Church & State Opens Tonight

I was able to check out a soft opening of Church and State (2nd floor of 1236, right above Fruit Bat). The bar is heavy on the woodwork, with two faux stained glass windows up front, and a confessional in the back. It's a got a cool vibe, and the space feels very intimate. You will barely remember you are standing only feet above Fruit Bat.
Church and State is an homage to that uniquely American creation...the cocktail. All the liquors and liqueurs found behind the bar were born in the United States. The sweet vermouth, and several other ingredients are made in-house. The starting specialty drink menu consists of ten drinks ranging in price from $11-13. What's on the menu? Here you go:

Old Fashioned $11
Mint Julep $12
Sophomoric Sazerac #2 $12
Manhattan (housemade sweet vermouth) $12
Martini (housemade dry vermouth) $12
The Chuck Yeager (a take on the Aviation) $12
Mai Tai (housemade orgeat) $13
Daiquiri (housemade grenadine) $12
Jack Rose (housemade grenadine) $12
[Orange] Moscow Mule (housemade ginger beer) $11

They made up some samples for us. Here's what I tried:

MoscowMule
Mai Tai
Sophmoric Sazerac #2
housemade sweet vermouth
Chuck Yeager

The Sophmoric Sazerac #2 was hands down the winner. Everything was good. 2nd choice would either be the Chuck Yeager, or the sweet vermouth (I'm not generally a huge vermouth person, but this was pretty tasty).

The bar is called Church and State, and that was the Bill of Rights side of the menu. Very soon the Church half will chime in with a Seven Deadly Sins cocktail menu. Expect it to feature non-traditional cocktails, and a lot of creativity (I saw a bottle of Siracha behind the bar).

The fun starts at 7:30 tonight. Come early, as this opening is sure to draw a crowd, even on a Tuesday.