The Supper Club Sipper: Smoke, Ritual, and the Heart of the Table

There is a certain patience built into a supper club evening. It begins long before the first bite of prime rib or walleye. The meal is a ceremony, not a sprint. You arrive, settle into the low light, hear the piano or jukebox humming in the background, and you are invited to slow down. In Wisconsin, that invitation is often extended through the cocktail in your hand.

The Supper Club Sipper captures that exact moment. Built with Woodford Reserve bourbon, demerara sugar, Angostura bitters, and an orange peel kissed with smoke, it is both familiar and theatrical. The smoke curls upward before you take your first sip, perfuming the air and marking the occasion. In Wisconsin, that touch of drama fits perfectly.

The supper club tradition itself is full of ritual. These establishments, many of which were born during Prohibition and thrived afterward, offered a sense of belonging. Families gathered for the Friday fish fry. Couples lingered over ice cream cocktails at the bar. Friends settled into booths that became their spots for decades. To walk into a supper club was to walk into continuity. 

Why bourbon here, when Wisconsin famously leans on brandy? Because the Supper Club Sipper speaks to another side of the tradition: the influence of bourbon culture drifting north from Kentucky, where barrel-aged spirits carried notes of oak, caramel, and spice. By pairing that with demerara, a sugar rich in molasses depth, and adding the unmistakable stamp of smoke, this cocktail recalls the warmth of wood-paneled dining rooms and the fire crackling outside on a long Midwestern night. 

The smoke is not a gimmick. It is a reminder. At the table, meals took time. Courses stretched out, conversations wandered, and the pace slowed. A smoked cocktail sets the stage, asking you to pause, breathe, and notice. The act of lifting the glass is no longer casual; it is intentional. That, in its own way, is the heart of the supper club experience. 

At Baraboo Supper Club in Boise, the Supper Club Sipper carries that legacy westward. Guests may not have grown up with the Friday night ritual or the long drive out to a lakeside club, but they recognize the effect instantly. The first sip is bourbon’s richness balanced by sugar’s smooth edge, the bitters grounding it, the orange peel brightening it. And the smoke, the quiet flourish, ties it all together.

When you drink it, you are not simply enjoying a cocktail. You are being ushered into a tradition that has always been less about the food or drink and more about the way they frame a night. A supper club is not rushed. A Supper Club Sipper makes sure of that.

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Food Pairing:

Supper Club Sipper + Blackened Trout

Smoke, spice, and balance. The Supper Club Sipper’s bourbon depth and smoked orange peel echo the blackened trout’s bold seasoning. Together, they slow the evening down in true supper club style.