Where to find the best smoked cocktails at Charlotte-area restaurants and bars
Get your phones out next time you head to a Charlotte bar. Smoked cocktails are here, with classic and creative flavors for customers to savor.
The use of smoke to enhance food and beverages has been around for years, of course, but along with our constant need for social media content — and increasingly sophisticated palates — comes an ever-present demand for showy and tasty drinks.
In Charlotte, we don’t do ordinary. Instead, you’ll find a collection of top notch Old Fashioned, smoked in a variety of ways with added flavors, but that’s not all. You can also get a smoked Manhattan or martini, dress up your tequila with some extra zing or take your rum to a fiery place.
Here are a few places where you can get a smoky beverage in Charlotte:
Barrel and Fork
Location: 20517 N Main St, Cornelius, NC 28031
Barrel and Fork has several options for smoked cocktails — many of which come in decorative glassware that will take you back to the Prohibition Era. You can try a Rum Raisin Whiskey Sour or its signature Barrel and Fork Old Fashioned ($15), which is made with your choice of bourbon or rye, dry vermouth, Zucca, turbinado sugar and orange, then smoked with your choice of tinder. Even the options for smoke flavors are fun at the Lake Norman restaurant, with choices such as chocolate pipe tobacco and cinnamon oak.
Billy Sunday
Location: 1115 N Brevard St, Charlotte, NC 28206
After exploring the stalls at Optimist Hall and having a bite to eat, make a stop at Billy Sunday and sip on an Anything Besides Water ($13). This smoky concoction is made with rye, cardamaro (a wine-based aperitif), Pedro Ximenez sherry (an intensely dark, sweet version of sherry) and cherrywood smoke.
Casa del Tequila
Location: 14815 Ballantyne Village Way, Charlotte, NC
At Casa del Tequila, tequila connoisseurs can select their favorite options from the house list and take it from there. Let’s say you pick a glass of Tres Generaciones ($13). Then you’ll select whether you want it to be smoked with cherry, apple or mesquite wood — and your server can complete the process tableside, so you can watch (and film). They’ll lift the lid for the smoke to begin wafting out, and you can savor the flavor left behind.
Cordial
Location: AC Hotel by Marriott Charlotte SouthPark, 1824 Roxborough Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211
Sure, everyone has a smoked Old Fashioned in their lineup. But Cordial plays it differently. Its Smoked Manhattan ($15) is made with Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Carpano Sweet Vermouth, Angostura bitters and Luxardo Cherry. Drink it outside on the bar’s rooftop patio to get into full relaxation mode, and snap a few sunset shots, too.
Crave
Location: 500 West 5th Street, Suite 120, Charlotte, NC 28202
Crave Dessert Bar offers hookah — in 15 flavors, including apple, lemon, orange and strawberry — so you know the place knows all about smoke. It’s even been known to smoke an Sincerely, Crave Old Fashioned ($20) with hickory and 100+ proof bourbon or even highlight a smokeshow with giant ice cubes and water.
Dogwood Southern Table
Location: 4905 Ashley Park Ln, Charlotte, NC 28210
Dogwood smokes its Milestone Marker Eight just before serving, infusing a smoky cinnamon aroma. The drink is made with Knob Creek Rye, Cynar, pecan Orgeat, molasses, smoke and salt bitters, and Ceylon cinnamon ($15). Pair it with the restaurant’s Pork Belly Burnt Ends ($17) to complete the experience.
Dilworth Tasting Room/DTR South Park
Location: 300 E Tremont Ave., Charlotte, NC 28203
Location: 4905 Ashley Park Ln., Suite J, Charlotte, NC 28210
If you want to go with a new spin on a classic drink, Dilworth Tasting Room’s DTR Old Fashioned ($15) incorporates Evan Williams Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon, organic agave, chocolate, orange and aromatic bitters, served on a big rock of ice. You can also try the DTR Cosmo, a drink with true presentation. It’s made with Deep Eddy Vodka, cranberry juice, orange liqueur, lime juice and citrus oil vapor bubble ($16).
Dot Dot Dot
Location: 4237 Park Rd Unit B, Charlotte, NC 28209
Dot Dot Dot, a private cocktail bar tucked away behind Park Road Shopping Center, is known for elevating beverages. Kick back there with a charcuterie board and a Hot Box ($20), made with Knob Creek Single Barrel Bourbon, Islay Scotch, sweet vermouth, chili bitters and pecan wood smoke.
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Duckworth’s Grill & Taphouse
Location: 14015 Conlan Circle, Suite C1, Charlotte, NC 28277
Location: 4625 Piedmont Row Dr Suite 115A, Charlotte, NC 28210
Location: 16609 Statesville Road, Huntersville, NC 28078
Location: 560 River Highway, Mooresville, NC 28117
Location: 9805-D Sandy Rock Place, Charlotte, NC 28277
Location: 330 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202
At Duckworth’s, the Smoked Butter Pecan Old Fashioned ($15) is the most popular drink on the menu, made with brown butter-washed rye, house-made toasted pecan syrup, chocolate bitters and saline, smoked with cinnamon sticks and pecan.
Other top sellers at the restaurant include Where There’s Smoke (reposado tequila, blood orange, lime, peaches and chipotle syrup with a smoked salt rim and smoked with sugar maple) and the Smoked Whiskey Sour (bourbon, lemon, sugar, egg white and Angostura bitters, smoked with sugar maple).
“We are also able to smoke most every cocktail upon request, though this is not always favorable,” said Ron Oleksa, the beverage director and corporate mixologist for Duckworth’s and Link & Pin.
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Hestia Rooftop
Location: Ballantyne Village, 14819 Ballantyne Village Way Charlotte, NC 28277
Hestia Rooftop, a newly opened restaurant serving modern Asian cuisine, offers a Smoked Buddha, with 45 Japanese Whisky, Plantation Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum, yuzu citrus and ginger syrup ($17).
Link & Pin
Location: 155 New Bern St, Charlotte, NC 28203
Location: 8128 Providence Rd #1200, Charlotte, NC 28277
Location: 9723 Sam Furr Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078
Link & Pin, a sister brand to Duckworth’s, makes a Fireside Chat cocktail worth checking out. The aptly named drink contains Rittenhouse Rye and Becherovka, Amari and Mole bitters and is infused with smoke from sugar maple chips ($15).
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Little Mama’s
At Little Mama’s, you can get any of the drinks on its Classics menu smoked — a martini, Manhattan or Negroni. But we’ll go along with the menu suggestion of smoking the Cinnamon Whiskey Sour ($14), made with Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon, cinnamon syrup, lemon juice, egg white and a bitter garnish. (We’d also recommend you give serious consideration to a slice of Mama’s Giant Chocolate Cake while you’re there. Just trust us.)
The Royal Tot
Location: 933 Louise Ave Suite 350, Charlotte, NC 28204
The Royal Tot puts a new spin on a smoked Old Fashioned, with its House Old Fashioned Treasure Box for two, which mixes a house rum blend, SelvaRey coconut rum, Falernum, tiki bitters and tobacco smoke ($30). But if it’s a single serving you’re looking for, that’s available in a rum bottle, too ($16).
Pro tip: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The tiki bar also offers the Zombie (limited to two per guest, so you know it packs a punch) and Dragon (a shareable drink in volcano bowl). Both are lit on fire, providing a smoky taste. The Zombie ($16 or $24) includes the house rum blend, Wray and Nephew Overproof Rum, lime, lemon, pineapple, passion fruit, grenadine and orange bitters. The Dragon ($40) is made with house rum blend, Aperol, Cava, blood orange, vanilla, sesame, lime and aromatic fire.
The Vintage Whiskey and Cigar Bar
Location: 215 E Worthington Ave, Charlotte, NC 28203
As you’d expect at The Vintage Whiskey and Cigar Bar, you can get a Smoked Old Fashioned. The Vintage makes its version with Elijah Craig Small Batch, simple syrup and Angostura and orange bitters ($15). But the menu rotates, and you can sometimes find a few other options. The Tap That Ash, for example, includes Mezcal, aloe vera, simple syrup, lime juice and a smoked lava salt rim ($14).
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
