Honor Amongst Thieves

Psst. We have a little secret to share:  We went to the Honor Amongst Thieves opening last night. And we want to tell you about it so you can go, too.
It smelled new, but the concept is old: Good drinks; small, dark bar you get to feel cool for knowing about. Tale as old as time, right? Or at least the prohibition era.

The new bar(/speakeasy/lounge/hideaway/whatever you want to call it) is located above the new Stock & Stable on 7th at the Colony. And, actually, it’s the same owners. You can get to Honor Amongst Thieves by entering through Stock & Stable’s kitchen or by taking the back stairs.

The menu, created by mixologist Stephanie Teslar, is separated into different sections like cocktails, martinis, small shots, and ‘city wides’ (a beer and a shot). It’s an entirely different feel from Stock & Stable, but with the same great service (we were asked every ten seconds if we had been helped or if we needed anything).

“The well drinks are good!” we overhear at a table as we look over the menu. Or try to, because it’s dark and our eyes haven’t adjusted from driving in the blinding sun yet. The menu is not so gigantic that you need an hour to look, but it’s big enough to offer something for everyone. We’re welcomed to our bar stools with a shot of amaretto and a cheese plate, so already things are off to a good start.

First round: Gin. We ask for something refreshing that’s not saccharine or heavy. Chris, our bartender, whips up a 51/50 (Oola aged gin, Maurin dry vermouth, house orange bitters). The drink is light and slightly bitter with hints of sweet citrus to balance. It complements the dark wood perfectly and – bonus – we use our toothpick to eat more charcuterie because we didn’t want to use our hands.

Roasted tomatoes? No! Roasted sausage, jam, and a tapenade to go with our rosemary cheese wedge, salami, prosciutto, and bread.

For the next round, we went trendy. We couldn’t help ourselves. We wanted to try a cocktail using a shrub.

Shrubs have been popping up everywhere.

But, actually, shrubs are really old. Like, colonial-era old in America. But, of course, we stole the idea from the English who had been doing it since the 15th century. There’s a whole history you can read about here so you can impress (or depress) your friends when you go out tonight.

We settled on The Long Hall, which combined whiskey, rooibos tea, lemon, blood orange cardamom shrub, and hops together to create what was our favorite drink of the night. It could have been too sweet, but the whiskey and shrub keep the citrus as the star of the show and made it too easy to drink quickly.

On our honor, this bar is pretty great and you need to take your coolest friends as soon as possible. We think the password is ‘blueberry muffin’, but it’ll probably change by tonight. In the meantime, check out their social media for potential clues.