Golden Promise - A Bar Review

I'm excited just remembering this one. Today, I'm recapping a visit to what may be one of the world's best whiskey bars, full stop. Golden Promise is a well-hidden whiskey cellar in Paris' 2nd arrondissement. In fact, it's so well hidden that, when we reached its address, we almost gave up after looking around for a minute or two. Golden Promise is in the basement area of a Japanese restaurant at 11 Rue Tiquetonne -- the best way to find it is to go to that address, which will look like an unmarked, windowless door to an apartment building. Next door to that unmarked door is a restaurant and, upon entry, you'll quickly find signs directing you to Golden Promise.

Golden Promise is a project from Paris's renowned whiskey merchant, Maison du Whisky, and it shows. This bar contains a thoughtfully selected variety of whiskies from all over the world and a bevy of rare, old, and limited edition bottles.

Atmosphere and Service: Paris is famous for its catacombs, and Golden Promise kind of feels like one. Since it's in a basement, there are no windows, and the best area of the bar -- the exclusive vault of rare and special whiskies -- is in a cavernous, almost tomb-like stone set of tunnels. On arrival, however, you'll first find what looks like a fairly regular, small bar, stocked mostly with whiskies, with five or six seats. This is the introductory bar area. To the right, there is a larger space for private parties or for additional spillover seating from the bar, although there was no one else there on the night that we went (late on a Wednesday). The wall of the larger seating area features a topological or impressionistic world map of the world of whiskey , with clusters of names and images suggesting major styles such as Islay (far to the left, or western edge, of the map) and Japan (far to the right).

The real action here is in the vault. To enter, you need to ask the bartenders for admittance, and they knock a heavy door and tell you to wait. The keeper of the vault then welcomes you inside, where you receive a whiskey list that more closely resembles a family Bible or spellbook. It has the thickness of a copy of War and Peace and is bound in supple leather. We're talking A+ presentation and mood-setting here. The walls are lined with bottle after bottle of rare whiskies. It is, for a real whiskey lover, a site to behold. The bottles are ordered by distillery or type, and there is an entire room devoted to coveted, arm-and-a-leg-type Japanese whiskies, like Karuizawa or Yamazaki limited editions.

Selection: What do you think? The bar has over 1,000 bottles. I also suspect that it'll always have a robust selection thanks to its founding by a major whiskey shop, which distinguishes this bar from the typical whiskey bar (which needs to build relationships with distributors or liquor stores to ensure a steady supply of the golden juice). This bar doesn't quite have everything you could imagine, but it's hard to think of a better bar out there.

Didn't I mention that the menu in the inner bar literally comes as a leather-bound tome with yellowed pages, frayed edges, and a smell that reminds me of a university library? They take their selection seriously here.

Rare Bottles: I'm just going to let the next series of pictures speak for themselves. Naming all of the rare bottles here would almost be like reciting a ritual incantation: Karuizawa, Port Ellen, Kavalan, Brora, Signatory, Lagavulin, Karuizawa, Port Ellen . . . I'd estimate that the value of the bottles in the vault easily reached hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yes, that is a row full of Kavalan Soloist ($400+ each) and some even rarer releases.

Those Laphroaig Cask Strengths at the left edge of the image are the first and second releases! That shelf of Lagavulins includes Distillers Editions from back in the 90s along with several Jazz Festival and Feis Ile releases. And those two rows of rare and old Ardbeg speak for themselves.

A row full of Ichiro and Chichibu Malt Card series. Also known as, "Haha, you cannot afford these even though you've found them!"

The Yoichi row in the Japanese room.

Port Ellen and Brora -- no big deal.

I have never seen this many Signatory cask-strength releases in one place before.

Value: Here's the one downside of the place -- it is not cheap, mostly because the whiskies in the vault are exclusive, expensive, and older whiskies. Our final bill was quite high considering that we had four drinks between the two of us, although among those drams we had some truly spectacular finds. Be prepared to cough up some dough when visiting Golden Promise. If only it had a happy hour!

***

Golden Promise just opened this year, and I'll save you a pun about the bar living up to its . . . reputation? It's a world-class whiskey bar, in a town that needed one. Eat your heart out, Jack Rose. Ironically, as incredible as the bars are in London, Paris may now have my favorite whiskey bar in either the UK or Europe.

Previous Post Next Post

#BarReview