The Rusty Nail - A Bar Review
Sunday was a day for football in New Orleans. All weekend we saw drunk Patriots fans walking around Bourbon Street, and quickly realized the dreaded Pats were in town. I headed out to the city's Lower Garden District to catch the game among some true Saints fans.
The Rusty Nail is a neighborhood bar located among a set of quiet streets, with a mix of residential housing and also some older warehouses. The first sign I saw of the bar's presence was a large Saints flag flying outside, and I knew I'd come to the right place.
Atmosphere and Service: The Rusty Nail has a true neighborhood dive bar feel -- nothing fancy, just a place to have some beers and watch the game. There were even some stadium or bleacher-style seating with three levels set up against the wall so that patrons could sit and watch. The bar had several TVs and a larger pulldown screen and projector setup, with the screen even covering up the chalkboard specials menu. That's how you know a place is serious about football.
Everyone loves their unpretentious local watering hole, and The Rusty Nail hits it right on the head. This isn't a date place, a fancy bar to bring clients, or a Bourbon Street tourist magnet. It's a place to grab a drink, chat with friends, establish yourself as a regular, and cheer on the home team. You can even bring your dog (and a few people did while I was there)! To some extent, it always surprises me to find neighborhood bars, where the orders are 90% beer on tap, that also stock a lot of whiskies. But those might be my favorite bars in the world. Hell, the place even served in glencairn glasses, so you know it's run by a whiskey lover.
Service was friendly and knowledgeable. The bartender, after sensing I was a whiskey guy, geeked out over how they'd just gotten some bottles of Japanese whiskey, including Yamazaki and Hakushu 12.
Selection: Although it didn't have as many bottles as Bourbon House, the selection here was more balanced. The Rusty Nail had more bottles of Japanese whiskey alone than Bourbon House had of scotch. This bar's scotch selection was wide-ranging and it even divvied up its menu by region -- always a surefire sign that you're in a real whiskey bar. The owner must love The Balvenie because I saw their entire lineup (12, 14, 15 Single Barrel, 17, and 21) on the shelf.
Bourbon and rye menu
Scotch menu
Rare Bottles: In the scotch selections, I didn't notice any truly hard-to-find bottles, although there were plenty of high-end offerings such as Macallan 18. The rarest whiskies offered at The Rusty Nail came from their new and growing collection of Japanese whiskies, including an age-stated Nikka 17 that is quite hard to find nowadays and those bottles of Yamazaki and Hakushu 12. The bourbon selections featured some hard-to-find older or stronger expressions like Elijah Craig 18, several Orphan Barrel bottlings, Barrell Bourbon, and Michter's 10 Year Cask Strength.
Value: Everything at the bar was fairly priced, although it wasn't quite as cheap as I'd hope that a dive bar would be. Still, it is hard to find Blanton's neat for $12 (if you can find it at all) in most major cities nowadays. Prices here were similar to Bourbon House, albeit without the same upscale atmosphere. There were a few standout values on the scotch menu, like a 2 oz pour of the $70-a-bottle Talisker 10 for $11 (review coming in a few hours). It's also hard to complain about getting Laphroaig, Ardbeg, or Ledaig 10 all for $10. And, if one is really feeling like getting a deal, a Pop -- a shot of Old Grand-Dad and a Budweiser -- was $7.
***
Another day in Nola, another great bar. If I were a New Orleans local, this is the kind of place I'd come to again and again. It's the kind of place where the bartenders will actually recognize you on a first-name basis. Also, they really know (and love) their whiskey there.