Dino's American Bar

Bartender (gin, dry sherry, sweet vermout, dry vermouth and a spritz of Grand Marnier) and Kalinichia (gin, dry vermouth, dry sherry and oloroso sherry) - and tacky barsnacks aplenty.

Dino's American Bar
Salzgries 19
1010 Vienna, Austria

Vienna might be one of the most tradition-bound, conservative, bordering anachronistic cities that I have visited in recent times. And browsing the city's bar scene it quickly became evident that the cocktail culture also reflects a history of post-WW2 (American) occupation, hosting a number of "American bars", Dino's being one of them. While the website might look extremely dusty, B and I were however intruigued by the cocktail menu, the length of novel, and seeing the bar was located right in our neighborhood, we decided to drop in a for a pre-dinner drink one night. What strikes you as you when you enter is how extremely underlit the place is (this does not include Dino's only I should mention - entire Vienna seems to be making an effort to keep the lights off in some sort of strange CSR effort or maybe it's just a cultural norm?), which certainly what I had also expected given our initial impression from the place's online presence. Further, the place was empty when we entered at 6:15 pm - perfect, more attention for us! In spite of the massive selection we were however quick to decide on a theme (sherry, if you had not guessed), and we received to completely unfancy but very tasty drinks. Thereafter I moved on to an Affinity (scotch, dry sherry, port, and Angostura bitters), while B went with Dino's sour-ier (bourbon, green Chartreuse, lime, and sugar). Again, well-crafted and tasty, but nothing mindblowing.

The story follows the night after, a Sunday Easter evening, were we had initially planned to try The Loft, Sofitel Stephansdom's panorama bar, which turned out to be characterized by gorgeous views of Vienna but also a terribly snooty host. We therefore decided to head back to Dino's, this time finding the place half-full with both young folks and more mature ones (all seemed to be ordering fruit cocktails, though). This time we sat in the bar, and quickly fell into dialogue with the bartender, who started us out with two classics, a Sazerac and Penicillin (Ardbeg-ified to my smoke-loving palate). Thereafter, I asked for something featuring chocolate liqueur (Austria is the land of Mozard liqueur after all) and was then served the most bizarre, yet mindblowingly tasty cocktail that I to date have savoured. Imagine blue cheese and chocolate in one drink... Yes, that's what I had. Roquefort vodka, chocolate-infused Zacapa (both homemade), a bit more vodka, sugar syrup, dry vermouth, and a tad lemon juice. According to our bartender, the two flavours of chocolate and blue cheese affect the same area of the tongue, meaning they cannot be tasted separately, in turn creating a puzzling, new and undefinable taste. From there, the inventive cocktails kept coming... A Shogun featuring vodka, syrup, lime, ginger, wasabi, and cucumber - the latter, which I detest in cocktails, but thoroughly enjoyed in this context. B had an Asian take on Bloody Mary (which I think I drank most of, in spite of my Bloody Mary aversion) featuring lots of spices and a great amount of lemongrass. B even had his amaro fix with a Manhattan featuring Fernet. All in all, two gorgeous visits to Dino's, which proved that their cocktail capabilities range from the classic to the crazy. It was so refreshing to see a bar that takes all cocktails equally seriously, from Flying Kangaroos to Artegronis. Highly recommended.