The Feed first look: The Dead Rabbit

When modern bar owners reference the past, it’s usually to evoke an era of tippling more civilized and fanciful than our own. Not so at this highly anticipated rough-and-tumble saloon (opening December 21st) from acclaimed barman Sean Muldoon, who ran Belfast’s award-winning bar at the Merchant Hotel. More scalawag haunt than speakeasy, the spot takes its name from the dead rabbits that 19th-century New York gangs would pin onto sticks to intimidate enemies. Down a slug of Irish whiskey with a side of craft brew on the first floor, outfitted with a mural of the Civil War’s hard-drinking 69th Regiment. At the cocktail parlor upstairs, sample from a list of 72 libations inspired by the creations of America’s father of mixology, Jerry Thomas. The Red Cup is a brilliantly ruby cobbler—a type of fruity drink popular in Thomas’s day—composed of calvados, port wine, cucumber and red currant. The menu of small plates tends toward heavy English fare: Scotch eggs, Welsh rarebit, steak-and-stout potpie. In the fashion of Emerald Isle pubs with shops attached, a tiny grocery offers homemade pickles, vinegars and jams to purchase on your way out. 30 Water St at Broad St (no phone yet)