The Harpeth Hotel in Franklin, Tennessee , has dubbed its lobby bar "Franklin’s Living Room," and for good reason. Plush, deep couches create intimate conversation corners around a roaring fireplace, and deep armchairs invite leisurely lingering. It’s the type of space that makes you want to grab a cocktail and sit a spell. Of course, that’s all part of the design. Here, in the heart of Tennessee whiskey country, the 119-room accommodation has developed a whiskey program up to the standards of the state it calls home.
Tucked within the hotel’s restaurant, 1799 Kitchen & Bar Room , is the Whiskey Keep, a dedicated bar and spirits sanctuary housing more than 250 whiskeys and bourbons. But this is no ordinary back bar. The curation here is intentional. It’s part love letter to Tennessee's storied distilling heritage, and part guided adventure for guests who are just beginning to find their way around a Glencairn glass.
"We wanted it to be more than just a bunch of bottles at a bar," says Thomas Tuggle, the hotel’s director of food and beverage. "We think there are some special whiskeys out there, and we put a lot of thought into who we invite into the Keep."
The selection spans the spectrum, from beloved staples like WhistlePig to small-batch local producers such as nearby Leiper's Fork Distillery , which collaborated with the hotel to create an exclusive Harpeth blend. The blend was chosen through a rigorous (and admittedly enjoyable) blind-tasting process, in which the team sampled nearly 18 different combinations before landing on the final product. It can be ordered by the glass, mixed into a cocktail, or, for the hotel's most devoted whiskey enthusiasts, kept in a private locker.
Connoisseurs will especially appreciate that the Keep also maintains a rotating collection of coveted allocated bottles—think Pappy Van Winkle, Weller William Larue, and single-barrel cask-strength expressions that are quietly passed along through word of mouth. "We get a bottle here, a bottle there," Tuggle notes, which means timing and loyalty go a long way.
For guests who find themselves returning to Franklin, the hotel offers the Cask Club, an annual membership program that comes with its own private locker in the Keep, which holds their selections between visits, ready and waiting whenever they walk through the door. The membership also unlocks four exclusive, curated experiences throughout the year, centered appropriately for the suburb of Nashville
, around spirits, food, and live music. And of course, when new bottles arrive, Cask Club members get first word. It’s a level of personalized service more reminiscent of a neighborhood bar than a hotel.
Whiskey-curious guests will find no shortage of ways to experience the local brown water. Every evening at 4:45 p.m., the hotel hosts complimentary whiskey tastings in its library, and on Wednesdays specifically, the hotel offers Whiskey Wednesday, pairing a weekly rotating pour with its signature burger. For those who want to venture just a bit further down the Whiskey Keep rabbit hole, there’s a new $10 pour program which offers a one-ounce taste of the Keep's most sought-after bottles, an approachable entry point into the world of high-end whiskey without the sticker shock.
Regardless of how guests choose to experience whiskey at The Harpeth, Tuggle says one thing is for sure: "We're steeped in whiskey, so to speak. It's part of everything we do because it's just part of Tennessee." Cheers to that.
Read the original article on Southern Living
