Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

A drink that is not a pick-me-up so much as a wind-me-down

Perfect home for the Quick Fix

Counterpoint’s Quick Fix
Counterpoint’s Quick Fix
Place

Counterpoint

830 25th Street, San Diego

Ryan Andrews

Like New Yorker Tony Bennett singing his heart out for San Francisco, Counterpoint bartender Ryan Andrews has made the East Coast cocktail known as the Quick Fix his own — and in the process a regular fixture in San Diego.

“It’s a simple, delicious, refreshing cocktail that people have loved at every bar I’ve worked at in San Diego,” says Andrews, co-owner and co-founder of Golden State Spirits.

Although recently departed from Counterpoint to hone his craft elsewhere, Andrews stuck around long enough to see this pisco-based cocktail become a crowd favorite. Conjured by one of the accomplished cocktail crafters in the Big Apple cocktail scene, Michael Madrusan (PDT, Milk & Honey, Little Branch), Andrews says the Quick Fix has found a perfect home in San Diego.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Everyone loves a boozy cocktail,” he says, “but nine times out of ten, if we ask patrons if they want something boozy or refreshing, they’ll say refreshing.”

Assuming it was named for its perky nature as a pick-me-up, Andrews says that his own take on the Quick Fix is anything but: “It’s a perfect-afternoon-and-I-just-got-off-work-and-I’m-sitting-outside-on-a-patio-in-San-Diego-and-the-sun’s-starting-to-dip-and-the-temperature’s-cooling-off kind of drink.”

The Quick Fix is a bit fickle in deciding what it wants to be, Andrews admits, but patrons are delighted with the variety and levels of flavor.

“You immediately think it’s going to be a bitter cocktail — then you think it’s going to be a citrusy cocktail — and then you think it’s a floral sweet cocktail,” he says. “The pisco is a fairly mild liquor — it’s kind of between a rum and vodka. Basically an unaged brandy, it helps back up the bigger players in the drink, the two types of citrus and the St. Germain.”

And although the pisco hangs back, Andrews says, it has its moment toward the finale as it slips in quietly behind the other ingredients’ glittering symphony.

“Pisco gives it that little funky, earthy grape flavor that you find in cognac,” he says. “It’s got that lingering grape flavor in the background, which complements the sweet notes in the elderflower well.”

How to Make It

  • 1 oz. Portón or Barsol Pisco
  • 1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1 oz. St. Germain
  • 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, shake it “fairly quick,” pour over fresh ice, and garnish with grapefruit peel.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led
Next Article

Live Five: Rebecca Jade, Stoney B. Blues, Manzanita Blues, Blame Betty, Marujah

Holiday music, blues, rockabilly, and record releases in Carlsbad, San Carlos, Little Italy, downtown
Counterpoint’s Quick Fix
Counterpoint’s Quick Fix
Place

Counterpoint

830 25th Street, San Diego

Ryan Andrews

Like New Yorker Tony Bennett singing his heart out for San Francisco, Counterpoint bartender Ryan Andrews has made the East Coast cocktail known as the Quick Fix his own — and in the process a regular fixture in San Diego.

“It’s a simple, delicious, refreshing cocktail that people have loved at every bar I’ve worked at in San Diego,” says Andrews, co-owner and co-founder of Golden State Spirits.

Although recently departed from Counterpoint to hone his craft elsewhere, Andrews stuck around long enough to see this pisco-based cocktail become a crowd favorite. Conjured by one of the accomplished cocktail crafters in the Big Apple cocktail scene, Michael Madrusan (PDT, Milk & Honey, Little Branch), Andrews says the Quick Fix has found a perfect home in San Diego.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Everyone loves a boozy cocktail,” he says, “but nine times out of ten, if we ask patrons if they want something boozy or refreshing, they’ll say refreshing.”

Assuming it was named for its perky nature as a pick-me-up, Andrews says that his own take on the Quick Fix is anything but: “It’s a perfect-afternoon-and-I-just-got-off-work-and-I’m-sitting-outside-on-a-patio-in-San-Diego-and-the-sun’s-starting-to-dip-and-the-temperature’s-cooling-off kind of drink.”

The Quick Fix is a bit fickle in deciding what it wants to be, Andrews admits, but patrons are delighted with the variety and levels of flavor.

“You immediately think it’s going to be a bitter cocktail — then you think it’s going to be a citrusy cocktail — and then you think it’s a floral sweet cocktail,” he says. “The pisco is a fairly mild liquor — it’s kind of between a rum and vodka. Basically an unaged brandy, it helps back up the bigger players in the drink, the two types of citrus and the St. Germain.”

And although the pisco hangs back, Andrews says, it has its moment toward the finale as it slips in quietly behind the other ingredients’ glittering symphony.

“Pisco gives it that little funky, earthy grape flavor that you find in cognac,” he says. “It’s got that lingering grape flavor in the background, which complements the sweet notes in the elderflower well.”

How to Make It

  • 1 oz. Portón or Barsol Pisco
  • 1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1 oz. St. Germain
  • 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, shake it “fairly quick,” pour over fresh ice, and garnish with grapefruit peel.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Operatic Gender Wars

Are there any operas with all-female choruses?
Next Article

Houston ex-mayor donates to Toni Atkins governor fund

LGBT fights in common
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader