Soundtable

After two years, the Soundtable has maintained its standing among the top Atlanta cocktail bars. It may not enjoy the fire it had at its opening, when I could happily report that it had no equal in Atlanta. They have since lost at least one of their fine bartenders and other establishments have risen from the dust to compete. So it is more the crowding of the field than a decline in quality that diminishes the Soundtable relative to its peers. I am just as apt on any night to run to H. Harper Station or Pura Vida for cocktails, and I no longer recommend solely the Soundtable when people ask where the good drinks flow.

But I will always have an affinity for the Soundtable. The location at Edgewood and Boulevard is romantic urban chic, and reaffirms my general aversion to Buckhead and Virginia Highlands. The vibe at the Soundtable is good and the style is both modern and warm, an aesthetic which I find pleasing. I don't like it when crowded, but then again I don't like any bar when it is crowded. (I prefer what Chicago's The Violet Hour does--only allowing as many patrons as they can seat at any one time and forcing any overflow traffic to line up outside.) The service is genuinely friendly and knowledgeable, even if they may lose some marks for speed and efficiency. I have often times waited far too long for a drink there, even when it's not busy. But on the same note, the bartenders and waiters work with you and the menu to find you the perfect match. In the end, I'd rather have an artisanal bar stocked with experts in craft than exemplars of service. Save the five star service for the five star restaurants whose rich patrons probably have no clue what they are tasting or ingesting.

What I am happiest to report on is that the Soundtable can stake a solid claim to being the most subtle purveyors of craft cocktails in Atlanta. Their drinks tend toward the simple, experimenting with three or four ingredients, paying attention to proportions rather than throwing more and more exotic liquors into the mix. Last night I had two rich and dusky cocktails there, both made with fernet branca. Between that and the sweetbreads, my life suddenly seemed remarkably good. The bartenders were in a friendly mood, mainly experimenting with drinks during a slow night (Wednesday, after all...) One bartender was working on a honeysuckle old fashioned, which he let me try. We bantered about ways to craft the cocktail. By the end of the night, he had a pretty damn good concoction. Or at least I think he did. I was pretty drunk by the time I left.

I was there, two years ago, for the opening of the Soundtable--or at least, I was there shortly after it opened. I used to go frequently, or as frequently as my two year old will give me leave. But I hadn't been back in some time, owing probably more to my increasing schedule than anything else. So it's good to check in from time to time, and even better to leave smiling. And not just because a couple of cocktails will make you smile, but because the taste of fernet branca and how it alters with 7 year old rum versus 10 year old bourbon has been comfortably lodged in your head. Well, it was in mine anyway.