There’s never an off season in our neighborhoood. Tune into #TheFenway.
Sweet Cheeks Q, which is turning four this December, features down-south cuisine, classic cocktails and a robust beer list right in the heart of The Fenway. Veteran Sweet Cheeks Q bartender Kayla was kind enough to mix up one of her favorite summer cocktails and answer some of our questions.
What’s the name of the drink you just made?
Vecino Bueno, and it means “Good Neighbor” in Spanish. It actually refers to the 1940s relationship between Latin American countries and rum. Basically you couldn’t get any spirits that were accessible and cheap other than rum back then, so we’re using a rum cocktail base, featuring Montanya Platino.
What is in the cocktail?
Rum, a little bit of lime juice, simple syrup, muddled raspberries and then lemon verbena as a garnish.
What kind of person would order a Vecino Bueno?
Every person! It’s a delicious summer cocktail. It’s kind of a play on a daiquiri. Your simple daiquiri is just lime juice, simple syrup (or plain sugar), and rum. So, we did the summer version. Typically it’s with strawberries, but we wanted to go with the raspberries, and in our beer garden we’ve got a lot of herbs growing right now. We used our lemon verbena as a nice little garnish – right from our own garden.
The Vecino Bueno is garnished with lemon verbena from Sweet Cheeks Q’s onsite herb garden.
Tell us about this garden…
Our outside beer garden has been here for a few years. We wanted to make it a more inviting space to have guests sit out here when it’s warm, so we added an herb garden. I’m a personal fan of growing our own ingredients to use in our cocktails, so if we can have a garnish to pick out of here, that’s great.
You keep it local wherever possible, but is it true you keep your stock purely domestic?
We had for a very long time kept an entirely domestic bar except for Mezcal and tequila. We’ve actually opened that up a little to include some imported spirits as well. So we have a couple of more rums; we’re actually carrying Scotch now instead of just single malt whiskeys.
Is the embargo still in place for certain regions or countries?
Only the boring ones! We’re not trying to pull in anything that would be expected. We work with GrandTen Distilling out of South Boston for our Irish whiskey, for example. We’re also big fans of Bully Boy Distillers out of Roxbury and Triple Eight Distillery from Nantucket.
How do you feel about The Fenway as a neighborhood?
I’m out in Allston, but I lived in The Fenway for four years. Did my undergrad at Emmanuel. This is probably, I would say, the best area in Boston to live.
Speaking of The Fenway, if you got cut right now and could go anywhere to grab a drink in the neighborhood, where would you go?
Right now? I would say either Tasty Burger or Citizen. Most likely Citizen for a cocktail. They make a mean old fashioned. Or a Moscow Mule. They make great cocktails over there.
Finally, what is your favorite drink on the menu here?
If I’m going cocktail, I’m going with The Damn Yankee. It’s our take on a Manhattan, a little bit of maple liqueur in there, black walnut bitters – and a fun name. I prefer it with rye, but we do have a bourbon. For a can, I’d say the 21st Amendment Brew Free! or Die.
Just who is Sweet Cheeks?
Sweet Cheeks is more of a very close-knit family – it’s not an individual. There’s three of us that have been here since almost the opening, and I think that’s something to be said for a restaurant, especially in Boston. It’s not just one person who is the inspiration behind Sweet Cheeks. It has to do more with the family mentality, the southern hospitality, and just the feeling you get when you come into the restaurant.
You can catch Kayla and the rest of the Sweet Cheeks Q team at 1381 Boylston Street in The Fenway.
More from #TheFenway:
Boutikey: The Pop-Up That Stayed
Pavement Coffeehouse Hits The Fenway
Lunch Break: Top Spots in The Fenway
