Tatiana A.
Yelp
This place is so cool!! I had already tried their bitters and canned cocktails in the past, so I couldn't wait to go here. I brought six of my friends last night, and we were all super excited by all of the wondrous tastes we got to try. We lucked out, because one of the owner distillers was there, and he was happy to talk to us at length about his process and their inspirations for some of the liquors, bitters, canned cocktails and liqueurs they make on site. You can get in either through Tattersall or through Elusive's back door around the corner. If you go through Tattersall, be sure to walk back into Elusive and check out the distillery and canning operation. I loved looking at the "mad scientist lab" where many of the experiments with the tinctures happen.
The vibe of the place is kind of like hip Speakeasy meets casual-retro living room. They have a record player with vinyl records to play, and lots of comfy seating. It was quiet when we got there, but it got very loud as more people came (to be expected when you're in a warehouse situation). I was glad I went with a bunch of people, because I got to try a lot of different things.
The one suggestion I had was they need a menu listing all of the spirits available on offer. I wanted a flight, but this list doesn't yet exist on the web or in the bar. However, one of the bartenders was kind enough to recite them all from memory so that I could make my decision. The list is long, but basically for spirits they have a lot of interesting liqueurs, many of which we have never seen or tasted in our lives, like Angelica and chicory. And for liquors, they are mainly focusing on Gins and Rums. They are too new to have whiskey yet, but they did have a bourbon barrel aged orange liqueur, which they use in a cocktail I got called "Rhubbin' Elbows", which the bartender told me it was kind of their take on a Manhattan. I loved it, and I loved the fact that it seemed slightly less boozey than a regular Manhattan. We all agreed these days we can't drink like when we were 25, so having interesting cocktails that aren't all booze is perfect. They also have a Mocktail menu (including real phosphates!!) on the reverse side, but we didn't try any of those. The bartenders are happy to make whatever concoction you can come up with, but we mostly ordered off the menu. I did try something called a half-and-half that wasn't on the menu, and it was hands down a table favorite. It was half their ancho cacao liqueur, and half their Russo vermouth. YUM. The ancho cacao liqueur was our favorite in the flight, but we also loved the Angelica, it's hard to describe, but it reminded me of an aquavit. Everyone had a different take on it but everyone loved it. I wasn't as wild about the bourbon barrel orange, but others at the table loved it. And I loved it in the cocktail. Just kind of sweet on its own. The other thing I highly recommend is "be part of the experiment". It's a rotating selection of three spirits in a flight, they don't tell you what it is, and they want you to write down your opinions. They take all the opinions they get and make changes to the spirits, and the next week they are completely different. This week it was spiced rums, and they were all a little bit different, it was neat to taste with the group and talk about which ones were our favorites and why. We will definitely be back!
