It’s 3 p.m. on a Thursday and the bar at Cobra Cabana is pretty packed. Most of the patrons have an empty or quasi-empty shot glass next to a beer in front of them. Feels pretty hard-in-the-paint for a weekday afternoon but this is a judgment-free zone and these are frugal imbibers who are drinking Penny Pinchers, Cobra Cabana’s affordable version of a Citywide Special.
A Citywide Special, or a beer and a shot combo platter, popped up in the United States at the Philadelphia bar, Bob and Barbara’s, when they decided to use a Pabst and a shot of Jim Beam for $3 for a business push. Originally, the bar simply called it the Special and it took off. Soon bars all over the city (hence the name now) picked up the budget-friendly special of dual alcohols – and the name stuck.
The one-and-one certainly isn’t a new notion; a beer and a shot happens in varying forms all over the world. In Germany, order a Herrengedeck and you’ll receive a brandy and a yeasty German brew. In Scotland, order a Lester, a beer and a shot of Scotch. In Chicago, it’s a shift drink or a one-two punch of beer and rail whiskey. In Richmond, we’ve got our own spins on the trend.
Cobra Cabana and Hot for Pizza
The choose-your-own-adventure
Pick your pounder: A Coors Banquet, Miller High Life, or Tecate (the usual Lone Star is on strike) might strike your fancy as any of these $3 beers are part of the Penny Pincher deal. Marry one with any house (rail) liquor shot. The combinations are vast and all of them are $5. Note: Cobra Cabana is the number two bar in the region for sales of Tecate, if that influences your choice at all.
Herbie Abernethy, Cobra and Hot For Pizza’s co-owner, says the Penny Pincher stems from a bunch of things. “When we were playing music [Abernathy is also known as rocker Valient Himself], I worked at [Michael] Derks’ [from Gwar] sister’s bar [Q Derks, Avalon] on Main Street. They called this type of drink ‘a happy meal’ and we wanted to continue it here under a different name,” he says.
If you’ve been to Cobra, you can’t help but notice the bar top made of pennies. Abernethy says the bar top and a saying from where he grew up calling people “cheap” is how the Penny Pincher got its name. Both bars have add-ons to their Citywide Special deal like slices of pizza or French fries for those with frugality and food on the brain.
Abernethy and partner Josh Novicki also own two other bars in North Carolina, the Sand Spur and Kings, where he says they don’t quite get it yet. “It’s not happy hour, it’s all the time,” Abernethy says.
Abernethy’s personal favorite combination: a High Life bottle and a rail bourbon.
Cobra Cabana is at 901 W. Marshall St. and Hot for Pizza is at 1301 W. Leigh St.
Stanley’s
Philly-style
It should come as no surprise as the Philly fan joint Stanley’s has a couple of Citywide Specials on their menu.
Co-owner Mike Epps says it’s very a big thing in Philly. “You see a Citywide Special at almost every bar up there. Just kinda part of the Philly atmosphere we were trying to bring to Richmond,” says Epps.
At Stanley’s, you can snag a 10-ounce pour of their house beer, Fishtown lager, by local brewer Benchtop Brewing, and any rail shot for $9. If you add a slice of tomato pie, a thick tender crust cheeseless Philly staple, the cost is $10. “The tomato pie [addition] is still very much under the radar. It’s an insane deal,” says Epps.
Epps’ favorite combination: Fishtown lager and a shot of their rail bourbon, Henry Mckenna.
2601 Park Ave.
Acacia midtown
Secret stash
It’s a Citywide Special on a secret menu. As an homage to co-owner’s Aline Reitzer’s Dutch heritage, Acacia has served their beer and a shot of Genever at each iteration of Acacia. But you have to ask for it.
Reitzer says its an unspoken thing that regulars know about and their soon-to-be regulars really seem to like.
For $12, you get a kopstootje, a “head butt”, Netherland’s signature alcohol duo. That’s a Dutch beer and a shot of a distillate known as Genever, a malt wine with herby undertones.
And while this isn’t a beer and a shot, the Acacia adult happy hour is Citywide Special adjacent (pun intended), and super-popular, with a wagyu slider, French fries and Miller High Life pony for $7.
Aline Reitzer’s favorite combo: Von Trapp Kolsh and a shot of Bolt Genever.
Located in Libbie Mill Midtown, 2363-105 Roux St.