Photos of Cloakroom Bar Montreal
Cloakroom Bar is a stylish speakeasy-style bar featuring specialty cocktails in a cozy, dimly lit space. Speakeasy is a word that’s bandied around relatively too lightly these days, but in the case of Cloakroom, the classification is earned. Hidden inside the men’s tailoring store and barber Maison Cloakroom, this 25-seater comes without a menu but with tremendous bartending skill. So, chat with one of the bar experts, and a cocktail will be made to suit your tastes. Logically, hand-carved ice features heavily, alongside many drinks inspired by pre-Prohibition classics like the Martinez or the Old Fashioned. It’s an impressive venue all-round, and sister bar Stillife over in Cité du Multimédia is also very much worth a visit. This is a neo-speakeasy hidden in the faded grandeur of Montreal’s Golden Square Mile.
It is a veritable choose-your-own-adventure. So you wait in a wood-paneled lobby for the hostess to emerge from a hidden door. You make your way down a dimly lit corridor with photographs of Steve McQueen and other tough-guy fashion icons. Then you could take a seat in a candlelit 25-person room. You tell the bartender your preferred base alcohol and whether you want something bitter or sweet, spirit-forward or refreshing. A few minutes later, you’re sipping on a custom cocktail that’s sure to become your new favorite drink. Until whatever you come up with next. A negroni made with 1950s vintage Campari. It’s a 30-minute walk to drink from the Basilique de Notre Dame. Does it seem far? Maybe, and if you get thirsty along the way, you’ll pass by many of Montréal’s weekend watering holes (Brutopia and Taverne Dominion Square).
Get a beer, but save some juice for Cloakroom Bar, Montréal’s crown jewel for cocktails. A tiny speakeasy is hidden behind The Cloakroom, a tailored menswear shop, and The Cloakroom Barber in Montréal’s Golden Square Mile, behind a 19th-century facade. Stand outside until a server arrives. Follow them down a dark corridor with small twinkling lights. Enter a cozy, intimate room with about 25 seats. There will be a welcome shot (on the house). Then the fun begins. There is no menu at Cloakroom; each drink is bespoke, made to order, and highlights their selection of fine spirits, liqueurs, house-made tinctures, fresh produce, hand-shaved ice, and champagnes. Refreshing? Dry? Fruity? Gin-based? Your bartender will lead you through a series of questions, similar to a choose-your-own-adventure book but much more mature.
