BY MICHAEL MONTGOMERY

 

Thinking on your feet while remaining calm under stress is a special skill. Donnie Exelbierd, the head bartender at Muse Restaurant & Wine Bar, explains how he discovered his own such talent and created one of the city's most popular drinks in the process.

     "It happened three years ago right behind this very bar,” he recalls. San Francisco radio host Roger Hedgecock walked in and ordered the restaurant’s most famous drink, the Charleston Tea. Exelbierd sprang into action, grabbing the mint, lemon and lime that are to be muddled in the bottom of the glass before adding the rest of the ingredients. Keeping the conversation flowing, he reached for sweet tea vodka and Huckleberry 44 North, but the Huckleberry 44 North was nowhere to be found. Exelbierd remained calm and grabbed the Kettle One Citrus vodka, added  simple syrup and a splash of club soda and hesitantly handed it over.
     Hedgecock’s eyes slowly opened wide as he tasted the drink. Exelbierd waited patiently. “This isn’t the Charleston Tea, damn it!” Hedgecock said. “However, I am not complaining.” Exelbierd explained that they were out of the main ingredient and quickly improvised to brew up this concoction. Hedgecock demanded to know the name, and since it didn’t have one, Exelbierd christened it the Jolly Roger. To this day, the drink is served at Muse to great reviews. Once back  in San Francisco, Hedgecock told his audience that he tasted the Jolly Roger at Muse restaurant in Charleston, S.C.—the best drink on the East Coast.