KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Less than a year after opening its doors to patrons, Esquire Magazine has named a unique Knoxville bar among the best places in the country for a drink.

Brother Wolf at 108 W. Jackson Avenue in Knoxville is listed on Esquire’s 2022 Best Bars in America list. The yearly list highlights some of America’s most exceptional places to get a drink, including several others within driving distance from East Tennessee.

The Italian-style bar opened in July 2021 with a focus on “aperitivi,” Italy’s culture of lower ABV cocktails and small snacks to be enjoyed before dinner. The menu features 24 aperitivo cocktails, including 11 variations of the Negroni, as well as 32 different wine-by-the-glass options.

“Bitters (spirits infused with herbs and spices to flavor cocktails) flow in bright-red ribbons, glow in backlight, and spill into the starlit night from Brother Wolf, an amaro-centric bar near the old train depot in Knoxville,” Esquire’s Joshua David Stein wrote.

Owners Aaron Thompson and Jessica King also operate the adjacent Italian restaurant Osteria Stella. The pair previously operated Sapphire cocktail bar on Gay Street.

On the other side of the mountains, Asheville’s Session at Citizen Vinyl was also listed among America’s best watering holes by Esquire. The café also offers aperitivo cocktails and coffee in the friendly confines of a vinyl records pressing shop inside the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper building.

Other bars within driving distance of Knoxville include Cincinnati’s subterranean bar Ghost Baby and St. Julep in Atlanta.