La Whiskeria - A Bar Review
Spain is not a whiskey loving country -- in fact, it may be the hardest place to find a half-decent whiskey bar that we've visited. Even in the land of ginebra y tonica, however, we managed to find one brown-liquor oasis in Barcelona's El Raval neighborhood: La Whiskeria.
Atmosphere and Service: Compared to bars in the U.S., restaurants and bars in most old European cities tend to be smaller and more intimate. Barcelona's no exception in this regard. La Whiskeria is a true hole in the wall, with a narrow entryway and layout that has room for one row of seats at the bar, one row of small standing tables against the wall, and not much in between. Thankfully, it also has a two-level layout, so there's more seating and room for lounging upstairs.
This bar wears its heart on its sleeve and exudes its enthusiasm for whiskey. The stairwell up to the second floor is lined with empty whiskey cartons, and the second floor is a tiny whiskey museum whose displays include dusty, yellow-labeled bottles of bourbon and scotch that are decades old.
No bar would be complete without a great bartender, and the man behind the counter here is an ex-pat Scotsman who can talk your ear off (and will) about whiskey. He can be entrusted to give a great recommendation and also share some interesting facts about whatever dram you choose to try. We also appreciated that the bar had modern amenities like wifi, accompanied by a playful hint to promote the place on Instagram.
Selection: This place has a lot of whiskey, as the picture above indicates. I didn't ask for the exact number, but judging by the menu, which featured 40-50 whiskies per page, this bar must stock at least 400 bottles. Their selection also features impressive geographic diversity, with healthy varieties of American, Japanese, and world whiskies alongside the scotch that forms the heart of the collection. La Whiskeria doesn't just stock one or two expression from most major producers; if you've heard of the distillery, they're going to have 4 or 5 bottles at a minimum.
Rare Bottles: La Whiskeria does not let down on the hard-to-find front either. In fact, there are plenty of American whiskies that aren't easy to find elsewhere. For Blanton's lovers, it's always a pleasure to go to the UK or Europe, where there are three Blanton's bourbons that are virtually unattainable in the U.S. La Whiskeria had all three (Blanton's Straight from the Barrel, Blanton's Gold, and Blanton's Special Reserve). The bar also carried a formidable cadre of independent bottles, and any bar that bothers to stock independents is one that'll have an expression or two that you might never see again.
Value: Prices are fair across the board. On top of that, the bar offers both 1-ounce and 2-ounce pours, which makes it a lot more affordable to try several different drams in one visit. Compared to the price of other drinks in Spain, particularly the dirt-cheap prices for spectacular wine, La Whiskeria is not a cheap night out. But it's comparable to or better than a craft cocktail joint, with at least half of its whiskies available for 5-10 euro for a 1-ounce serving.
Considering that La Whiskeria doesn't have much competition in Barcelona, we were glad to find a high-quality whiskey bar there, and ecstatic that it had a friendly bartender, a deep selection, and reasonable prices.