Here is one I just visited last night, and vouch for:
Drink, a bar in Boston. Bartenders specialize in mixing pre-Prohibition cocktails.
Last night, I sampled three drinks:
First: their take on a Manhattan, the "Four Points", which used rye whiskey (natch), replaces the bitters with Benedictine, for a more herbacious flavor, and uses a dryer vermouth. Served with a brandied cherry, it was a little sweeter, a little redder, and packed a helluva lot more character than the average Manhattan(ite). OH!
Also had a "French gimlet": three parts gin, one part St. Germain, one part lime, a little simple syrup to taste. Beautiful, refreshing, and the hint of sweetness really brings out the flavor of the gin.
Third:
"The Classic Gin Martini" -- The bartender told me that the martini wasn't dry until the 1960's, so it was actually sweet vermouth until then. She garnished it with lemon that she rubbed on the outside of the glass. Again, much sweeter than I had expect a gin drink to tasted, but really quite elegant. I always thought gin kinda tasted like floor fax or something.
Anyway, manliness aside, the place was pretty awesome. You can just walk up and tell the bartender "I feel like something minty" or "I like ginger a lot, what can you make that highlights that ingredient?" or even, "Uh, I dunno, I like whiskey...?" and they will figure out something to please you.
Compares favorably with Bourbon & Branch, an even-more speakeasy-like bar over in San Francisco, where one must know the "password" to get in (this is usually easy enough to discover online -- the bigger issue is that the place likes to keep an upper limit on the number of people in the bar by only allowing people in if they can sit at the tables -- essential, I suppose, given the exacting and time-consuming nature of artisan drink-making, but still, means you often need a reservation...
-K
