The Cocktease: Thunderbird Station’s G-Tea-O.

Thunderbird Station’s Witty Car Garage-Themed Cocktail Menu Gets Things Up And Running With The G-Tea-O In Mint Condition.

Welcome to The Cocktease, where once a week we aim to bring you a tasteful preview and review of a cocktail in DFW that deserves your attention, mouth and monetary support. For a good time, here’s something that might fit your personal tastes, because when I sip, you sip, we sip.

Name: The G-Tea-O in Mint Condition.

Where to get it: Thunderbird Station. (3400 Commerce Street, Deep Ellum).

Cost: $8.

When to order: Before the lake or whenever you need to refresh and refuel.

Ingredients: Lipton-infused gin, lemon, house-made mint syrup and soda with a lemon garnish.

Pairs well with: This is the south, y’all. Sweet Tea is great with everything.

Inspiration: “When we got together to R&D cocktails, owner Kim Finch wanted things that reminded her and all of us of road trips as a kid,” says bartender Ryan Sumner.

SEE ALSO: [FIRST LOOK] DEEP ELLUM’S THUNDERBIRD STATION SHIFTS INTO GEAR.

A little more to sip on: The cocktails at Thunderbird Station are worth taking out for a spin. If you’re not the type of person to sip on fancy cocktails the entire night — much less at a bar across the street from it’s sister bar Doublewide — you’re in luck. See, what makes The G-Tea-O so fantastic is that it’s a cocktail built for performance. It’s simple and to the point, yet innovative. 

Don’t let its simplicity fool you, though. It takes a lot of work to make something so smooth and nostalgic taste so effortless. The research and development to get The G-Tea-O really running took time, trial and error. When it comes to ingredients, much of the load comes from the practice of infusion, which allows for a specific flavor to be combined with the liquid you want it to taste like. Thunderbird Station takes it a step further by infusing Lipton Tea and London Dry Gin, thereby creating an easy-to-drink base spirit. 

“When I started, I just straight did Deep Eddy Sweet Tea with angostura bitters,”  Sumner says. “It was tasty but it just wasn’t crave-able. [Fellow Thunderbird bartenders] Norell & Derek took things from there and re-engineered everything. I showed up a couple days later and they were like, ‘we made our own tea-infused gin. They used Lipton to get that perfect nostalgic taste and Derek used some mint syrup ideas from his time at Henry’s Majestic.”

The G-Tea-O in Mint condition runs smoothly, so it’s very easy to find yourself three deep within the hour. Make sure you have your Uber ready — trust us.

They say good cocktails get you from point A to point B, but this cocktail gets you into trouble. 

Cover photo by Pete Freedman.