Entry No. 16 — the Nashville file — filed under: absinthe
Green Hour
By day it's Tempered Fine Chocolates, a quiet truffle shop. After dark the same room turns into a green-lit absinthe lounge with the traditional drip ritual, 15+ imported labels, and chocolate pairings — Thursday through Saturday only.
The story
By day, the corner space at 1201 5th Avenue North is Tempered Fine Chocolates—a bright, quiet Germantown storefront where you buy handmade truffles and espresso. But come Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, the daytime pretense drops. The room dim-shifts under an emerald glow, marble tables are cleared, and the operation re-emerges as Green Hour, a quiet, late-night absinthe lounge built around late-19th-century Parisian drinking culture.
The name pulls directly from *l'heure verte*—the 5:00 PM hour when Belle Époque writers, poets, and painters filled French cafés for wormwood spirits. Green Hour keeps that obsession literal, stocking over fifteen imported absinthe labels from historical distilleries across France, Switzerland, and North America. Instead of hiding the daytime chocolate operation, they use it: hand-crafted truffles are paired explicitly with high-proof pours to cut the anise and botanical punch.
What it's like
Step through the door after nightfall and you enter a small, green-lit sanctuary with brass accents and heavy glass spigots on every table. You select a label from the bottle list, and the server delivers a heavy glass absinthe fountain filled with ice water, a slotted spoon, and a sugar cube. Watching the slow drip dissolve the sugar and cloud the green spirit into an opaque white louche takes time—this is not a bar for fast shots. Seating is limited and fills quickly on Friday and Saturday nights; show up right at opening or pick a Thursday evening if you want a table without a wait.
The move: Show up after the chocolate case has been swapped out for absinthe fountains, and split a truffle flight paired with a proper louche pour.
- 📍 Germantown
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1201 5th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37208
Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Skull's Rainbow Room — Trade Germantown's quiet French ritual for mid-century jazz and burlesque inside Printers Alley.
- Attaboy — Cross the river into East Nashville to swap deliberate absinthe pours for customized, off-menu speakeasy cocktails.
- Downtown Presbyterian Church — Pair an evening of 19th-century French drinking culture with an afternoon visit to Nashville's 1849 Egyptian Revival landmark.
- Old Glory — Follow up a night in a converted chocolate shop with drinks inside a preserved 1920s industrial boiler room.
Good to know
How does the traditional absinthe drip service work here?
A glass fountain filled with ice water sits at your table. Your server pours the absinthe spirit into a glass, balances a slotted spoon across the rim, and sets a sugar cube on top. You turn the fountain's brass spigot yourself, allowing ice water to drip slowly onto the sugar until the spirit turns cloudy.
Do I need a reservation to get in?
No. Seating inside the chocolate shop footprint is strictly first-come, first-served. Because the space holds only a handful of tables, arriving early in the evening is recommended.
Can you order drinks if you don't like absinthe?
Yes. Beyond the absinthe roster and drip flights, the night menu includes craft cocktails, wine, beer, and chocolate pairings crafted in-house.
When does the transformation happen?
The lounge operates Thursday through Saturday nights only, taking over the space after the daytime chocolate and coffee shop service finishes.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Thrillist
last checked: 2026-07-20