There are times when you really want to be a grown-up, when you want to go to a grown-up bar and have a grown-up drink. You don’t want to deal with music you have to scream over or hordes of barely-twenty somethings who are constantly taking photos and posting them on Instagram. You want quality time drinking quality alcohol, surrounded by quality people and Analogue is the place where you find this.
Recently opened on what is fast becoming my favorite New York street, West 8th in the Village, Analogue is the first joint project of two stylish but completely different men, who happened to meet whilst they were getting their business degrees at NYU. Jesse Wilson from Oakland, California, loves bourbon and ryes whilst Jared Gordon, a native New Yorker, is the whisky man, a lover of single malts, and the beautifully stocked shelves behind the bar reflect both their passions.
Not that you can’t get any other kind of drinks here – they do have a full bar, including a great selection of wines and draft beers – but my visit here coincided with my sweetheart’s birthday, so a motley crew of chums convened specifically to sample the remarkable cocktail menu. The mixologists at Analogue are definitely some of the best I’ve ever encountered; the cocktails are truly sublime. Every element in them is right – the liquor, the glass, the garnish, the ice. All perfect.
The Matahari – which I chose – is cognac-based, with fresh lemon, pomegranate juice and homemade chai- infused vermouth and it was as seductive as it sounds, the garnish of crushed rose petals really elevating it to a heady, sensual experience. The birthday boy had the bar namesake drink, a combination of dark spiced rum and bourbon stirred with ginger and lime cordial, which was perfectly balanced and exactly right for a cold, snowy night.
Other members of our party enjoyed the Peche Bourbon, which served in a gorgeous coupe with its crushed mint garnish, turned us all temporarily into Southern Belles, and the W8, a vodka-based drink that is shaken with mint, lemon and cucumber and topped with a splash of soda – a very refreshing beverage that I look forward to imbibing as Spring hopefully comes to us.
The atmosphere in Analogue is like that of the perfect hotel bar, but more friendly. Since both the owners are jazz lovers, that is what is played and the environment couldn’t be more perfect for it; big, comfortable banquettes or soft leather chairs are the seating, the lighting is flirtingly low and amazing original prints of jazz greats such as Miles Davis decorate the walls.
—Fiona Tedds
