This blog happened completely by accident. On a sunny Friday afternoon after work back in February, I was walking down Clinton Street in Iowa City, excited to do my next bar review. My coworker had told me about a new spot that had just opened called Giddy Up. He said that it looked cool from the outside and had a big dance floor for line dancing. Now, I am a lover of line dancing. I love all the classics like the Cupid Shuffle, the Cha-Cha Slide, and the Electric Slide. I even took a line dancing class while attending Ohio State from an instructor who worked in a country line dancing bar in the Columbus area. So, when my coworker talked about this new place, my ears immediately perked up.

I thought that I would take advantage of a work day that had ended early and check this place out for lunch to see what it’s all about. As I approached the door, it seemed dark inside and I saw a chalk marker message on the door next to the entrance, directing deliveries to use the door on the right for deliveries to Giddy Up. For some reason, I took this to mean that the door I thought was the front door to Giddy Up was some sort of service door. I glanced to my left, and the door on the other side of the chalk marker sign had a bright open sign in the window next to it with a flashing “TACOS” right below it. I thought it strange to advertise tacos for a country bar, but I was hungry and still quite curious, so I didn’t question it and waltzed right in.

When I looked around the restaurant that I still thought was Giddy Up, it seemed more Mexican themed than country, but I was singularly focused and walked up to the small bar in the middle of the restaurant and sat down. There was a tequila shot glass display placed prominently at the front of the bar along with three bottles of nice tequila next to it, but I still thought nothing of it. The server came by and gave me a menu that said “Cactus” across the top. My mind clicked in that moment, but not in the way that it should have. I suddenly thought that the Cactus 3, the third location of the quintessential drunk college Mexican American joint of Iowa City, was going through a rebranding to become Giddy Up! I signaled to the server and asked nonchalantly, “What is up with the rebrand?” Not having any iota that the person in front of them thought they were in Giddy Up, the server was friendly and quickly replied, “Oh, it’s just the 3^rd location. This is Cactus 3, and there’s the original is over on Burlington.”

“But why go with Giddy Up,” I asked, not wavering at all in my belief that I was in the new downtown country bar.

“Oh, that’s just the place next door. Just moved in recently.”  I nodded slowly as the pieces finally started to click into place. I asked for a minute with the menu and began to break up with mirth as soon as the server had gone off to take care of something else. I quickly looked up Giddy Up on my phone to see the hours and sure enough, they were open Wednesday through Sunday from 7PM to 2AM. What an absolute moron. I cracked up again and glanced back at the bar. It wasn’t all that big and didn’t have that many spirits overall, but sure enough there were what looked to be about a half dozen bottles of whiskey sitting on the bottom shelf. I sighed and decided I was there to rate whiskey, so I might as well still do it. And so here it is, the review of the whiskey selection of Cactus 3, a completely unintentional act and one I probably never would have done if it weren’t for this happy accident.

WHISKEY SELECTION

Variety: Bourbon, Irish, Canadian, Fireball

Range: Poor. 6 bottles. They had a couple bourbons to choose from and then the standard Jameson and Crown to cover their other regional varieties. I was honestly surprised they had Jameson considering it’s a cheap campus area Mexican restaurant. They have about as many premixed slushy machines of iced margaritas as they do whiskey bottles.

Price point: All pours of whiskey are $7.99 across the board. That’s an indication to me they are making it clear they are selling shots and not pours of whiskey. It’s not the cheapest price in the city, but it’s not really expensive either and at least you know what you’re paying no matter the bottle.

Wells: Their wells were actually visible from the bar, which isn’t common. They use Five Star brand for everything from whiskey to vodka and beyond. All well shots are $3.99.

Best Bottle: Their best bottle is Makers Mark for sure. They do bare minimum for everything besides bourbon and just stick to popular options for shots on the bourbon side.

Grade: D

Overall Thoughts: Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. Once I realized I was in Cactus 3, my expectations dropped to zero, so the fact that they have what they do is fine to me. The food is what you’d expect: combos of tacos, enchiladas, chalupas and the like along with fajitas and other Mexican inspired entrees. The service is friendly, and hey, if you want to buck the trend and get a whiskey instead of joining your friends in a round of margs, you have the option. I would honestly just stick to well shots if I ever chose to order whiskey at Cactus 3, considering the selection and price difference. Maybe on some sad and lonely day I’d take a seat at the bar and order a Makers, but why do that when you can get a giant premixed strawberry frozen margarita instead? If nothing else, it’s a better selection than other casual Mexican joints downtown.

Postscript: I apologize for not posting all month. June has been busy! Lots of extra work and family travel. And I will be traveling again this weekend. I will try to make another post before I leave on Saturday to make up for it, and I should be going back to my regular postings on Sunday or Monday nights by the end of June. Lots of reviews still to come as I’ve been continually going out to rate more and more places, so stay tuned!