The Archives

An arcade bar is an unexpectedly good answer to a problem non-drinkers know well: what to do with the four hours everyone else spends holding a drink. The Archives, on College Street in downtown Burlington, fills a room with vintage cabinets and pinball and puts a genuine cocktail bar along one wall — original builds plus reworked classics, including a house drink called The Archive, a clarified milk punch, and seasonal work like a bourbon-and-pumpkin-foam Witching Hour.

The alcohol-free case for it rests on a peer recommendation rather than a printed menu. Hotel Vermont's guide to drinking in Burlington — written by a hotel that spends every evening sending guests to other people's bars, and therefore has no reason to flatter — names exactly two rooms in the city for creative N/A cocktails. One is Devil Takes a Holiday. The other is The Archives. Given the technique on display in the alcoholic list, that is a credible claim; the bar is clearly capable of building a drink rather than pouring one.

This entry is graded three rather than four because the non-alcoholic drinks are not printed as a named section on any menu published online, and no specific drink could be confirmed, so none are recorded here. Ask at the bar and expect to be looked after.

What is unambiguous is the access. The Archives runs from 4pm to 2am on weekdays and from noon to 2am at weekends, with happy hour 4pm to 6pm on weekdays and noon to 6pm at weekends — the longest hours of any venue in this city guide, and by some margin the easiest place in Burlington to spend a late night without drinking and without feeling like you are waiting for everyone else to finish.