We love going ‘home’ to the deep South in this one
Down South, when it comes to craft cocktails, Jared Schubert is exactly what you want in a bartender. First, he’s gregarious and extremely funny. He’s got a great Southern drawl, a fast, balanced pour, and a true knack for the seamless art of hospitality. He’s a born storyteller and the type of bartender to crack a beer with … even though he’d make you the most complicated tiki tipple with shocking ease.
However, where you really want to be is at Jared Schubert’s home in Louisville, Kentucky, with him in charge of the stereo.
We couldn’t bring this barman directly to you (he’s very busy these days working in the catering arena, batching and sending craft cocktails all over the city of Louisville), but we got you the next best thing––a recipe of his own devices and a mighty fine playlist.
“I’ve been feeling good in these last months,” Schubert tells us, “with the chickens waking me up every morning and my garden growing. The only thing I’m fighting with is Mother Nature, but in a good way.”
Schubert’s love of music began early, at the knee of his dad, who got him into a lot of great artists, particularly in the Americana, Bluegrass, and Country genres. You enter into this Spotify playlist for 6ourbon 7ime with none other than Dolly Parton and Two Doors Down.
“Making this playlist was so cathartic,” he says. “I wanted to put songs in order for a little bit of a story about emotionally where I have been this last year. Then, I thought about how I was making a playlist not for a bar, but for your kitchen. Two Doors Down is really a song about how you should sometimes shut your mouth and get out of your own way. Then we move into Delta Dawn by Tanya Tucker. That song is so beautiful and a bit sad. Then, I had to add some Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.”
The lyrics of Fancy, covered in a more intense tone by Orville Peck, takes you to New Orleans. The gravel of his voice adds a totally different mood to the Country-Western original, and then Dolly comes back and takes you straight to the Harper Valley PTA.
That’s when you need to get a Collins glass out of a cabinet and start mixing.
“The Harper Valley Highball is my cocktail,” says Schubert. “I’ve been having a 3 pm Lady Gray tea each day. In the beginning for me during the pandemic, time was running together. And that afternoon tea time really helped me separate out my day.”
His drink features Maker’s Mark bourbon, a tea syrup, lemon juice and soda water.
“I wanted a drink that people could make easily at home,” he says.
It goes down refreshing, bright and crisp to a playlist that has some intense fiddle coming in on Track 6 with the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Wait … it will surprise you. They are covering the Blu Cantrell hit, Hit ‘Em Up Style, but in a Bluegrass beat.
“Kasey Musgraves,” says Schubert laughing. “She’s absolutely the person on this playlist that I’d love to have a drink with. I had to put her on there.”
Follow Your Arrow is a song about going your own way no matter what anyone thinks, and we’d have to say this one really sums up Jared Schubert. He’s made us a playlist to dance to, but also to sit quietly on a sofa during. You could get out in the yard and garden with this playlist on. You could also really miss your grandma or your best friend. It’s okay. It’s good to explore those emotions sometimes, and it’s great to explore this layout of American sound from start to finish with that Maker’s Mark cocktail.
Especially when you end with Tina Turner’s The Best.
Cocktail & Title Photo by Beth Burrows
