Bar Review - Proof of purchase

With top-notch sips and smokes, you’ll be happy to pay your dues at the Clubhouse

With locations in Costa Mesa, Calif., Oak Brook, Ill., and now Atlanta, the Clubhouse is the brainchild of Keith Rudman and Jerry Kleiner. Rudman and Kleiner have conceived a publicly accessible bar/restaurant with the ambiance and style of an exclusive private club.
While the interior of the Lenox Mall location is posh enough for its celebrity investors (Kevin Costner, Robert Wagner, Fred Couples and Jack Nicklaus), with rich oak and mahogany paneling and beveled glass, the ambiance is laid-back — perfect for John Q. Public. On any given day one might find a mixed bag of dining businessmen, hungry shoppers, young couples or cell phone-toting Buckhead singles on the make.
The bar houses a four-tier liquor display showcasing an impressive but expensive array of top-shelf libations and wines — everything from Stolichnaya vodka to Hennessey Richard cognac (at $220 a glass!). The bartenders are smartly attired in black on white Pulp Fiction duds, although I found their behind-the-bar bottle-tossing antics to be hackneyed and choreographed.
After dispatching a well-prepared 18 oz. fillet ($18) and a decadent mound of ice cream, brownie and chocolate chip cookie called Elmer’s Sundae ($6.95), I retired to the Normandy Room for some after-dinner alcohol and tobacco.
The Normandy Room is a secluded enclave within the store, offering plush leather chairs, a fireplace and well-stocked humidor. It’s the ideal place to relax with a cigar and port, cognac, single malt or small batch bourbon.
I selected a Woodford Reserve bourbon (aged for a minimum of 6 years and 90.4 proof; $9) and a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur cigar ($13). The warmth and the subtle bite of expertly crafted corn whiskey and the pungent olfactory pleasures of fine aged tobacco are the perfect ending to a good meal.
Bourbon
1 snifter
1 bottle of small batch or single barrel bourbon
1 glass of ice water
1 cigar
One of the best ways to drink a small batch or single barrel bourbon is neat (without ice) — not as a shot or mixed with fizzy colas. If you must, add a splash of water, but that’s it. Pour the whiskey into the glass, swirl it around the smooth edges of the glass to unleash the musky aroma and sip. Let the sweet, potent elixir roll around in your mouth and swallow. Alternate with puffs (don’t inhale) of a fine stogie. Soften the bite with a sip of water if needed.