCENE By Lew Bryson Th e Franklin Mortgage & Investment Company T he speakeasy cocktail bar is back, so much it’s almost become cliché. Th e peepholes, the passwords, no outside signs, elaborate and secret entrances of all kinds. At some point we have to ask: is this a bar, or a remake of Th e Th in Man? Th e Franklin Mortgage & Investment Company in Philadelphia takes a more relaxed approach. Imagine a speakeasy in a city where every palm is greased, every cop is a happy drinker and the Prohibition agents are all cheerfully blind. Th e name comes from a front company used by Prohibition-era rum-runner Max “Boo Boo” Hoff , who ran his Philadelphia operation high and wide in just such a city. Th e entrance isn’t obvious—it’s an unmarked walk-down under a hair salon (appropriately named “Liquid”)—but it isn’t hidden either. It’s a good thing, too: the late- night line of drinkers waiting to claim one of only 47 spots would be a bit of a giveaway. “People call us a speakeasy,” says Mike Welsh, who owns the place, along with partners Christopher Doggett and Christopher Gali. “Our aim is not to be hokey or kitschy; we choose to defi ne ourselves by our cocktails.” After opening in June, 2009, the Franklin rapidly established a spot in the top tier of cocktail bars in the city. “In cocktail creativity? We’re second to none,” admits Welsh. CLASSICS ARE A FOCUS A lot of that creativity goes into their rum drinks. Rum is a great period spirit, given its easy plenitude during Prohibition, and it’s popular in this socially conservative city. “I wish we could thump our chests and say we’re a rye town,” Welsh laughs, “but I guess it’s a rum town. Th at’s okay, it’s a spirit with great versatility: there’s white, aged and agricole, and there’s regionality to it, too.” Bar manager Colin Shearn and top Al Sotack is The Franklin’s top bartender. bartender Al Sotack have plenty of rum (and whiskey, and gin, and tequila, but no vodka) drinks in their bar menu, the “little black book” of Franklin cocktails. Th ey take the time to engage customers to fi nd the perfect cocktail for their moment. My interview led to a rum invention with an intriguingly voodoo-inspired name, the Papa Ghede. Th e name evokes both the Haitian/Martinique origins of the spirits and the launch point for the drink: the Hemingway Daiquiri. Th e idea, Shearn explains, was to land somewhere between a classic Daiquiri and a Hemingway Daiquiri. Th e drink is made with four year old Barbancourt Rum, Rhum J.M., a splash of absinthe, housemade blueberry-rooibos syrup and celery bitters, a dash of Peychaud bitters and fresh lime and grapefruit juices; served up in a Champagne coupe. Th e celery bitters and absinthe bring out the herbal qualities of the rhum agricole, while the fruit components work with the overall rum’s sweetness to make an easy-going but enchanting drink. Th e Papa Ghede, like most cocktails at the Franklin, is $12. Shearn and Sotack are kept busy creating new cocktails; the menu changes about four times a year. Th ere are easy-to-like drinks (the Papa Ghede fell in that category), punches and more challenging blends. 14 | MAY 2011 www.cheersonline.com DOUGLAS KEITH