The Golden Pineapple

A plywood tiger, cut out and painted, is mounted on the wall above the back bar, its body arching over rows of whiskey and gin. Before any of that, 503 Haywood Road was a recording studio, then a pharmacy, then a deli. It sat empty for years, inside the Baker Building, put up in 1917. Katey Ryder and Donnie Pratt, longtime Asheville bartenders, opened The Golden Pineapple inside it. Pratt also cooks. Dröm Construction built the white oak bar and the shelving the tiger watches over. Monday belongs to Robert’s Totally Rad Trivia. Teams cap at six; no reservations. Some nights it turns to burlesque, hosted by Deb Aunare. Wake Up Call sets blanco tequila and absinthe against watermelon, jalapeño and dry vermouth. Rattail Daddy, the bar’s summer daiquiri, is Uruapan charanda rum over sweet corn and makrut lime with a tajín rim — gone when the corn is, back when it’s hot again. On the zero-proof list, Mood Swing is gin, lavender and butterfly pea flower. The SECRET MYSTERY SHOOTER lists no ingredients at all, just a name and, printed underneath it, “who actually knows?” — an honesty most menus don’t bother with. The right glass comes out shaped like an actual gold pineapple, metal straw included, set against wallpaper thick with palms, parrots and a green snake. The room has handed itself over to The Haunting of Golden Pineapple for Halloween, and to the Miracle Christmas pop-up in winter. At Christmas the tiny Santa hats go on, on the painted animals and on whatever else is hanging. Some are still up in July.