MUSIC CITY COCKTAIL TOUR

Toast Music City with a gin-based cocktail inside a stationary Greyhound bus atop the Bobby Hotel. (©BOBBY HOTEL)

TourNashville’scocktailsceneliquorbyliquor, neighborhoodbyneighborhood.ByMadisonSullivan

The words “Nashville” and “booze” likely bring to mind an icecold beer (to the delight of every country singer). But we’ve got much more than brew.

OK, so we said you’d think of beer, but you might have thought of bourbon. For that, you’ll want to visit Downtown’s 1920s-themed speakeasy, Red Phone Booth. Its Smoked Old Fashioned is reason enough to track down the secret phone number required for entry.

Go from speakeasy to SandBar in Midtown. You’ll need one of its Grapefruit and Watermelon Paloma juice pouches to soothe your atmospheric whiplash as you sink your toes into the sand. Not a fan of tequila? Stop by on a weekend to drink a mimosa out of a hulled pineapple.

Stay on the outskirts and sip some scotch just outside of 12 South. Step inside Old Glory for the Sea Wolf, a red scotch, wakame, ginger, honey and lemon cocktail that the industrial spot describes as refreshing.

Then make your way to The Gulch. You may be close to the city’s core, but when you’re inside 16-Bit Bar+Arcade you’ll be transported back to your childhood. You’re 21-plus now, so you get to pair Space Invaders with the Carrie Fisher, a coconut rum, blueberry vodka, blue curacao and pineapple and lime juice cocktail topped with rock candy.

Head from The Gulch to Germantown to try absinthe at Green Hour. Imbibe in the beverage that shares the lounge’s name, which includes absinthe, egg white, cream, orgeat, chocolate and mint.

We’ll end where we began: Downtown. Before closing time, go up to the Bobby Hotel’s Rooftop Lounge and order off its signature or seasonal menu. Your last sip and stop on this cocktail tour: a gin-based beverage enjoyed inside the rooftop’s stationary Greyhound bus.