Oak & Eden, 5285 Marathon Av, Fort Worth. 2-11pm Mon-Wed, noon-midnight Thu-Sat. 682-224-2033.
Bear with me, as this will be a column about the Shops at Clearfork’s whiskey tasting room Oak & Eden, but first I must pour one out for the bougie shopping center’s OG and a favorite of mine for almost a decade. Fixe Southern House closed abruptly two weeks ago, leaving its regulars (not to mention its top-notch bartenders and waitstaff) reeling. The closing came as even more of a shock considering Fixe’s Best Of Award-winning happy hours and brunches were always busy, and to know that I will never sip on an $8 Honey Badger or scarf down one of their killer burgers or brunch biscuits again is legitimately painful. R.I.P., sweet prince.
Anyway. Located directly across the street from the shell that was once Fixe is Oak & Eden, an all-whiskey cocktail bar that is also a tasting room and a whiskey customization experience. All of the cocktails are made with Oak & Eden products, right down to the house-made Vermouth. You won’t find any Jack Daniel’s or Woodford Reserve here. Nevertheless, there’s plenty to choose from.
My husband and I like to see movies at the AMC Clearfork — or at least we did when we could work it around a visit to Fixe. (Sigh. I’m not OK.) Seeking a pregame tipple before a screening of Toy Story 5 recently, we decided on Oak & Eden, having been once or twice before the business shuttered last June. It unexpectedly reopened several weeks ago.
Back then, we had each tried a flight of Oak & Eden’s flagship whiskeys. The bar’s schtick is that it takes its regular-old blended and aged whiskey, and, instead of putting it in a second barrel to add more flavor coming naturally from the wood, they put the wood in the bottle. Called a spire, the spiral-cut piece of oak flavors the whiskey from within. They then add various infusions into the bottles, creating varietals such as the espresso-tinged Bourbon & Brew, red-wine-forward Bourbon & Vine, and 4 Grain & Maple (self-explanatory). Flight options include Inspired Flight, Infused Flight, and You Pick, which are useful for sampling before committing to a full pour or bottle. For a group, ordering a flight is the easiest way to compare the assorted whiskey styles and find a favorite.
We opted for familiar classics at first, the Old Fashioned for my husband and an espresso martini for me. Though I prefer my espresso martinis to be made with, well, vodka, as in a martini, the artfully crafted and well-shaken drink heavy on the Bourbon and Brew was delicious and gave me the caffeine fix I needed before entering the dark movie theater for a dose of weepy nostalgia.
Photo by Emmy Smith
We next went for some of the specialty drinks, where names like Eden’s Radler, Sanbina Sour, and Root of Rye sound less like cocktails and more like jam band names. If you don’t like whiskey, you may still be in luck. The bartender indicated that many of the cocktails are designed specifically to mask the flavor of whiskey and mimic cocktails that traditionally use other liquors, sort of like my espresso martini. My husband’s Triple Rim Cooler, featuring O&E’s most standard bourbon mixed with orange and lemon juices, mango “nectar,” amaro, and a pink peppercorn rim had a distinct tiki vibe and would have worked just as well as a rum cocktail.
Perhaps because I was still mourning the loss of Fixe’s signature cocktail, the honey-infused whiskey pour dubbed the Honey Badger, I went for O&E’s Smoking Queen Bee: honeycomb-washed bourbon, lemon juice, ginger lemongrass simple syrup, and lemon saffron and angostura bitters, finished with a little smoke. It was most akin to a whiskey sour, a drink I love, with some added flair, and I’d gladly have ordered another if it hadn’t cost $20.
This being Clearfork, there is a certain sterility to the space. The whole place does feel like it was workshopped by a marketing team (because it probably was — they are trying to sell you whiskey, after all). Craft cocktails come with a hefty price tag, and though several signature drinks are discounted during “halfy hour,” the bartender let us know that you get only half a cocktail for the lower price. (!) The best way to drink on a budget here would be to share a flight or order singles of any of the bourbons.
While not an everyday hangout, Oak & Eden is a fun choose-your-own-adventure that plays the role of pre-movie lubricator (and distractor) dutifully.
Oak & Eden
Triple Rim Cooler $20
Smoking Queen Bee $20
Espresso martini $18
Old Fashioned $14
