Set in Glasgow, Scotland.In 2012, a fire broke out in the Fuente tobacco warehouses in the Dominican Republic that ruined priceless tobacco that had been aging for decades. The Fuente family was saving these leaves for a special, 100th anniversary cigar. Unfortunately, it wasnвЂ™t meant to be, as the fire consumed too much of it.For those who donвЂ™t know, in wine and spirit making, a certain portion of product will evaporate as alcohol ages in the barrel. Thought that, in the case of his fire, the angels must have enjoyed a great smoke as the warehouse burned that day.

Before PDT, before Bourbon & Branch, before the late, great Milk & HoneyвЂ”on which it was a major influenceвЂ”this snug, second-story speakeasy was showing America what a night of sophisticated drinking could be if both you and your bartender agreed to put on your big-boy pants for a few hours.AngelвЂ™s Share opened in 1993 to little hullabaloo. We craft cocktail drinkers are the parvenus, only recently arrived. WeвЂ™ve been here before.Only, the opposite is true. Bartenders in vests, ties and arm garters cradling cocktail shakers in a tough-love embrace. The rules of etiquette posted on the wall.

ItвЂ™s taken a couple decades, but New York has finally started to embrace some of the hallmarks of Japanese drinking.Kenta Goto, longtime bartender at Pegu Club, scored a success with Bar Goto, his Lower East Side interpretation of East-meets-West drinking styles. The bar represented ManhattanвЂ™s first taste of the Tokyo style of cocktail bar: all formality, intimacy and meticulous service. Though respected as a key progenitor, it was largely left behindвЂ”the Chuck Yeager of cocktail bars, earthbound while later bartender-astronauts bounced on the moon and garnered the glory.Lately, however, drinking trends have come around to make AngelвЂ™s Share a prescient trailblazer yet again. AngelвЂ™s Share, however, has not reaped the revolutionвЂ™s spoils as much as other, more media-savvy bars and bartenders.

The approach, up a flight of stairs and through an izakaya restaurant, remains one of the coolest in the city. On the face of it, not much has changed. As for Japanese whiskyвЂ”once an obscure, mysterious commodity only obtained in places like AngelвЂ™s ShareвЂ”well, itвЂ™s now among the most sought-after, elusive and expensive juice in the world.What better time, then, to look in on the bar and see how itвЂ™s bearing up under the standard it set. And examples of the Japanese style of whiskey highball, more precise and subtle than its American counterpart, can be had at Bar Moga in Greenwich Village, Karasu in Fort Greene, BobbyвЂ™s HeugelвЂ™s Tongue-Cut Sparrow in Houston and Jim MeehanвЂ™s new Prairie School in Chicago.

The Champagne vinegar and tomato water, lurking somewhere inside the glass, didnвЂ™t stand a chance.Like many of the drinks on the menu, the John вЂњMaltedвЂќ Collins (a creation of Shingo Gokan, the barвЂ™s former, long-serving bar director, whose influence on the menu is still felt), employed Asian flavorings. The melon and flowery Italicus were discordant notes in the mix and a reminder that in my past experiences balance had often been an issue with the barвЂ™s drinks.Sweeter still was the April in Paris, composed of Sauternes wine and St-Germain elderflower liqueur. It turned out to be in the Espresso Martini ballpark, right down to the espresso bean garnish. The bartender warned me it was on the sweet side I stubbornly insisted. Despite that, he adds, вЂњwe view ourselves as an inextricably New York bar,вЂќ with a вЂњhybridized house style.вЂќAction behind the bar is as fussy as ever, with vigorous, tightly controlledВ shaking of cobbler tinsвЂ”a hallmark of Japanese bartending, in which technique is practiced and perfectedвЂ”and much wielding of large tweezers in the placement of just-so garnishes.On my first visit, I ordered an AвЂ™la Mode (most drinks are $15) because it struck me as the perfect meeting point between AngelвЂ™s ShareвЂ™s old style (the drink had a base of melon-flavored vodka, the sort of ingredient once common on the barвЂ™s menu) and new self (that trendy Italicus, as well as mastiha, a Greek liqueur derived from tree resin, espresso and coffee-infused agave nectar).

IвЂ™m not much for salt rims, but this one paired perfectly with the liquid, creating something like an alcoholic version of a salted plum soda. It drank like a wonderfully weird and layered PalomaвЂ”tart, refreshing and palate-cleansing.Better still was another avian-named number, the Flirtibird, made of barley shochu, fragrant shiso leaf, yuzu juice, agave nectar and a plum salt rim. Sometimes, AngelвЂ™s ShareвЂ™s too-clever-by-half concoctions break through their thicket of ingredients into something delicious and original.Like the John вЂњMaltedвЂќ Collins, the laundry list running below the DoveвЂ™s Call didnвЂ™t look promisingвЂ”tequila, artichoke liqueur, grapefruit and lime soda, Chinotto soda and tonic water, crowned by a grapefruit and salt foam and a sprig of parsleyвЂ”but the effect was, in the end, rather simple and delightful. As advertised, these touches added an intriguing malt flavor to a frothy long drink that bore many of the earmarks of a Ramos Gin Fizz.

Because that is what AngelвЂ™s Share remains, the rise in New York of craft cocktails and Japanese-style bars notwithstanding: a sui generis oddball. On one occasion, my drink arrived a full ten minutes before my dateвЂ™s.Perhaps they all recognize an original when they see one, and are willing to forgive its faults. But, on my visits, none of the customers seemed to mind the wait, or that the promise of attentive service wasnвЂ™t always fulfilledвЂ”the unfilled water glasses, the candles that, when burned out, werenвЂ™t relit immediately. On a busy night, the seating process can be chaotic and confusing. Even on a weeknight, a line forms a half-hour after opening.

It is, as it has ever been, aligned with itself.

Angel Share