The return of the swizzle stick as accessible pop art.

Louisville's Galt House Hotel has embarked on an $80 million renovation that includes two new restaurants and quite a lot more. Last evening at the Food & Dining Magazine web site I posted a brief news piece about Swizzle, the hotel's forthcoming 25th-floor eatery retrofit. In this quote from the info release, management explains the name.

Swizzle will be the Galt House Hotel’s new 25th floor restaurant, debuting in Spring 2020

"Perched 25 stories above River Road, Swizzle is inspired by a restaurant of the same name that operated on Chestnut Street in downtown Louisville in the 1940s and 50s. Back then, the spot was named for the drink stirrers that could mix a patron’s cocktail with just a quick swirl and was billed as the “headquarters for grand food. During the golden era of supper clubs, a swizzle stick was symbolic of a fun night out—of well executed American cuisine, free-flowing cocktails, and memories made with friends and family,” said Scott Shoenberger, President and CEO of the Al J. Schneider Company."

For my own reading pleasure, and now yours, here's further background on the swizzle stick comeback.

The Swizzle Stick Makes a Modern Comeback (Punch Drink)

A smart means of visual marketing, swizzle sticks have made a comeback—many of them with colorful, over-the-top designs. Leah Mennies on the visual range of swizzle stick 2.0 and the bars that have adopted them as calling cards.

In a moment when everything from rainbow bagels to milkshakes topped with entire pieces of cake is engineered purely for the photo-sharing potential on Instagram, an eye-catching swizzle stick is just smart business—working as a sort of social media geotag that’s embedded in the cocktail itself. This is, in a sense, the original purpose of a swizzle stick, after all.

New Gahanian coping mechanisms? I choose Vonnegut-inspired cocktails.

“Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"

Try 11 Vonnegut-inspired cocktails, by Amy Haneline (Indy Star)

It's the Year of Vonnegut. Why not toast the famous Hoosier author with a cocktail or two?

Visit Indy has partnered with some of Indy's best bars and top bartenders to craft a tour of 11 cocktails that are inspired by Kurt Vonnegut. The drinks are on the bars' menus through April 16, leading up to the grand opening of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in its new and bigger location at 646 Massachusetts Ave.

Born in Indianapolis in 1922, Vonnegut grew up in Indianapolis and attended Shortridge High School. He served in the Air Force during World War II and was captured by German soldiers. Surviving the firebombing at Dresden, Vonnegut returned to the U.S. and began his writing career. His most famous works include "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," "The Sirens of Titan" and "Player Piano." Vonnegut died April 11, 2007, at the age of 84.