The Bar Hopper: Tim Tam Tavern

(Credit: Erin Keane)

This bar hopper has stopped in to many a corner joint in her time, and though every little neighborhood bar is a little different, they tend to have a few things in common.

Let’s start with the smell — before Louisville banned indoor bar smoking, our dives came with smoke screens. It’s going to take a few more years to wash that stale cigarette smell out of the walls.

Then there’s the grime — the thin, ubiquitous layer of schmutz on the surface that never quite comes clean but goes largely unnoticed in the dim light of the evening.

I love dive bars, but it’s a complicated love.

Just across Eastern Parkway from dive bar central Schnitzelburg, Tim Tam Tavern, named after the 1958 Derby winner, is that rare neighborhood dive — clean and inviting, and so pleasant you’d think no cigarette had ever been lit within 20 paces of the joint.

So what makes it a dive? The surroundings are pleasantly familiar and down-to-earth — the wood-paneled walls that remind you of a suburban den, the well-worn bar and pool table in the back. The bartender is working, not working a crowd. There are no specialty cocktails on the menu. Actually, there’s no menu at all.

And perhaps most important, the drinks are cheap. Dive bars keep overhead low so you can drink early and often. My boyfriend and I each enjoyed a Maker’s Mark (his with Coke, mine on the rocks) and our round came to $7 for both drinks.

Like any self-respecting dive, Tim Tam isn’t trying to be a beer Mecca or join the urban bourbon trail, though its bourbon selection is respectable, including Woodford Reserve and Knob Creek as well as tasty, budget-friendly Old Forrester. This is Louisville, after all. A Budweiser will set you back $1.75, and $2.50 will upgrade you to a Smithwicks or Heineken. All this and clean floors, too.

It’s not hard to see why Tim Tam is such a long-standing neighborhood secret. It’s the annual Halloween party that suggests community (bring an appetizer!) rather than a “sexy witch” scene. It’s the St. X memorabilia dotting the walls, and the antique shuffleboard table boasting a hall of fame plaque with proud recent additions. It’s the digital jukebox with everything from Lily Allen to Neil Young, and several TVs to keep you updated on the game.

Tim Tam Tavern is open 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. on the weekend, but during the week, it tends to close earlier as the crowd thins.

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