A Better Malört, Tamarind Punch and More at Nashville’s Exciting New Bar

During my conversation with Owen Gibler, beverage director of the recently opened Bar Roza, he referenced ’70s italo disco, old-school soda jerks, international coffee and candy traditions, car mechanics, perfume theory and the world of computer programming. But for all of his wide-ranging inspirations, at Bar Roza, he has created something entirely new.

The main draw of the bar’s menu is the selection of Astors, “a drink template we made up,” according to Gibler. These cocktails comprise an ounce of an aperitif, three-quarters of an ounce of a digestif and a quarter ounce of a mix of lemon juice, Maldon salt, phosphate and rotating bitters that “act like a jig to hold everything together,” he says. Unlike most recipes that involve a base spirit with a modifier or two, Astors are, as Gibler puts it, “all modifier.” They call on products like aloe, saffron or lychee liqueur in combination with anything from a Swiss Alpine aperitif to a Mexican tamarind punch to a domestic take on Malört. They’re big in flavor, small in size; he likens them to shared plates.

A quick glance at the menu, which also includes a set of classics “for the majority of people who show up to a bar and aren’t crazy nerds” revealed many bottles I’d never seen or heard of before. So I asked Gibler to outline the ingredients that really make the menu tick. Here are five essentials.