click to enlarge - Jordan Barry ©️ Seven Days
- Hired Hand Brewing beer
When City Limits Night Club closed in June, it left a late-night dive-bar hole in Vergennes. Later this month, Antidote and Hired Hand Brewing owners Eliza Benton-Huizenga and Ian Huizenga will fill that hole with Low Bar in their downstairs space at 35 Green Street.
The "divey speakeasy" will serve "cool, fun cocktails and cheap beer," Benton-Huizenga said. It won't be open as late as City Limits was, but it will serve until roughly 11 p.m. and host live music, dancing and DJs. Hot Neon Magic will play a soft opening show on October 28.
The downstairs space opened as Bar Antidote in 2009 and closed at the start of the pandemic; the Antidote name and menu moved upstairs and replaced Hired Hand's pizza menu. (The brewery went on hiatus last winter, but an employee has taken over brewing Huizenga's recipes, and house-brewed beer is back on tap.)
Low Bar will offer appetizers and limited food from the Antidote menu; booths lining the hallway from the bar's Green Street entrance will become additional seating for the upstairs restaurant. The bar's main room will feature high-top tables, couches, bar seating and large-scale works by local artist Richard Morin. The drink menu will offer cocktails such as a cucumber-sake martini and $25 wine bottle specials.
"We literally have a bar that is not being utilized in an area that needs a bar," Benton-Huizenga said. "And we all need to hang out more. We need a fun place to see friends and get a drink."