Many of the tinctures, drams, and bitters are house-made, and between those and the small-batch liquors, the end results are as multi-layered and complex as any culinary masterwork. Sparks and his bartending staff create a seasonal menu of handcrafted specials, including some on tap. He’s a seriously dedicated mixologist who has developed a dizzyingly well-stocked bar, where hundreds of bottles line up between lighted Gothic arches like a cathedral of cocktails. For that, the credit goes to beverage director Ryan Sparks, formerly of The Brewer’s Art, Jack’s Bistro, and Of Love & Regret. It’s cozy without being cloying.Īlthough the artisanal mixed-drink craze is hardly new, Bookmakers is possibly the best of its kind in Baltimore. Plush dark gray banquettes, chairs, and embossed wallpaper invoke the late 1800s, underscored by playfully elaborate white miniature chandeliers and sconces. With its exquisitely handcrafted cocktails, bold-flavored American menu, and late-Victorian-meets-hipster décor, it may be the first haven for a casually sophisticated night out in a ‘hood known mostly for pub grub and beer.Ĭontrary to the cavernous lounge-lizard digs I’d imagined, Bookmakers boasts an intimate interior, a long room where the bar runs parallel to high-top communal and low two-top tables and a series of banquettes along the wall. While it’s true that this Federal Hill spot across from Cross Street Market is a little hard to find-kind of like a speakeasy-there is nothing to remotely suggest that Bookmakers is the kind of retro-swanky spot where shady high rollers conduct backroom business. When I first heard about Bookmakers Cocktail Club, I had visions of red leather banquettes, thick steaks, cigar smoke, and fat-fingered men sporting ring bling.
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