A weekend happy hour
A place for great cocktails at discount prices during the weekends
Why it matters: Happy hour in Baton Rouge usually shows up when it is least helpful—in the middle of the workweek, when people are stuck in traffic, picking up children or trying to get home before their patience turns to bitterness.
The twist: Hayride Scandal has a better idea. Its happy hour runs during the week, but also on Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday.
The big picture: That would already make it useful. What makes it better is that Hayride is not some place tossing out cheap wells and calling it generosity. It is one of Baton Rouge’s more serious cocktail bars, a place that makes classics with real care.
It also happens to sit in one of the city’s odder locations: the old Esplanade Mall, next to Hooters. Baton Rouge contains multitudes.
The details: During happy hour, classics like the Moscow Mule, Gold Rush and Old Fashioned—plus several others—go for $8. That is a small price for drinks made with the kind of precision more often associated with a bar in Tokyo than a retail center on Corporate.
What it’s like: Hayride has been around for nearly a decade. The room is dark and clubby, full of deep brown wood and leather chairs. You can catch a jazz band during the week.
The regulars, meanwhile, tend to be friendly in that easy Baton Rouge way. Sit long enough and someone may point you toward what to order, or offer that a cherry makes a champagne cocktail a bit tastier. The playlist helps, too—bartender–curated, good enough to notice, quiet enough that you can still hear the person across from you.
The bottom line: If you want an excellent drink at a reasonable price at an hour when you are actually free to enjoy it, Hayride is there for you. Bring your flashlight so you can read the menu.