Dram & Draught — Restaurant in Raleigh

I rarely give ratings this low, but when an establishment/service earns it, I'm glad to give it. Our first time here for drinks was yesterday evening, November 20th. No exaggerations because none are needed. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I walked in at 6:05ish, sat down and immediately got in line which was 3 people deep, including myself. Long story short: I sat down with my drink almost 25 minutes later at 6:28...unbelievable. Short story long: What happened in between that time was the first guy eventually got his bill paid. Then the unfriendly, uncharismatic bar tendress went to serve and chat with someone who came in and sat at the bar after me, washed some glasses and put them away. The second guy is still in front of me, at the bar, literally waving his credit card in the air trying to close out, but she couldn't be bothered. Closes someone else out, goes into the fridge or some back room leaving the bar unattended, serves some other regular, finally closes out the guy standing in front of me. I'm up next and at this point she never even said "I'll be right with you" or "sorry for the wait" to myself Now standing there or to the other two guys. She goes back to the first guy who sat down after me, looks for the bourbon he ordered and asks for his help cause she can't find the bottle, finally pours him two bourbon shots. My turn, starts working on my drink - one of the bottles are empty and she has to go find it, etc.etc.etc. I have never seen such an unmotivated person behind any bar. Why are you there if that's your attitude? If I weren't standing there to witness the whole thing I wouldn't have believed a 3 person line could take so long. After all that my cocktail was okay. I assure you that you'll never get me as a regular even if it means I can cut the line, nor will I ever be returning. On the way out she couldn't even be bothered to redeem herself by thanking us or inviting us back. Terrible. I've never waited that long to get a drink in my life, let alone in a bar that was...

Dram and Draught Raleigh is in a part of Downtown, and is across the street from the hotel I was staying at for a work trip. With big glass windows, you can quickly see their library-style (big shelves with a rolling ladder to navigate it) selection of whiskey and spirits. Whiskey is my jam, so I tried this place a couple times during my trip.

Just looking at the whiskeys, they have a very expansive selection covering different regions and different price points, the cheap bottles to the very high end bottles. It's good to have a wide range of price points, it keeps the bar tables more manageable.

They have a full menu of all their spirits which includes pricing options for 1, 1.5 or 2 oz.

They have a menu of boilmakers which are essentially shot and beer packages for $8-9. I tried their Irish Goodbye which was a shot of Bushmills and an Irish cider.

They have a cocktail list, but I mainly tried their different whiskeys, except for a version of an Old Fashioned which was pretty good.

They have a $8 "mystery shot" which is a random selection of their different bottles to help promote. I tried it one evening where it happened to be a bottle of Nikka Single Malt Whiskey (which usually would ordinarily go for $18/20 per shot, getting it for $8 was a real good deal).

The staff were super friendly and it seems like a neighborhood spot, meaning not too fancy and attracts more than...

Easily the best liquor bar experience I've ever had in downtown Raleigh thus far. The staff were friendly, the seating is open, and the crowd isn't typically super loud. Everyone has their go-to drink they like to start with when visiting a new place. For me, it's the Long Island. LITs can tell you a lot about a bar. It uses several types of liquor so you can see quickly what the quality of their well liquor is (do they use Aristocrat or Smirnoff vodka for example). Do they have their own home made sour mix or just use a pre-mix concentrate? Dram & Draught made my LIT to the highest caliber. I saw Beefeater Gin, Kettle One Vodka, and other high quality top shelf liquor used (that was their standard!), they individually mixed together a sour mix with the drink (never seen that before), and just to top it off they only use coke from Mexico since it has pure sugar in it instead of corn syrup. The result was one of the best LITs I've ever had. Was $11 for the drink, which was cheap considering the liquor used, and they weren't light pours either. The bar has a huge assortment of liquor available if you want to customize your drink, and the bartenders love to put extra care and detail into each cocktail they mix up. That doesn't mean slow service either. Everyone was getting helped...