The Cloakroom Bar DANTE WHEAT
Dusty bourbon is having a moment. The hunt for vintage whiskeys and the cocktails created with them is on the rise, and more bars are offering well-preserved, authenticated older bottles, affectionately known as “dusties” to their fans. Iconic venues like New York City’s Brandy Library and Flatiron Room, Delilah’s in Chicago, and Washington D.C.’s Jack Rose have long offered coveted pours from these bottles from yesteryear.
In recent times, new laws have loosened the restrictions on buying and selling vintage bottles outside of traditional auctions. The new rules have also eased as to how those dusty bourbon and whiskey bottles may be resold at retail, and the floodgates have opened. Here, then, are seven of the best places across North America to deliciously drink your way through the past.
Canon, Seattle
If you want to go all-out with vintage cocktails, Canon will happily indulge you with an array of mind-boggling libations. Try a Sazerac made with a 1935 Courvoisier or a 1945 Monticello rye, and absinthe from 1940 ($725), or a Red Hook, crafted with 1950 Rittenhouse Rye, 1960 Punt e Mes vermouth, and 1940 Maraschino liqueur ($525). For neat pours, dive into Canon’s bible of a menu—American whiskey alone is 50 pages—to find the rarest of gems within the cozy venue’s 4,000 bottles. Plenty of bottles pre-date Prohibition, including a Van-Hook Old Fashion Fire Copper Whiskey from 1915 ($1,450/1.5oz), and some even hail from the 19th century, including a Turf Club Old rye from 1894 ($1,995/1.5oz) and Rohrer’s Straight Old rye from 1870 ($1,925/1.5 oz.). canonseattle.com
The Cloakroom Bar, Montreal, Canada
Access this 25-seat speakeasy by heading to the Maison Cloakroom, a men’s tailoring store and barber shop, then enter through the coat check door in the vestibule. The cozy haven features more than 300 bottles (120 of which are whiskies) and renowned mixologists who eschew menus to instead create your ideal cocktails through a series of questions. Owner Andrew Whibley sources, in part, the array of vintage whiskeys—along with a bunch of amaros and other types of spirits—from a private broker in Italy. Originally seeking vintage vermouths to put a unique twist on the cocktails, Whibley tested the waters with a 1970s Port Ellen. “It sold immediately, as did a follow-up test with a 1980s Macallan,” he says. So he ramped up the whisky shelf. Currently available is a 1961 Old Grand-Dad ($200/1 oz.); 20 year old Rittenhouse rye bottled in 1974 ($500/1 oz.), and 1973 Canadian Club ($35/1 oz.). cloakroombarmtl.com
Copper and Oak, New York City
This six-seat Lower East Side retreat—another five stools are available outside during warmer seasons—may be tiny, but more than 1,400 bottles line the copper shelves. (That’s a mere 100 bottles less than sister location Brandy Library.) The venue is overseen by Tomo Matsushita, who helps guide guests through a variety of flights. “We do one-ounce pours, so it’s easier to taste more,” Matsushita shares. While the menu contains prix fixe flights, opt for omakase style: Tell Matsushita the flavor profiles you like and let him specialize a flight for you. Pricing is reasonable, too: Try a 1970s North British single malt for $25, or go all out with a 1993 O.F.C. for $200. no website
Down and Out, New York City
In the 1860s, a tenement house in the Lower East Side was home to an oyster bar. When owner Joshua Richholt took over the space and opened Down and Out, he made sure it had a solid connection to its roots, offering sustainable seafood alongside a slew of cocktails and modern and vintage whiskies. While the regular whisky menu features all the greatest hits currently on offer from distillers (at extremely respectable prices), you’ll have to venture off-book to sample from Richholt’s few hundred vintage bottles. Plenty of affordable pours abound there, too—Canadian Clubs from the 1960s and 1970s hover around $15/2 oz.—but if you want something special, try a 1970s Old Weller Gold Vein, around $200/1 oz. pour. downandoutnyc.com
Milk Room, Chicago
Nestled inside Chicago’s Athletic Association Hotel, this eight-seat microbar was once a hidden speakeasy during Prohibition, and it’s retained the charm and allure of that bygone era. Cocktails range from $14 to $75, though you’ll be enamored with the whisky list. Opt for a 1950s decanter of Jim Beam bottled in bond ($100), 6 year old 1975 Rebel Yell ($375), 1960 Old Fitzgerald 10 year old ($400), or a W.L. Weller Special Reserve 8 year old from the late ‘40s-early ‘50s ($700). chicagoathletichotel.com
Neat Bourbon Bar and Bottle Shop, Louisville, Kentucky
This 45-seat venue is helmed by Owen Powell, the man who started the bourbon secondary market on social media. More than 1,000 bottles allow you to drink your way from the Prohibition era—try a 17 year old Kentucky Tavern from 1931 ($100/oz.)—through Wild Turkey 8 or 12 year olds from 1970s-‘90s (around $40/oz.). “Despite our name, we do great cocktails. Our cocktail bourbon is J.T.S. Brown, which we put in a charred oak barrel with a tap, so it’s double oaked,” he says. Neat also sells bottles, and you can snag a late 1980s Sunnybrook or an Evan Williams 8 year old from the mid-90s for between $100 and $400. An added bonus: “Attached to the bar are 10 Airbnb units that can sleep up to 55 people,” Powell says, noting many bourbon trail journeyers rest their heads here. neatbottlebar.com
Revival Vintage Bottle Shop, Covington, Kentucky
This bottle shop that specializes in bourbon and rye also features a small tasting room, where it routinely offers crazy good bottles at absurdly great prices. While the offerings rotate daily or weekly, some past specials have included a 1978 Benchmark for $5, a Kentucky Tavern Bottled in Bond from 1946 for $20, and a 1960s/1970s Pebbleford for $15. Revival has plenty of newer allocated bottles too, and even allows for side-by-side tastings, as it did with a 1969 Old Taylor bottled in bond paired with an E.H. Taylor barrel proof (Batch 11), all for $30. If you like what you’re sampling, chances are decent the shop can sell you a full bottle. revivalky.com
