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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/33721
SCENE By Margaret Shakespeare Focuses on the Classics H. Harper Station A new Atlanta venue takes inspiration from the past and local ingredients. winemakers all over, from organic farmers and fruit-preserve makers in the South and, especially, from a charcuterie or chocolatier near his own adopted up-and- coming neighborhood, Reynoldstown, where he chose to live and scouted out the historic Atlanta & West Point freight-line rail depot that houses this Modern Watering Hole, as he has tagged the bar. As dusk lingers outside, take a table on the patio (seating for 50) or walk into the J cool uncluttered space—it’s actually one long room, seating 100 total at a bar on one side, tables with a dark leather banquette for dining on the other and a few bar tables and stools down the middle—and the pleasures unfold slowly. Even slyly. “I got into spirits when I worked in Kentucky at the Seelbach Hotel,” says Slater. “Th e Seelbach erry Slater, proprietor of H. Harper Station, a standout new cocktail bar in Atlanta, has an unabashed bias for brown liquors. He carries about fi ve dozen of them. He is also passionate about artisanal products—from distillers and Cocktail [made here with Old Forester Bourbon, triple sec, Champagne and bitters] goes back to 1917, a fun jumping off point to start exploring.” And explore he did, documenting spirits history and tracking down recipes for pre-Prohibition drinks. “Th irty to forty percent of our list is classics,” he says, happy to explain to an inquisitive customer that a Manhattan is an Old-fashioned without sugar. “Within the Atlanta bar scene we are a fi t with folks who are serious about cocktails. And that has created a comradeship among us. But in some ways we are just a neighborhood joint.” He’s devised wine and beer lists, but so far about sixty-fi ve percent of beverage sales at H. Harper Station (the name honors Slater’s railroad-conductor maternal grandfather) are spirits, half of that being brown spirits. Among brands, they sell as much Pappy Van Winkle (23-year, $48; 15-year, $18 for two-ounce pours) as they can get; Buff alo Trace Bourbon, Rain vodka and Tito’s vodka are tops too. A MIX OF GUESTS AND OFFERINGS Th e clientele—growing by word-of- The Daisy Buchanan is made with Basil Hayden’s Bourbon, yellow chartreuse, lemon, grenadine and egg white at H. Harper Station. mouth and—blog—includes a diverse demographic. “Black, white, gay, straight... At our communal table [for overfl ow] there might be three or four diff erent groups and they end up sharing dishes.” Evenings usually break down in three waves—the after-work crowd; diners; and late-nighters. Being discovered as a dinner place and that families with children stop in came as surprises. “Our latest contingency is legislators—we are a straight shot from the State Capital—and even the ones from South Georgia are comfortable here.” Sure enough, by 7 PM on a weeknight 14 | JUNE 2011 www.cheersonline.com