Peter Kern Library

Shh, don't let this secret speakeasy get out in the open. It was pretty cool to try the backdoor to get into this place (locked!) and then having to ask hotel staff to let us in.

I went with a Grendel, which was very enjoyable. It wasn't too crowded for a Wednesday afternoon, although I am sure this is the place to be on a Friday night. Definitely a fun environment.

Needs better door staff.

My husband and I were celebrating our third anniversary on Saturday and decided to go out on the town.  New to the Knoxville area, we hunted out what we thought were unique, high-er class establishments to have a night out.  When we arrived at the speakeasy, we noted a slight disappointment at the lack of a speakeasy-style entrance (doors were wide open, bouncer inside), but that did not sway our excitement.

Walking in, there were two meatheads speaking to the bouncer, who he promptly let in and spoke buddy-buddy with.  Then, Mr. Bouncer-man looked at us and said, "uhhh, we just filled up."  Serious???  I felt like someone just stole my ice cream!

Granted, maybe the place did genuinely fill up.  Maybe there wasn't a seat left in the house.  Maybe it was full before he let in 600 pounds of man and he was just too chicken to say anything to THEM.  But, he should have had the knowledge, and/or skill to have a little sense about him and put it a little more nicely and not like such a total db.  He could have said, "there aren't any seats left right now, but if you wait a few minutes someone may leave," or "just a few minutes folks, we just reached capacity."  

There are dozens of more appropriate variations that wouldn't have made my husband and I feel like a-holes for trying to go there.  I seriously walked away saying..."Did we just get rejected from a Knoxville bar?"  Whaaaa??????  I mean, we're good looking people, we were dressed nice, and although we're in our early thirties now, we don't look old or uncool.  In fact, we've been called out of long lines at some of the hottest clubs in the country to go in ahead of other velvet-rope lackeys; NYC, Vegas, you name it.  I mean, it being a speakeasy and all did not give THIS guy the right to treat us badly.  Come on.  They need to get him off his high horse and back down to Knoxville.

Anyway, so the hubs and I attempted to salvage the rest of our evening but ended up sitting around like a couple of lumps.  I was busy thinking, geez, do we look old, have I let myself go, am I some loser that he felt he could or should talk to like that?  And my husband, while he won't admit it, seemed equally and uncharacteristically quiet.  We perfunctorily swilled two cocktails at Latitude 35 and then called the night a bust.

So, I would like to thank this "speakeasy" and their db doorman for ruining our anniversary.  So thanks...for nothing.

I am a cocktail expert. Author and lecturer and historian. I know a good drink when I taste it. This place I give a bad review for 2 reasons:

A) Rude service. I asked for an Old Fashioned. I asked for no oranges in it. That is not part of the recipe, but too many places muddle oranges in there these  days. The bartender bit my head off for asking for something other than what she assured me would be the best Old Fashioned I ever had. Really? If I do not like oranges, that's not going to be possible when you put them in my drink. The attitude is over blown.

B) The drinks. Nearly every drink is too sweet. Look at all the recipes. Blueberries and all sorts of sweet. Or it is a one-trick pony with hot sauce in it. And they are nearly all cocktails so you are paying $9 for a show as there is likely no more than a jigger of alcohol in them. Everything I tasted was way too extreme in flavor. Nothing was balanced. Nothing was tart. Sweet and astringent.

I should have walked when the bartender got surly for me asking for no oranges in my Old Fashioned, but I stayed to try a lot of drinks that failed.