Faith & Whiskey - A gateway drug to Bar DeVille?

After having this exchange with Faith & Whiskey's prompt & friendly PR guy a few weeks ago (and jealous that some folks were going to The Whistler that Friday evening but I couldn't because I had to go to a dinner in Lincoln Park), I convinced my wife that we should hustle out the door 90 minutes ahead of schedule and go a bit out of our way so we could meet a couple of friends early and sample a couple of the new Brad Bolt-designed cocktails at Faith & Whiskey.

As I mentioned in the linked Faith & Whiskey thread, my first couple of visits weren't so great. However, this most recent visit was a complete 180 - the music level was perfect (loud enough to feel energetic, not so loud that I had to shout to be heard). A DJ in the back was spinning old-school hip-hop occasionally blended with with modern pop/rap, which made for some cool & interesting mixes...later, after we asked him why his Corona bottle had a pink tinge to it, he bought my friend and I a round of Corona-with-grenadine (I thought the end result tasted a lot like OE).

Now for the drinks: I'll be totally honest, as someone who's spent entirely too much time & money perched on stools at both Bar DeVille and The Violet Hour, these drinks were old hat...cocktails with training wheels, if you will. But I think this is by design, and is a good thing. By giving classic, solid, time-tested drinks like the Old Fashioned and Sidecar hip, aggressive names like "Tombstone" and "Bullet Wound", I think (hope) they can introduce the Jager-shot/Captain-and-Coke (not that there's anything wrong with either) crowd to the beauty of a proper, finely-crafted cocktail.

Since the cocktail program had just started two days prior to our visit, the bartenders were still quite shaky about the whole process. But their enthusiasm and insistence on getting each drink exactly right was a really cool thing to see. They were very forthcoming with their impressions of each drink, recommendations, etc., and made sure to follow up with us to make sure we were happy with their handiwork. The Tombstone that I tried was as good as any Old Fashioned I've had, and was cool in that it combined Bar DeVille's fat citrus rinds and The Violet Hour's flamed citrus oil, neither of which are techniques one would expect the average Lincoln Park, Miller Lite-slinging bartender to be familiar with...yet these guys did both nicely.

Also, maybe I didn't notice before, or maybe it's been a work in progress, but Faith & Whiskey has what I can only imagine is one of the better & more serious liquor (especially whiskey, as its name would have you expect) selections in the DePaul area.

All in all, the new cocktail program at Faith & Whiskey is definitely not going to blow any LTHer's mind...however, it is totally respectable, and I definitely plan on supporting it whenever I'm in Lincoln Park and have a hankering for a drink. Plus $20 unlimited table-side keg service on Sundays...come on, that's just awesome

Edited to fix a mess caused by my accidental/premature click of the Submit button instead of Preview.
Edited again to change "citrix" to "citrus"...I hate when work seeps into my brain & takes root

I spend little to no time in LP, if I do it would be for a show at the Vic or Metro, or drinks at Delilah's or Duke of Perth (I assume some of these could actually be LV, I haven't really paid attention), so I doubt I'll go out of my way to try the drinks at Faith & Whiskey. But I am ok with the idea, and I hope it catches on, I have too many friends I wouldn't take to the Hour, DeVille, or Drawing Room because they started drinking in places like LP, and if they tried to order something like a Redbull and Vodka, well I might have to disown them.

SSDD

Hey Khaopaat,

Thank you so much for the shoutout and going to check out the new Brad Bolt designed cocktails at Faith & Whiskey. It's always great to see someone give a place a second (or third?) chance then they're doing something new. Very glad to hear the music was at a much better level. It's something they've corrected.

You really captured in your very thoughtful blog post what they're trying to do over there with Faith & Whiskey's specialty cocktail program. As a longtime fan and "bar friend" of Brad Bolt at both The Violet Hour and Bar DeVille, I thought he'd be a great fit to get involved with the all whiskey/bourbon/scotch specialty cocktail menu at Bar DeVille. The management and bartenders at Faith & Whiskey have been very excited and willing to learn from Brad and create his new cocktails at Faith & Whiskey. It's so great to hear your impression of The Tombstone (aka the shaken Old Fashioned riff).

Ha, and yes, Faith & Whiskey does do $20 unlimited tableside keg service on Sundays along with all its whiskeys and bourbons being half off.

If anyone is interested in getting those $9 Brad Bolt designed Faith & Whiskey cocktails for only $7, this Friday Dec 4 is your chance at Faith & Whiskey. They're throwing a "Prohibition Repeal Party" featuring a hosted gratis reception by Knob Creek from 7pm to 9pm, a free shoeshine booth from 7-9pm. two performances featuring three burlesque dancers from Ripettes Burlesque ( http://www.ripettesburlesque.com/ ) at 10pm and 12:30am, costume contest for best female flapper and best guy gangster outfits and those specialty cocktails will be just $7.

All the LTH people, I'll be there on Friday. If you swing by and ask for me -- Dave -- I'll buy you a one of the specialty cocktails.

I've had some friends who are newer to the city express interest in this place, not knowing its past as Ta'Too. I had lived in Lincoln Park for three years before moving up north, and the only reasons I come back are to drink there are at bars where friends work, the beer and food at The Local Option, or the whiskey at Delilah's. However, the thorough and unbiased review by Khaopaat has given me a reason to check out another establishment in the region. Especially now that there are two brand new restaurants within two blocks (Kith & Kin, and Sprout), Faith & Whiskey may just be on the agenda for pre- or post-dinner cocktails.

This is another reason why I appreciate Brad Bolt's approach to "cocktail culture" and going out/drinking as a whole - he understands what makes a bar fun, and recognizes that the drinks are only a part of it. His aversion to pretension is what makes DeVille such a great spot, either for a quick beer at 2am (before heading, with the rest of the bar, staff included, to the Continental) or for an early "bartender's choice" cocktail before slumming it at Club Foot. The fact that he'd lend his name and craftsmanship to a very "Lincoln Park" bar shows that the dude doesn't discriminate when it comes to giving people who like a well-made drink an option in an underserved parts of town.

Plus $20 unlimited table-side keg service on Sundays...come on, that's just awesome

Pray tell, what exactly is unlimited table-side keg service? In the hinterlands of central Illinois, table-side keg service means positioning yourself next to the keg at the picnic table. Is this is a new, more upscale and highbrow bar trend?

Davooda

Davooda wrote:Pray tell, what exactly is unlimited table-side keg service? In the hinterlands of central Illinois, table-side keg service means positioning yourself next to the keg at the picnic table. Is this is a new, more upscale and highbrow bar trend?

Davooda

In my (sometimes overactive) imagination, it's a keg on a dolly of some sort, which is wheeled over to your table (by a bevy of lingerie models, of course) when you raise your empty glass and shout, old-time-baseball-stadium-beer-vendor-style, "beer here!"

I am now sold on this place for a Sunday visit! Thanks for the clarification. Davooda

I made it to the repeal party on Friday evening, and had a great time. Unlimited free Knob Creek bourbon from 7pm until 9pm, plus more of those excellent Tombstone cocktails mixed by Mike the bartender, who made the Tombstone that I enjoyed so much during my visit a few weeks ago...those guys need to keep an eye on Mike, his mixology skills are getting good enough that TVH, Bar DeVille or The Drawing Room might decide to snap him up Later in the evening, when they ran out of the Rittenhouse rye, he subbed in a couple of bourbons and tweaked them with varying amounts of simple syrup and citrus in order to reproduce the original flavor profile...it was cool to see him becoming more comfortable with experimentation.

Once again, the music was at just the right level, the vibe was good, staff was friendly, and the drinks were well-made. My friends & I were able to snag a couple of stools toward the back of the bar and had a fun time.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dave, who does PR for Faith & Whiskey and was the one who originally tipped us off to Faith & Whiskey's new cocktail program. I've never been totally comfortable accepting freebies, so I waited until we were ready to leave before seeking him out to introduce myself and say hi. However, he twisted my arm and insisted on treating me to a couple of Tombstones as we chatted...thanks to him, my ill-fated trip to Kith & Kin was made a little more tolerable

After dinner, we came back to catch the 12:30am burlesque show mentioned earlier in this thread...the bar was packed & pleasantly rowdy, a swing band was in full...er...swing, but things still weren't uncomfortably loud.

After two very positive experiences in a row, I think it's safe to say Faith & Whiskey is becoming my Lincoln Park cocktail go-to.