What a great night with friends at Gamlin Whiskey House.
This is the second restaurant owned by the Gamlin brothers (but not the last) on the Central West End. Their first restaurant is Sub Zero Vodka Bar (also on the CWE). Sub Zero has the largest selection of Vodka in the country.
The attention to detail in the Whiskey House decor was definitely not left to chance. The drink menus are mini-books and arrive at the table in a wooden box. Each menu is labeled: Whiskey, Cocktails, etc. with nearly 300 whiskey selections. These boxes are kept on shelves that have copper fronts and are held up by iron brackets with the Gamlin name embossed into the iron. Details! Another wall houses jars of freshly put-up/canned vegies, brightly colored and used in various recipes by the chef. Details!
We were privileged to join their mom (and our friend) Lynda for dinner along with our great friends Jerry, Sue & Jake . We've been friends with them for well over 45 years. It's been one laugh after another and it definitely continued last night.
We not only toasted with drinks, but we toasted our mouth-watering food as well.
And just when we thought it couldn't get any better . . . we were invited to see the private lower level of the restaurant.
After meandering down some steps and through a doorway, we came to this amazing room with it's handmade reclaimed wood table made by one of the Gamlin cousins. It was gorgeous and enormous and reserved for their private family dinners.
There are several of these hunks of wood that make up the base of the table. Truly extraordinary.
At the end of the table is a wall of wine refrigerators. An entire wall. Floor.to.ceiling.
From there we walked through another doorway to find an iron gate. And beyond the locked iron gate . . .
WHISKEY ~ BOURBON ~ SCOTCH
All backlit and easy to see the labels - perfectly aligned with the amber color of the spirits warming the room. Just beyond that, another small tasting room with a bar and couch-like seating against a wall lined with reclaimed wood.
I love a good salvage story and this is one of them: These were steps in an old schoolhouse that were salvaged and cut in half to use as shelves. Look at this close-up:
The children who attended this school carved names, dates and messages into the wood. So much history here!
And this is where we ended our evening. Surrounded by history and great friends . . . not to mention full bellies from our delicious steak, shrimp and lobster dinners and creme brulee dessert (oh and a sip or two of whiskey).
