Modern Speakeasies for Bourbon Fans

Ninety-three years on from the repeal of Prohibition, the term “speakeasy” more accurately describes a tucked-away watering hole that forgoes overt signage than it does an illegal club where G-men broke down doors and flappers knocked back bathtub gin. Still, at these six chic hideouts, secret entrances and moody ambience add a layer of drama, and a hint of the illicit, to bars already stocking bourbon selections that make you wonder if they know a guy who knows a guy.

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Photo: Rebecca Redding

The St. Clair Hotel has a lively, well-appointed bourbon bar, Howser Tavern, right off the street entrance. For hotel guests and others tipped off by local merchants, however, a scavenger hunt around the tavern yields a code that unlocks a plain gray door in a back hallway cagily marked MAINTENANCE. Behind it unfolds a second, handsomely clubby bar with backlit shelves crowned by the royalty of the local Buffalo Trace portfolio and visiting luminaries from the courts of Louisville, Lexington, Lawrenceburg, and Loretto.

Photo: courtesy of The National, Autograph Collection

When converting a 1931 bank office tower into a hotel, the National did the logical thing with the original underground vault—created a swanky cocktail lounge beyond its massive steel door. Heist skills aren’t needed for admittance, but whiskey lovers might want to begin upstairs at Stock & Bond steakhouse with a tasting flight of Booker’s bourbons served with a number on a card. Take that combination down to the Vault to unlock a safety deposit box where a decadent dessert awaits.

Photo: Katie Leichhardt

Hotel Distil on Louisville’s Whiskey Row is already well known for the bourbon selection at its Repeal steakhouse. To go even (and literally) deeper, find the discreet street entrance that accesses a smaller, cozier bar hidden beneath the hotel. Opened this past May and named for the year of Prohibition’s repeal, the space definitely imparts an underground mood with its red curtains, leather couches, dark wood, and low lighting. But the creative cocktails, unicorn bourbon pours, and single-barrel offerings aim for the summit of today’s whiskey scene.

Photo: courtesy of Kinfolk

Though the name of the upstairs restaurant, Moonshine Grill, might provide a bit of a tip-off, it’s still a fun surprise to descend into a limestone-walled, 170-year-old cellar that’s been reborn as a luxuriously intimate cocktail lounge. Of special interest to whiskey aficionados is Kinfolk’s spirits library, featuring a ten-seat communal table surrounded by 900 rare and allocated bottles, all of which are available by the pour or as a cocktail ingredient.

You’d think that a location away from downtown Louisville in the residential St. Matthews area would be camouflage enough. But if you approach Black Rabbit from the back (you can also use the front entrance, shared with a restaurant), enter the nondescript office lobby and knock on the peephole-equipped bookcase that swings open to a warren of rooms, including Jack Bourbon Lounge, for pours affordable to indulgent. To push the speakeasy vibe even further, seek out Black Rabbit on weekends for live jazz.

Photo: courtesy of Hotel Vin Rogers

Nestled inside the newly opened Hotel Vin Rogers, the chandelier-lit Magnum Speakeasy promotes an ambience more intimate than the rooftop lounge or restaurant bar. To be escorted through the concealed door, patrons must solve a riddle, the answer to which serves as an entry password. Inside, find elevated pours including Stagg, Woodford Double Oaked, and Four Roses Small Batch, plus a house old-fashioned made with espresso liqueur and toasted almond bitters.