Enswell is located in the Touraine at 1528 Spruce St. If you want to impress someone with your excellent taste, take them to Enswell.
Located in an European Art Deco-inspired space, the high ceilings and beautiful lighting evokes the 1920-1930s era of understated opulence.
Enwell is the collaboration between the owners of local companies, New Liberty Distilling and Rival Brothers Coffee, which creates the perfect atmosphere of being a café by day and a bar and restaurant by night. It opens as a chic morning coffee bar until about 3 PM, serving Rival Brothers Coffee along with sumptuous pastries. It closes and reopens at 5 PM as an upscale cocktail bar along with light fare; be sure to get the Jamon Serrano as you will not be disappointed!
To round it off, there’s a New Liberty and Rival Bros Coffee retail store, so you can take home the best of both worlds.
And the drinks you ask? …. Silly question. That should have been the first thing I mentioned. They are spectacular. Pure and simple. For what I would describe as a tiny bar, they are superior to many larger establishments in Philadelphia.
I’m a whiskey enthusiast so let’s talk whiskey cocktails. The Haymaker is a must. It is the most perfect combination of New Liberty’s Moscatel Whiskey, a freshly pulled shot of Rival Bros Whistle & Cuss espresso – to keep you going all night – along with some other tasty accountrémons; a touch of frothed cream and a dusting of freshly ground espresso top it off. I cannot give enough kudos to the Haymaker. My insomniac partner drinks these espresso infused beverages with gusto; I do recommend that if you are overly sensitive to caffeine you might want to limit the quantity you drink!
Let’s move on to their Old Fashions. The first is a classic Old Fashion and I am definitely not putting it down. If I had more thumbs I would give it more, but alas two it is. Their second Old Fashion is a butter washed scotch. Yes, it is distilled in Scotch and bottled by Kinsey. Can you envision it? No? While I will admit is it not necessarily the prettiest sight, it is an absolutely phenomenal Old Fashion that I highly recommend you try, even if you are not a Scotch drinker.
The last drink, or should I say drink combo, to talk about is the City Wide Special; there is no beverage more Philadelphia than a City Wide Special. (If you aren’t familiar with a City Wide, check out my article on it). When I had it there the beer was a New Trail Pilsner with your choice of whiskey & Amer Picon, or vermouth & absinthe; it was the vermouth & absinthe combination that moved me. I am one of those people who love the taste of anisette and black licorice, so it was unfair, but on my second visit I did try the other variation with enthusiastic flavor results. Amer Picon has it’s own interesting story of how much a pain in the arse it is to find and how most stuff we drink is not true Amer Picon, like the original French version. (Check out my article on Amer Picon). Either way it wins my approval!
As it’s been said…….all’s well that Enswell.
