If there’s one thing East Nashville doesn’t want for, it’s places to drink. Even so, the brand-new Fox Bar and Cocktail Club, hidden away behind Nicoletto’s Pasta Kitchen on Gallatin Pike, is a worthy addition. With low light and beautiful Art Deco design elements, the little bar offers a large, unique cocktail program designed by Will Benedetto, along with a charming menu that features an illustrated drink key.
A lot looked promising when I visited The Fox on a recent weeknight. My bartender suggested the Appalachian Sour, but I told him, whiskey fan and native Tennessean though I may be, I’m not big on Jack Daniel’s. He’s not either, he said. A bit too much of the stuff in college. But this drink — mixed with Jack, the locally made Green Brier White Whiskey, lemon stock, charcoal, egg white, sorghum and gold flakes — masks the whiskey’s signature flavor well. The Appalachian Sour arrived in a coupe glass, with gold flakes glinting on its foamy surface. At $13, it’s at the north end of The Fox’s craft cocktail list, but it’s a beautiful drink, lightly boozy and perfectly refreshing without venturing into cloyingly sweet territory. And if you’d told me it was made with a different whiskey — say, a bourbon like Maker’s Mark or Four Roses — I would’ve believed you.
The Fox has an extensive selection of cocktails, some of them seasonal, and most of them pretty tempting. My date really enjoyed her Late Nite Tip (made with Collier McKeel Whiskey, amontillado sherry and pimento bitters), and I very nearly ordered the November Old Fashioned, which is mixed with Dickel 12. A couple reasons to return, I reckon.
