SCENE By Stephanie Stewart-Howard Nashville’s The Patterson House brilliantly challenges your cocktail palate.
Cocktail Couture W
alking into Patterson House, you take in a 1920s vibe, whisked through a deep aqua
velvet drape to an intimate bar space with a vast dark wood bar, high stools, cozy booths and a plethora of antique mirrors. Tall bookcases overfl ow with real books as well as with bottles of house wines, of which there are only a few, and serving supplies. You’ve arrived and the joint’s jumping—Nashville’s Patterson House speakeasy, tucked into a bustling area of Midtown, is generally hopping, even if you opt for the carefully hidden back patio when seasonally appropriate. Th e brainchild of entrepreneurial
brothers Benjamin and Max Goldberg some two years past, Patterson House became Music City’s fi rst real foray into speakeasy culture and continues to embrace a forward-thinking cocktail attitude. “Th ere’s something special about
having a well-crafted libation that has passion, dedication and love put into it. We’re a pre-Prohibition style cocktail bar that embraces that philosophy. Nashville didn’t have a restaurant that provided this experience—it’s always been my goal to help fi ll a niche that doesn’t exist,” says Max Goldberg.
IT’S ALL IN THE MIX High heels click across hardwoods;
crystal fi xtures shimmer overhead. Th e demographic for Patterson House depends upon the hour. Early evenings, fi nd the mature types in for their serious rye cocktails, but by the time you hit 11:30, mid-30s is more the average, 20s even—the cocktails are still smart, if oh- so-slightly less challenging. “We get a fair number of foodie types
The Bacon Old Fashioned is made with maple syrup,
Benton’s Bacon-Infused Four Roses Bourbon and bitters.
14 | JULY/AUGUST 2011
in here, especially when we get publicity,” says general manager James Hensley. “But not all become regulars.” Hensley says when they opened; the fi rst cocktail menu (it changes seasonally)
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