Haymarket Whiskey Bar

Smoking bar?  Here it is. Smoke away!  I didn't think these were still allowed in this city.  Five people at the bar were smoking and when I asked the bartender about it, he said "yea there usually isn't this many people smoking in here".   Just a few minutes in the bar and we smelled of smoke. We had to finish our drinks on the patio to avoid it.

The bartender had to look up how to make the house cocktails. Not what I expect from a bourbon bar. We asked for the house old fashioned, but they were out of oranges and several other items.

There are better places in town. Just avoid it.

We spent a few nights in Louisville and decided to stop in here on our last night, as it was right next door to our hotel.  I wish we would have gone in earlier in the weekend.  There were only a couple other people in there when we went in and we ended up being the only ones in there for most of the time we were there, but we thought that was great.  Our bartender, Jay, was a lot of fun and very knowledgeable on every liquid we consumed.  Professionally, he left us alone until we started engaging him in conversation, and then we all opened up and had a great night.

As for the bar, it's one of those unique places that doesn't look like any other bar/saloon.  Not at all is it dirty or anything like that.  If you are an alcohol connoisseur, you should definitely stop in. They have a wide array of different whiskeys and other spirits, as well as craft beers.  If you're looking to try something new or unique, this is the place to be.  

If we are ever in Louisville again, this will definitely be the first place we go.  Good times.

"Well show me the way
To the next whiskey bar
Oh don't ask why
Oh don't ask why"
- Jim Morrison

Here's why.  If what you want to drink isn't on the board behind the cash register or in the refrigerator by the couch, you aren't getting it.  You just aren't.  

I was trying to order a drink for my lady. "You know what I like," were her instructions.  I ordered a Tom Collins. "What's that?" the bartender replied.  "If you tell me how to make it, I can."  I've made Tom Collins' before, but I'm not a bartender and didn't want to explain quantities, so how about an Old Fashioned.  I hope to heaven that he just couldn't hear me straight, because when he told me that he didn't know that one either, I lost faith in a whiskey bar in bourbon country that didn't know how to mix a drink that was created in 1806.  (Side bar: what did they call an Old Fashioned before it was old?  New Fangled? I'm getting distracted.  Back to the review.) So, I told him that I was trying to order something sweet. He replied, and I kid you not, "I can put enough sugar in anything to make it sweet."  He finally suggested some raspberry thing to which I agreed and apparently it was good.  

One of our compatriots also suffered poor service when asking for an ingredient substitution to her well drink.  She was gruffly rebuked.  I understand that swapping Coke for ginger beer probably doesn't give you the same margin on the drink, but there are tactful ways of saying it.  

I guess I just really didn't like the owner/bartender.  

The live music was great!  The atmosphere is super divey and laid back.  Get some decent service in there and I'd love to go back.