Dublin is known for having pubs. But did you know that it also has a place called the Vintage Cocktail club? Yes, it’s true. It’s an old fashioned speakeasy – and true to form – it lives on word of mouth alone – and was just voted the best cocktail place in Dublin and I had to check it out. Located down a side street in Temple Bar, it sits behind a black painted door with a small window at the top and three letters – VCC painted under it. People walk past it all day and night – and never know it’s there. If you know the place, and you have reservations, you confidently walk up and ring the buzzer.
Moments later, a voice at the speaker responds “Yes?”
Me: “I have a reservation for 3”.
Names are exchanged and moments later, you are greeted by a young lady in flapper style clothing and escorted past heavy velvet brocade curtains and up two narrow flights of dimly light stairs. She takes your coats, and opens half of a set of mahogany colored double doors. Immediately, you are greeted by the sound of classic jazz music, well dressed customers, the smell of a fire, and a hand hammered tin ceilinged lounge filled by plush golden chenille chairs (tassles around the bottom) and knee high tables. On one wall are vintage black and white photographs of nudes from the Victorian era. On another, an upright piano with taxidermy pheasants. In the corner there’s a dark colored bar with glittering bottles of alcohol sitting on shelves around a mirror. On top of the bar sits a silver tray with cut glass decanter and many old fashioned low ball glasses, goblets, and other sundries of mixology.
Up the tiled stairs to my left is the pink and white wall paper that guides you into a circus-type tented smoking area and the open air of a sunny yet chilly Dublin spring day. It’s full of people sitting on cushioned iron outdoor furniture, and just behind them are the restrooms (seriously worth a visit to see the brass sinks). Down the stairs takes you to a dimly lit more 1940’s decorated area, with a wall full of classic vinyl jazz records from the rat pack (pick what you want played and you may be able to have them play it), red and black plush and leather trimmed couches, high backed stools, and another bar and proper mixologist ready to make your requests with style.
Handed the menu, you realize that this place is not for the “typical” pub crowd. At 12 Euro a drink, it’s for the cocktail lovers, the true appreciators of the craft. The taste masters… the slow sippers. The finest of alcohol is reflected in the price and the choice. Perusing the menu, you see it’s not organized by “liquor” type, but it’s laid out like a history of cocktails. There’s a list of classics dating from the mid 1800’s – 1910’s (mostly Gin but containing exotic liquors and cordial flavors that aren’t in most of today’s repertoire – like elderflower, raspberry, and juniper to name a few). There’s a list of cocktails from prohibition with lots of exotic fruit juices and stronger flavors to hide the “then” poor quality of the liquor. Finally, there’s the specialties of the house – custom made cocktails by the mixologists that work in there – some of which include liquors which have been house infused with different things – like cinnamon, chocolate and jalapeno.
It’s a difficult choice. Finally, the three of us are brought tiny glasses of prosecco and our orders are placed. The procecco appears in tiny cut glass tasters that look beautiful with their black stems on the marble topped table.
We chat for a bit – good cocktails can take time to make – and our order arrives. We ooh and ahh over the look – and everyone reaches for their smart phone to take a picture. In order going down they are – Tequila Mockingbird (with the gorgeous sliced apple); The Chaser, and mine – the Mary Pickford (after all, I am a fan of hers.. click the link to see why – how could I resist?)
We stuck around for one more round of drinks. This time, we all decided to try something we’d never had before, and tried a bit of each other’s to see how they were. To be honest, they all tasted as wonderful as they looked. Below – the one with the passion fruit on top (center) is the Purple Pearl, to the Right is the Dirty Wizard (raspberries floating, ginger edge and jalapeno infused vodka), and in front of me is the Wee Dram (made with 15 year aged whisky).
With our wallets emptied, we headed to dinner and then on to the button factory for a concert (more on this tomorrow).
