Hustler’s: Nearly a very cool bar

I love Whisky and so wherever I go, I’m always on the lookout for a cool Whisky bar As soon as I found Hustler’s Whisky and Cigar Lounge online, I headed over to check it out.

Hustler’s is located on the top floor of the Summerset Hotel on Usama Street in Maitama. Be careful because there are two Summerset hotels located on the same street (confusing!) so make sure you’re at 34 Usama Street and not 73.

The lounge itself is pretty cool. There is a small bar with a nicely designed back bar and a reasonable (but not huge) range of whiskies. There are classic, leather, lounge sofas around the room and the dim lighting gives a pretty atmospheric speakeasy type feeling.

Furthermore, they sell proper Cuban cigars. I don’t know how Whisky and Cigars came to be associated since ones from Cuba and the other is from Scotland. Perhaps Winston Chruchill brought them together or perhaps its just that they make such a great combination. Either way, as the name suggests, Hustler’s Whisky and Cigar lounge sells Cigars in addition to the whisky and you can smoke them in the bar. Fans of clean air may be disappointed.

So the bar is pretty cool and a lot of thought has clearlygone into it, but it has unfortunately been let down of late by shoddy management. The bar staff were not particularly knowledgable about Whisky (but I didn’t mind since I’m quite capable of choosing what I want to drink) but the main problem was that the bar was completely empty. It was Saturday night and we were the only customers during our entire stay. There is clearly a lack of publicity. Furthermore, I have been trying to contact Hustler’s for the past 5 days and I have found it impossible to do so. I’ve tried Instagram, Facebook, Google, the telephone numbers advertised, and I’ve even tried calling the Summerset Hotel where it is based and I still haven’t been able to talk to anyone who represents the bar.

I can only conclude that Hustler’s is a pretty cool venue which was nicely created by someone, but has been left to drift ever since. If you come with your own crowd then I would highly recommend stopping by, but if you’re a lone drinker looking for a social dram, I would give Hustler’s a pass until it becomes more popular.