Drinks

The cocktail menu changes seasonally, so don’t go looking for “the usual.” And the bar offers high-concept snacks ranging from charcuterie to pickles.

Years before the speakeasy trend made its way to Indy full force, this establishment featured Jazz Age photos on the wall and classic cocktails like the Sazerac.

This tiny joint is a total dive. But the jazz musicians who perform there, and the toe-tapping art-schoolers and wine-sipping literati who crowd the shotgun bar to hear them, really class things up.

There are plenty of other holes-in-the-wall in Indy, and you can’t throw a dart (another Wellington pastime) without hitting a corporate bar marketing itself as a British-themed pub. But the leaded glass and woodwork here make most of those other places seem like a trip to the loo.

It has built a reputation for being the place to knock back a few drinks while taking in the best indie rock you haven’t heard yet.

You can't fault owner Hal Yeagy for taking what was essentially a sad little shotgun saloon and turning it into a blues mecca, sprawling grownup amusement park, and Indiana’s most famous nightspot.

A bar crowd that had thinned (and aged) noticeably since the Aristocrat opened 80 years ago now seems to be reinvigorated, even on weeknights.

European and American football share time on the TVs here, but in the summer, most patrons crowd around the garage-door windows and focus their attention on the stylish denizens of Mass Ave.

One of the few grown-up watering holes in Broad Ripple, this mod bar has the polish and straight lines that make for a sophisticated place to drink.

The 75-year-old former movie theater has anchored Broad Ripple since your grandparents were going there to see talkies.