{"id":10366,"date":"2016-02-08T07:38:28","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T14:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=10366"},"modified":"2016-02-08T07:38:38","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T14:38:38","slug":"the-bar-tab-given-a-second-chance-gusicks-delivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/02\/the-bar-tab-given-a-second-chance-gusicks-delivers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bar Tab: Given a second chance, Gusick’s delivers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gus\"<\/a>

Mr. Bitters and Olive<\/p>

The eclectic, entertaining crowd at Gusick’s was one of the best things about the place.<\/p><\/div>\n

The following review is composed of two diametrically opposed visits. Readers, if you decide to patronize Gusick\u2019s on your own, do so at your own risk. The experience may be delightful, but this is by no means guaranteed.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d been meaning to stop in to Gusick\u2019s for years. It\u2019s located at 760 S. 20th St. W., surrounded by a sea of chain restaurants and car dealerships. Locals go crazy for it, and we\u2019ve encountered more than a few regulars who loudly proclaim their allegiance to the establishment. At least three Yelp reviews claim it to be \u201ca gem of a place.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a recent Saturday night, we were in the mood for a pre-dinner beverage and stopped in to see what the fuss was about. The place is divided into three distinct sections: a dining room, a casino and a bar. We made our way, of course, to the bar in the back of the building.<\/p>\n

\n
More on the reviewers<\/h5>\n

To learn more about who is writing these reviews, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

All the bar stools were occupied, so we settled into a low table. When a waitress appeared\u2014quite quickly\u2014Olive asked about the wine selection and chose a glass of cabernet. Mr. Bitters ordered a bourbon rocks.<\/p>\n

As we waited for our drinks, we checked out the other patrons. A table full of women caught our attention; they had obviously started the evening with a bang quite a few hours earlier. One lady stumbled while bending over, prompting this delightful exchange with a cowboy at the bar:<\/p>\n

Cowboy: \u201cYou\u2019ve got something black on your butt.\u201d
\nLady: \u201cIt\u2019s ash.\u201d
\nCowboy: \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s your underwear.\u201d
\nLady: \u201cNope\u2014I\u2019m not wearing any. It\u2019s cigarette. I sat on an ashtray earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Awesome. Readers, we couldn\u2019t make this stuff up. Listen closely the next time you\u2019re in a crowded bar. There\u2019s a reason they keep the music loud.<\/p>\n

Our drinks arrived. Olive took a sip of her cabernet, and felt her throat seize in protest. Was the wine … oxidized? Rotten? Insanely low quality? Yes.<\/p>\n

Between the loud music, drunken patrons and bad wine, we realized that this visit should be abandoned before there was further damage. We were not in the mood to give Gusick\u2019s a fair shake that evening. After Mr. Bitters threw back his bourbon, we closed our tab.<\/p>\n

A week later, we returned\u2014this time arriving in the late afternoon. We sat at the bar, surrounded by a dozen or so patrons, and we realized we had never seen more cowboy hats in a bar.<\/p>\n

A jovial bartender named John greeted us and asked for our order. Mr. Bitters asked about the beer selection and he immediately cautioned us that we were in \u201ccowboy country\u201d so they had nothing from the West Coast and nothing exotic. Essentially only macro beers are available, with the exception of one local brew\u2014Helio from Red Lodge Ales.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>We ordered a couple of beers and were asked for ID. Actually, he said we could either show him our IDs or just tell him the year we were born. We asked for menus, but they apparently stop serving lunch in the bar at 3:30, so an appetizer was out of the question. No matter. This is a bar review, after all.<\/p>\n

As we waited for our beers, we looked over the crowd again. The majority of patrons were quite a bit older than us, and most of them were going through the hard alcohol steadily and purposefully. A second bartender appeared to be a gun aficionado, and happily discussed wildcat calibers with several regulars. If you\u2019re looking for the proper barrel twist for that special hand load, or want the scoop on some new optics, he\u2019s your man.<\/p>\n

Our beers arrived at the same time as a woman looking for some packaged liquor to go. She ordered a pint of vodka, the generic Russian kind with a red label to look like the more expensive alternative. The bartender quoted a price of $8 and said, \u201cThat sounds like a lot of money.\u201d The woman replied, \u201cYeah, but it\u2019s worth it.\u201d Amen.<\/p>\n

As she left with her pint, a large group entered. They were obviously dressed for a night out, sporting large jewels, larger belt buckles, more cowboy hats and at least one fur coat. Our new friend John rushed to their table to offer a round of drinks. One by one, he called out the orders.<\/p>\n

Asked for a wine list, he boomed out, \u201cWine list? No! This ain\u2019t no Uptown Saturday Night!\u201d He continued to call out orders, and we noted a very specific request for a glass of Crown with \u201ctwo splashes of 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tray of drinks was quickly filled, and prices were seemingly quoted at random. At first, the total was $15. After a couple more beverages were added, Bartender John adjusted this amount to $22.50. A waitress helping with the group asked how much a Jack and Coke cost\u2014$4.50, according to the bartender. He turned our way and confided, \u201cI just made that up. I don\u2019t have any idea how much it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Bitters spotted Moscow Mule cups on a shelf behind the bar and decided to request one for his next round. Bartender John balked at the request, explaining \u201cDamn, it\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve made one! Let\u2019s see if I remember how!\u201d<\/p>\n

He puttered around, adding ingredients to the copper mug at random and muttering to himself. He passed over the well vodka in favor of Absolut, proclaiming, \u201cWe got some expensive stuff out so let\u2019s use it.\u201d Bartender John opened a bottle of ginger beer, poured in a little, then recapped the bottle (with his palm) and put it away again. Fresh lime juice was used, and he also squirted some in the eye of another customer. He apologized, telling him to send him the bill for an eye exam if necessary.<\/p>\n

After much ado, the Mule was served. The result was better than expected and was a decent representation of the cocktail.<\/p>\n

During this process, we noticed a jug of wine behind the bar\u2014open, uncorked and unused. At least this explained the atrocious beverage from our first visit.<\/p>\n

John talked local high school basketball with a regular while the other bartender fielded questions about .243 bullet weight options as he sipped from a Coors Original he kept stashed in the cooler ice. Some bar patrons paid their tab and said the meal was the \u201cbest they had in ages.\u201d We\u2019ll have to be sure to make it here before 3:30 next time and see for ourselves.<\/p>\n

After this round was empty, our tummies were rumbling for dinner. We decided to end our visit. Our tab seemed reasonable\u2014not cheap, but not wildly expensive\u2014and we resisted the urge to negotiate the price. On our way out, Bartender John called a warm good-bye, with a promise to remember us the next time we stopped in. Perhaps we\u2019ve achieved \u201cregular\u201d status already.<\/p>\n

PROS<\/strong>
\nEclectic, entertaining group of customers.
\nEngaging bartenders.<\/p>\n

CONS<\/strong>
\nHorrible wine. Just horrible.
\nLimited drink choices with average to high prices.
\nFurnishings are old at best, dirty at worst.<\/p>\n

Previous reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chapter 1<\/strong>\u2014The Squire Lounge.<\/a><\/p>\n

Chapter 2<\/strong>\u2014The Alpine Casino<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 3<\/strong>\u2014Buck’s Bar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 4<\/strong>\u2014Stadium Club.<\/a><\/p>\n

Chapter 5<\/strong>\u2014Bones Arcade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 6<\/strong>\u2014Southern Empire Emporium<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chapter 7<\/strong>\u2014The Holiday Inn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 8<\/strong>\u2014The Tap Inn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 9<\/strong>\u2014Fiddler’s Green<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 10<\/strong>\u2014The Den<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 11<\/strong>\u2014CJ’s Bar and Grill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 12<\/strong>\u2014The Reno Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 13<\/strong>\u2014Manny’s<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following review is composed of two diametrically opposed visits. Readers, if you decide to patronize Gusick\u2019s on your own, do so at your own risk. The experience may be delightful, but this is by no means guaranteed. We\u2019d been meaning to stop in to Gusick\u2019s for years. It\u2019s located at 760 S. 20th St. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":10367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[3779,2343,3416],"class_list":["post-10366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversions","tag-gusicks","tag-red-lodge-ales","tag-yelp","prominence-category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}