Monkey Mobile can mix up one big cocktail
Darius Moses checks out a cement-mixer-size cocktail shaker on a truck outside Alchemy during a Scotch-tasting event Thursday, July 11. The very big shaker, which can hold 2,400 gallons, will be at several Memphis bars through Sunday to promote Monkey Shoulder, a pure malt Scotch. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)
Take a closer look at the big bumblebee-yellow truck you might see around town for the next few days.
It’s not a cement mixer. It’s a Peterbilt outfitted with a cocktail shaker about the size of a hot tub.
The truck is a promotional vehicle (ahem) for Monkey Shoulder, a pure malt Scotch. It’s in town and will be at local bars and liquor stores through Sunday, when it will head south to New Orleans for the annual Tales of the Cocktail festival.
Monkey Shoulder scotch cocktails, including Monkey Business (from left), Flipping Monkey and Funky Monkey, were the featured drinks during a tasting event at Alchemy in Cooper-Young Thursday, July 11. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)
Jeff Shafer is the truck driver who pulled it into town on Thursday.
“We have two trucks,” he said at the kickoff bar event at Alchemy in Cooper-Young. “We split the country down the middle, east of the Mississippi and west of it, and I have all the east.”
It might not have the cache of the Weinermobile, but it has this: The 2,400-gallon shaker on the bed of the Monkey Mobile really dispenses liquor, though it wasn’t loaded for the Thursday afternoon event at Alchemy.
Rules.
“Laws change from state to state,” Shafer said.
The fact that it works at all was good news for bar patron Teresa Wright.
“Pouring liquor is better than cement any day,” she said.
Monkey Shoulder drinks were on special in the bar and will be featured at other spots over the weekend. Pure malt, by the way, means that Monkey Shoulder is a blend of single malt Scotches; the name is derived from the injury maltmen in old distilleries could get from the repetitive turning of grain.
Want to get out and see the Monkey Mobile? Here’s the schedule:
Friday
Germantown Village, 7730 Poplar, noon-2 p.m.
Corks, 3078 Village Shops, 3-5 p.m.
Blue Monkey Midtown, 2012 Madison 6-11 p.m
Saturday
Blue Monkey Downtown, 513 S. Front, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Buster’s, 191 S. Highland, 2-5 p.m.
3rd and Court, 24 B.B. King Boulevard, 5-7 p.m.
Pontotoc Lounge, 315 S. Main, 8-11 p.m.
Sunday
Owen Brennan’s, 6150 Poplar, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Slider Inn, 2117 Peabody, 2-5 p.m.
Monkey Shoulder drinks were on special at Alchemy on Thursday, July 11, and will be featured at other spots over the weekend. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian).
Topics
cocktails Monkey ShoulderJennifer Biggs
Jennifer Biggs is a native Memphian and veteran food writer and journalist who covers all things food, dining and spirits related for The Daily Memphian.
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