Four of us wrapped up our Colonial Williamsburg trip in the most wonderful way at The Study, a speakeasy dripping in warm, cozy ambiance and mixologist-level cocktails.
It’s reservation only for the limited seating space tucked away behind an unassuming, yet hinting at elegance, frosted-glass door in the back corner of Amber Ox Public House, 525 Prince George Street, Williamsburg, VA.
We called ahead to verify some details we’d read on The Study web page. It’s not completely current, so if you’re concerned about not making it to, or canceling your reservation, call to verify current rules.
What is accurate, at least when we went, is that there’s a dedicated Menu for The Study. You can’t order from the Amber Ox menu. We had quite a variety of food preferences in our group, so we chose to have dinner somewhere else and head to The Study afterwards for drinks. We would have ordered from the Amber Ox menu if it had been available.
Check in at Amber Ox’s front desk. You’ll be escorted to The Study’s door. It’ll be opened from the inside and you’ll be welcomed in.
We were each greeted with a complimentary glass of champagne. Such a nice touch! I’m not sure if everyone’s greeted this way, or it was a one-off? I asked and our server said, “It’s just for you”, but her tone could have been interpreted as serious or joking. We just went with it.
Of note was their bartender’s willingness to accept my “surprise me” cocktail request. What showed up was absolutely fantastic. So much so, another in our party ordered the same thing. It was made with Mexico City Extra Dry Gin “Condesa Gin Clásica“, a little lemon juice, other mystery ingredients, and a “Butterfly Drip“, garnished with a sprig of thyme, edible snapdragon bloom, and above & beyond detailed lemon peel (see gallery). Buterfly Drip refers to a color-changing effect caused by butterfly pea flower extract when it reacts with citrus, shifting from blue to purple.
Amazingly, we had the place to ourselves the entire evening. As time went on, we kept noticing playful design touches, one after the other. Just one of the things that made this such a fun time.
Service was impeccable. Based on what I observed, I’m confident service would be similar with more patrons on hand.
