Top of the Monk

A staircase behind Thirsty Monk’s ground-floor taproom leads to a different bar. Cocktails only, thirty seats, and a patio that catches the sun going down over the South Slope. Belgian beer covers the other two floors — a taproom at street level, Delirium in the basement. The wood floor underneath is original, about 120 years old, and it got refinished during the fifteen-month renovation that closed the building before it reopened in 2021; the patio deck was widened in the same renovation. Kala Brooks spent years building the cocktail list here before being promoted to general manager over all three of Thirsty Monk’s bars, and she also developed Thirsty Monk’s Holy Water hard seltzer. Nine cocktails run $13 to $17, spirits ranging from gin and mezcal to Japanese whisky, pre-Prohibition builds sitting next to newer ones: Blood Orange New Fashioned, Summer in Your Mouth, Verdita Mezcal-Rita. The Sexy Old Fashioned pairs Woodford Double Oaked with High West Double Rye, a house-cured allspice dram and barrel-aged cherry bitters, and the Get Lucky runs white rum against blackberries, almond orgeat, honey and a dash of Peychaud’s. The Miso Honey Goldrush leans on Toki whisky and clover honey fermented with miso, and at thirteen dollars it is the cheapest pour on the list. One cocktail, the Lemon Tarragon Flip, is finished with Thirsty Monk’s own Abbey Blonde ale, the one place upstairs where the beer downstairs still gets in. Go up the stairs past the taproom for this one.