And, speaking from a recent birthday celebration for my partner, an experience it truly is.Īt my first (and only, thus far) visit to Hell or High Water Bar, my friends and I were treated to a dimly lit, private room with decadent, velvet curtains and, little did we know, a tiny, hidden cocktail door.
Reservations are highly encouraged, as it clearly intends to create a seated, intricate cocktail experience for each guest. Hell or High Water Bar (not to be confused with Hull or Highwater, the New Albany seafood restaurant) may be new to the Louisville cocktail scene, but what it lacks in longevity, it makes up for 10-fold with incredible ambiance and innovation. Turn Your Back to the Bay and the Sun Holds Your Hand So, what’s the perfect item for discussion while you and your friends suck that beauty down? Whether to do the famous coconut-rimmed Painkiller or the bright, frozen Blue Hawaiian next, of course. Prepare for a ceramic bowl swirling deep with booze, it’s center a bright flame encircled by four eco-friendly straws. The Limbo’s Scorpion Bowl consists of Bombay Sapphire Gin, Bacardi Dark, El Dorado 151, Bacardi Silver, Goose Vodka, orange and pineapple. That, and one might walk into a bikini party in an inflatable pool on the patio and end up having a very weird, sticky and awesome night. That’s why I always suggest to both tourists and locals alike to meander down to Fourth and Chestnut streets to share a Scorpion Bowl with three friends. From owner, Olivia Griffin’s quirky South Pacific curations adorning the bar, to the plethora of entertainment offered practically every night of the week (DJ’s, surf rock, burlesque and more!), to the both classic and innovative tiki cocktails, The Limbo is unlike any cantina in town. Limbo Tiki Bar is one of my favorite watering holes in town for a myriad of reasons. She took a long pull from the glass and smiled in agreement. “Imagine the liquid version of a Pad Thai dish, with bourbon,” I replied. When I was lucky enough to dine at Milkwood with comrades during a filming of Andrew Zimmern’s new Food Network show, we ordered a round of Big in Bangkok, and my friend Bridget asked what to expect. It almost rejects simplicity, as Thai food does, eagerly pushing forward the big flavor of each ingredient. With Old Fitzgerald bourbon, peanut butter, lime and Thai bitters, served up in a coup glass, The Big in Bangkok marries seemingly incongruous flavors with bourbon to create the perfect potion, punching the taste buds with familiar Thai food markers - spicy, sweet, sour and even salty. I’ve told Stewart before that Milkwood’s “Big in Bangkok” is one of my favorite libations of all time, thus I must have one each time I pop in for dim sum. And he has had spirits aficionado, Stacie Stewart, as his right-hand woman for several years, spearheading his bar programs and establishing each locale as a cocktail powerhouse. The delicious, cavern-like eatery below Actor’s Theatre of Louisville is often coveted for the cuisine, as Milkwood is owned by renowned chef, author and Louisville legend, Edward Lee.
Here are my favorite, most interesting cocktails in Louisville. The cocktails that smoke… that come in a bowling ball… that may even have a living plant growing out of their highball glass. I am always on the hunt for the delicious and weird, that new trend, liqueur or riff on a classic sliding down a marble bar in a corner of town unbeknownst to me. Derby City is one of those towns just asking for a themed bar crawl, and I’ve spent many a night sampling innovating creations at Louisville’s most coveted cocktail bars - a Cocktail Quest, if you will. It’s no surprise that Louisville houses some of the most incredible cocktails in the nation – after all, our ancestors wrote the recipe for bourbon. From the first farmers of bourbon country that fermented that caramel-colored potion within the white oak walls of a charred barrel, all the way to today, there’s been a trend - the creatives of our community are at the cutting edge of concocting nuanced libations from quality ingredients. It’s believed that Mark Twain once said, “When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Kentucky, because it’s always 20 years behind the times.” Ordinarily, I’d say, touché and agree that such a quote is sadly and mostly true… except for when it comes to the world of spirits.
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