Whisky is the basis of many drinks, the best-known classics being Old Fashioned and Manhattan. This spirit has a long and multi-layered history, both as a straight drink, on the rocks, and as the base for delicious cocktails. Poets such as Robert Burns have written odes to this elixir of the gods and men such as Hemingway have waxed poetic whilst reveling in the depths of its aroma and the soul of its flavors.

Speakeasies have long been famed for their trade in this beloved drink. At Woland’s Speakeasy in Tbilisi, co-owner Grant Freeman, and master-barman Kiril Ledaschev have put together the city’s finest Scotch, Irish, and Bourbon selection. Kiril and his staff of professional bar-keepers curate this collection for you better than anywhere else in the city. Whether you enjoy a peaty Islay scotch, a smooth Irish whiskey, or that curiously sweet-heat blend of American bourbon, their staff is more than happy to provide suggestions, or otherwise aid you in the best whisky experience in the capital.

Mr. Freeman, along with his business partner Amir Zafari, knew that when opening a speakeasy, offering something that wasn’t available anywhere else in the city was of the utmost importance. Mr. Zafari has noted that providing an ambiance where you almost feel as though you’ve traveled back in time to the era of Al Capone’s Chicago gentlemen’s clubs, or London’s famous Caledonian Club, was something that was missing in Tbilisi. With this in mind, Messrs Freeman and Ledaschev started looking at partnerships, with places such as Vake’s “Havana Club,” in order to provide top-notch cigars and cigarillos to complement the wonderful whisky selection they had already put together. Simultaneously, Mr. Ledaschev put together a cocktail menu that perfectly emphasizes the qualities of the oaken-brown spirit; for those days when 2 drams of single-malt weren’t what you were in the mood for.

There are some things that just feel right: sitting back in a comfortable leather chair, surrounded by dark wood, 200-year-old brick, and smelling the aroma of cigars “rolled on the thighs of mulatto women” ~Cosmo Kramer, with a perfectly mixed Old-Fashioned, Manhattan or Penicillin (Islay whisky, ginger, honey, and lemon) to take you back in time and relax you like the landed gentry of yesteryear.  

Should Whisky not be your milieu, Mr. Zafari and co. suggest you try one of their many gin-based cocktails to take you back in time to that roaring 20s when cocktails were as popular as Jazz and Swing. Nowhere else in the Caucasus provides such ambiance or style as Woland’s Speakeasy. The place may not be easy to find- hidden as it is behind a bookshelf in an appropriately named book shop and cafe in Sololaki, but it is just a 2-minute walk from Liberty (Freedom) Square, and is absolutely worth the effort.

Be sure to check their facebook and instagram to discover the weekly password (hint: it’s the final hashtag of each post) to gain entry to Tbilisi’s only true speakeasy and the best cocktail bar in town. For the uninitiated, feel free to let your barman walk you through the menu, and you’ll be guaranteed to find the right blended or single malt for you, or perhaps the cocktail of your dreams.

“Gie him strong drink until he wink,

That's sinking in despair;

An' liquor guid to fire his bluid,

That's prest wi' grief and care:

There let him bouse, an' deep carouse,

Wi' bumpers flowing o'er,

Till he forgets his loves or debts,

An' minds his griefs no more.” ~Robert Burns