Looking for a new spot to quench your thirst?
According to magazine Garden & Gun, there are five new Georgia bars that should be on your list.
The publication's February/March 2019 issue picks 25 watering holes as the best places in the South to drink.
Scroll down to see which Georgia bars made the cut and why:
The Expat: (Owner) Jerry Slater and his wife, Krista, a sommelier, have elevated the college town's drinking options in a spot that bridges the gap between bar and restaurant.
The Slaters, owners of the now-shuttered H. Harper Station, hired Atlanta chef Savannah Sasser, formerly of Twain's and Hampton + Hudson, as the executive chef for their Athens spot. Together, the trio is presenting its vision of a French-American bistro, with an all-day menu, and a reliance on a wealth of produce and products from nearby farms and producers. Read more here.
Garden & Gun Club: It's intimate and full of touches Southerners will appreciate (including host stands made with Charleston, South Carolina, ironwork), with food and drinks that reflect the region's ingredients and history while also putting a spin on tradition.
The first dining venture for Southern culture magazine and lifestyle brand Garden & Gun, Garden & Gun Club's design mixes contemporary and antique elements in shades of dark wood, steel, leather and marble. A lavishly stocked cocktail bar is front and center, and a raw bar anchors the main dining room in back. A retail shop features a selection of Southern goods from the magazine's e-commerce site, Mercantile + Co. Read more here and read a review here.
Golden Eagle: Golden Eagle is the bar secretly constructed by the eccentric uncle you never knew you had...
The overall vibe is 1940s as envisioned by the 1970s.
The restaurant from the team behind Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall and coffee shop Muchacho serves up vintage vibes. Read a review here.
Paper Crane Lounge: A visit to the Paper Crane Lounge is like a meditation session, but one, you know, with cocktails—relaxing, soothing, and rejuvenating.
Staplehouse opened Paper Crane Lounge in an upstairs space that previously served as a private event space. The bar is first come, first serve and features a rotating cocktail list with five or six drinks (including a sparkling Negroni). Different drinks lists are offered at the restaurant and lounge.
Lone Wolf: Lone Wolf is boisterous and friendly, with a tiki-inflected house cocktail list in addition to a roster of "classics for a reason"—including Harry Johnson's 1888 fifty-fifty martini (equal parts gin and vermouth).
For the feature, Garden & Gun contributor Wayne Curtis rounded up bars in 12 states and 19 cities that have been open two years or less.
The selected bars, Curtis said, “Lack the natural patina that comes with age. Yet many...will leave you feeling as if they’ve been around for a while.”
His additional criteria includes a “class of bar that is bringing back the lost art of hospitality, mixing outstanding cocktails, wine libraries, moods that refuse to take themselves too seriously, and bar food that doesn’t seem in the same genus as cheese fries, with the settings we’re all familiar with.”
Garden & Gun Club, The Battery Atlanta, 2605 Circle 75 Pkwy., Atlanta. 770-726-0925, gardenandgunclub.com/
Golden Eagle, 904 Memorial Drive SE, Atlanta. 404-963-1703, goldeneagleatl.com/
Paper Crane Lounge. 541 Edgewood Ave. SE, Atlanta. 404-524-5005, staplehouse.com/
The Expat, 1680 S. Lumpkin St., Athens. 706-521-5041, theexpatathens.com/
Lone Wolf, 2429 Lincoln St., Savannah.
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