I think it's safe to say that Bobby Heugel's new Houston bar is generating the most exciting buzz of anything going on in the local cocktail community. Anvil Bar & Refuge is slated to open next month at 1424 Westheimer, in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. In a restoration the likes of which rarely garners the attention it deserves from the preservation board, Bobby and his crew have taken a former daiquiri den with dozens of frozen drink machines and converted it in to a respectable drinking establishment. I am of course understating the case when I say 'respectable.' Anvil is going to be one of the best bars in the south-central United States. I was in Houston a couple of weeks ago participating in a photo shoot for Rebecca Rather's forthcoming book Pasty Queen Parties (we're doing some of the cocktails), and I stopped by Anvil to talk with Bobby.

The mural on the east face of the building. The awning on the left hangs over the sidewalk along Westheimer. I think the blue neon is about the only decor element that remains from Sliders, the building's former occupant.

The anvil atop this shelf is back-lit; check out the assortment of bitters on the bottom shelf. (The liquor bottles here are dummies, in place so that photographers have some back drop against which to shoot Bobby for their stories. I don't think he likes his picture taken so I didn't make him go through that.)

The entrance is on the far left; the bar is over twenty seats long. The brick walls along the back will be lined with glass shelves holding liquor bottles and vintage glassware. The space behind the bar to the right will be a walk-in beer cooler fronted by the taps themselves. Anvil intends to have a rotating menu of obscure and exotic beers on tap. If you look closely at the foot rail, you will notice that it is a section of antique train rail from a Houston area railroad salvage yard. There is no detail these boys have overlooked.

(I lifted this photo from their Web site--Thanks Morgan!) The boys will be serving many of their cocktails in vintage glasses. This is not just for nostalgic purposes. In the pre-postmodern era, cocktails were not served in giant v-shaped glasses the size of a funnel. The classical cocktail glass has a deeper bowl. More importantly it is significantly smaller than the typical cocktail glass we see today which means that cocktails stay colder for the duration of the drink; and that patrons aren't drinking grotesquely proportioned beverages. The wells they are designing will accommodate several different kinds of ice; they are using Kold-draft ice makers.

Where the old dj booth used to be in the cheeseball daiquiri bar, Anvil is installing its wine loft.

I spoke with Bobby yesterday and he said that they have received the long-awaited approval for their plumbing diagrams and should be wrapping up construction in the next 4-6 weeks. We know these guys are just itching to get shaking but we're going to give them a few weeks after opening to let the dust settle; then we're going to take a big ole Tipsy Texan Field Trip to check this destination bar. Stay tuned for details!