TAMING THE BLIND TIGER IN BOISE

PHOTOS BY JAMES SPEARMAN

Speakeasies abound in the City of Trees

By Harrison Berry

Don’t call Tiner’s Alley (1010 W. Main St. in downtown Boise) a “speakeasy”—at least not to Co-Owner, Founder, and Executive Chef Cal Elliott.

“I think ‘speakeasy’ is the most overused word,” Elliott said. “This is a legal bar. It’s hard to get a liquor license in Boise, so I think it’s hilarious that people are using the word ‘speakeasy’ when you spent $300,000 on a liquor license.”

Speakeasies rose and fell with the Eighteenth Amendment and the Prohibition Era. From 1919 to 1933, the United States banned the sale, transportation, and importation of alcohol. They made a comeback in the early 2000s, managing customer access with passwords, trap doors, back rooms, and camouflage—not to evade law enforcement, but to cultivate an air of exclusivity and invoke a bygone era. Boiseans can wet their whistles at several.

Elliott’s protest notwithstanding, Tiner’s Alley qualifies. The entrances are its unmarked alleyway front door and through the back of its sister restaurant, The Avery. Anchoring the English-style pub is a deep sense of history. Its Brunswick bar dates to 1903 and casts a blond glow over the intimate space. A fireplace, pool table, and wood paneling made from the building’s original Douglas fir floorboards add to the ambiance. The cocktail menu is a mix of classics with an emphasis on brown liquors and new hits by Cal’s wife Ashley and John “Happy” Withee. A full menu—complete with an English breakfast—complements bar staples like curried nuts and pickled eggs.

The Gatsby commits to the Roaring ’20s aesthetic. A password-protected alleyway door opens into a reading nook, where a greeter explains the rules. There is a dress code. Talking on cell phones is prohibited. No one may tell the “coppers’’ about this place. The greeter pulls a secret lever and a bookcase swings away, revealing the bar itself.

This bar earns its name in both drinks and vibe. Check out its selection of whiskeys and bourbons as well as the throwback cocktail menu. You can even order a flight of absinthes La Louche. Brick walls papered with art deco posters tell you where you are. The staff leans into the Jazz Age concept—the servers dress and talk like flappers—but the patrons set the tone, many of them arriving in period-specific threads.

At Thick as Thieves, access is through a staircase leading to a password-protected door hidden behind mirror panels. In a word, this bar is intimate. Couples hold conversation in low tones around table candles, and the seating inclines patrons toward each other, though there is some group seating in the rear of the space. A fireplace filled with stocky candles and lined with mirrors gives this bar an air of deconstructed coziness.

The menu partakes of the speakeasy’s penchant for hidden things, but with a modern twist. Alongside classic cocktails and original creations are secret drinks revealed by a keychain blacklight handed to patrons by their servers. Customers looking for something outside the proverbial box might try the Swazerac (rye, cognac, lemon, demerara, absinthe, and Peychaud’s) or the Peter Pandan (gin, pandan, lime, sherry, absinthe, and cucumber bitters).