Pilcrow Cocktail Cellar: Starting a new paragraph in Morris Avenue’s story

Look no further than the yellow, neon ¶ located in an alley behind The Essential along Morris Avenue to find one of Birmingham’s newest cocktail bars. 

Despite the common misconception, owner Joe Phelps said the recently opened Pilcrow Cocktail Cellar is not a speakeasy, but rather a surreptitious bar tucked into a basement on one of Birmingham’s oldest streets. Pilcrow serves full-craft cocktails and specializes in agave spirits, with about half the drinks on the menu revolving around combinations and classic twists of tequila and agave. 

Phelps has lived on and off in Birmingham over the years and in Tacoma, Washington, for the last several years. In December 2017, he got a call from Orchestra Partners, the powerhouse behind Founder’s Station, asking if he would be interested in looking at a cellar in the 150-year-old building that formerly occupied a printing press near the end of the 19th century.

Phelps said the first bar he went to was in a basement in Virginia, followed by several other basement bars he frequented in England, where he took college classes over one summer.

“I really love that feeling of being in a basement, like you’re in a big cave, especially if it’s in an old building. I just think there's something really interesting about it,” he said. 

And that feeling, he said, was part of a bar atmosphere he wanted to create. 

By March, he had moved back to Birmingham, with big plans for what he would soon call Pilcrow Cocktail Cellar. It gives a nod to the printing press history of the building through the name “pilcrow,” the typographical character used to indicate a new paragraph. Though he’d previously helped run bars, this would be the first one he owned.

Phelps, a longtime cocktail guru in the spirits industry, said he wanted a menu that had something for everyone. He also wanted to create a “starter guide” to tequila and agave, his first and favorite spirit he ever drank, and eventually studied through tours of bars in the industry, distillers and some out-of-country “tequila Mexico” trips.

“It’s a good introduction into mezcal and tequila for a lot of people who don't usually drink those spirits,” he said, so that “maybe later they can move on to just drinking it neat and enjoying it that way,” which he loves.

Favorites on the menu so far, Phelps said, include the namesake cocktail the Pilcrow Rita, a spinoff margarita made of Blanco tequila, sour orange, Amaro Montenegro, bergamot and honey; the Ampersand Collins, a gin cocktail made with lemon, strawberry-tarragon syrup, coconut milk, salt tincture and topped with Peychaud’s Bitters and Topo Chico; and their various classic margaritas, made with Blanco tequilas, lime and salt on the rim.

Since it opened in early August, Phelps said the neon signs — big statement pieces he has been in love with for a while now — have been drawing people in and down the stairwell to his bar, where Phelps continues the vibrant colors using both red and orange lighting.

“Birmingham has red dirt, and agave grows in red dirt,” he said. Plus, the lighting adds to the clandestine nature of the bar.

The atmosphere has been a part of the new cocktail bar that newcomers have really enjoyed, he said, though he might change the color up in the future. So far, people have been flocking to check out the bar, and he’s excited to keep getting to know the community.

“Birmingham has so many bars, but I think people really enjoy the variations and style between the bars,” he said. “It’s always just nice to see them when they come in and say, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen this before.’”

Cocktails are generally between $9 and $11, with a few cheaper deals that include a shot of tequila and a beer. They also sell wine, a rotating list of draft beers and will eventually have snacks. 

“My entrance has a speakeasy feel — it’s in an alley, it’s in a door simply marked, … but we’re definitely not trying to hide. We want people to come down and enjoy it,” he said.

Pilcrow is located 2015 First Ave. N. The bar is closed on Sunday and Monday, and open Tuesday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight and Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m.

For more information, visit pilcrowbham.com.

The article has been changed on 10/18 to reflect that Pilcrow now opens at 4 p.m., not 5 p.m.