July is a hard month in Tucson. The relief of the monsoon rains has not yet come. Temperatures show no sign of lowering.
We find reprieve in the night: when a parking lot is merely 90 degrees, heat radiating from the blacktop; when we can walk along Fourth Avenue and breathe without singeing the edges of our nostrils and back of our throats.
The only thing cooler than a bar at night is an underground bar. There aren’t any windows with their thinner membranes against the pressing heat; instead we are insulated by the vast earth. A staircase separates you from the rest of the city and brings you into a secret, safe harbor below.
Here are three basement bars to explore downtown during our summer nights:
Tim Maloney serves up marinated grilled olives and marinated Arizona chickpeas at Barbata in the basement of the warehouse space that is now the restaurant Bata.
Barbata
As embodied in the name, Barbata is an extension in spirit and style of the conceptual, upscale restaurant upstairs. The atmosphere is minimal, to suggest the drinks and the company are enough to make for a memorable night out.
Its menu, however, is maximalist, elaborating even the classics: its martini has two kinds of gin — one washed with olive oil and the other “navy strength” — and its old fashioned is touched by Bata’s trademark smoke. The bar also has its own food menu with small bites like cured Spanish ham and cheesecake.
Ronnie and Christian Spece, the owners of Batch downtown, purchased their building and renovated the basement into a cocktail bar called Snake and Barrel.
Snake and Barrel
Upstairs, Batch set the tone as playful with its double-entendre: the spot sells batch whiskey and batch doughnuts. The speakeasy downstairs has the same sense of fun (a blueberry cocktail called Purple Drink and a tequila punch named Vert Der Ferk) and love of craft, offering negronis and Manhattans with liquor aged in-house. The menu also offers zhuzhed-up shots that you can order in a decanter with a group.
Snake and Barrel opens and closes later than the bar above — closing time is at 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Happy hour is weekdays from 5-7 p.m.
The Tough Luck Club
Tough Luck Club is Tucson’s original basement bar. Housed in a former funeral home, the volcanic rock walls have witnessed generations of Tucson’s history and years of raucous nights out. The vibe, fittingly, is old-school, with seasonal menus drawn in the style of Sailor Jerry tattoos, red leather booths and a block-letter board showing their special: $5 for a Coors Banquet and a shot of whiskey.
Portal Cocktails is a bar within a bar at 220 N. Fourth Ave.
Other hidden and speakeasy-style bars
These might not be located below ground, but they’re hidden in their own way.
Portal | This slick, sexy bar in the back of Ermanos is a Fourth Avenue destination.
The Castalian Spring | Espresso Art Cafe might be best known for being a hookah spot on University Boulevard. But behind glass-paned French doors, in the back of the cafe, you can find a full bar with Fernet on tap.
The Still | Vero Amore on Swan Road hides this high-end mecca of mixology. They take the speakeasy concept seriously, with directions only given to those who make reservations.
Short Rest Tavern | This delightfully geeky tavern serves mead and cocktails made with lower ABV fruit wines in the back of a board game store in the Tucson Mall. To learn more, read our story.
P18 will be a cocktail bar in the basement with a 51-passenger train car and a rolling video in the windows that gives the illusion of being on a moving train. Video courtesy of Rio Nuevo.
