Keep your drinking on track with a bar in a train car at the Chattanooga Choo Choo

Among Chattanooga’s more interesting spaces to get a drink is Lost in Transit, a bar located inside a train car in the courtyard of the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Under the same ownership as 50/50 Wine and Martini Bar on Station Street, Lost in Transit boasts retro leather couches with vintage suitcases displayed overhead, as well as a line of stools overlooking an enclosed outdoor patio with additional seating.

When the bar in a train car was awaiting its full opening, it played host to numerous private events, such as small wedding parties and company gatherings, and can accommodate 25-30 revelers in the combined train and patio areas, says owner and operator Clark Holt.

You may have experienced Lost in Transit during major events at the Choo Choo over the past year, including an annual St. Patrick’s Day party and MAINx24, says Holt, and an upcoming outdoor festival planned for April is expected to draw around 5,000 attendees to the former Chattanooga train terminal-turned-entertainment and dining destination.

The venue is now serving Wanderlinger beer, but Holt intends to expand the offerings to include martinis, wines and packaged options this spring once the Wanderlinger space next to 50/50 is complete, he says.

The signature drink for both Lost in Transit and 50/50 is the 50/50 martini, composed of equal parts base spirit and vermouth.

While many people in Chattanooga say they don’t like vermouth, Holt blames locals’ low opinion of the fortified wine on bars and restaurants that use cheap, low-quality vermouth that they fail to properly store in a cooler when not in use.

“We’re bringing in more small-batch, artisan-made vermouth from France, Spain and Portugal, and then pairing it with a nice gin and treating it well,” he says of the 50/50 martini, for which the specific ingredients vary.

The current and most popular iteration features a vermouth with a soft vanilla and candied orange flavor complemented by Drunshambo Gunpowder California Orange Citrus Gin, an Irish gin made with gunpowder tea, oriental botanicals and citrus notes from California oranges.

All of the bar’s martinis are stirred rather than shaken — the way martinis are meant to be made, Holt says. To determine when a martini is properly stirred and ready to serve, bar lead Jess Kanter-Chau says she visualizes the ice as icebergs and stops stirring when about 10% of the “icebergs” remain above the surface.

While Lost in Transit serves only beer and martinis, the bar at 50/50 also offers a cocktail menu filled with literary references. Try the “Luck Was Not a Lady” cocktail, a twist on the classic New York sour named after Kanter-Chau’s favorite Charles Bukowski poem.

If you’re in the mood for a tasty martini with a relatively low alcohol content, the 50/50 martini below is just the ticket.

Learn more about the bar at choochoo.com/lost-in-transit.

50/50 Martini

1 ½ ounces Drunshambo Gunpowder California Orange Citrus Gin

1 ½ ounces Casa Mariol Vermut Bianco Spanish Vermouth

Orange twist, for garnish

Add first two ingredients to glass filled with ice and stir. Strain into Nick and Nora glass and garnish with orange twist.

Luck Was Not a Lady

2 ounces bourbon (50/50 uses Woodford Reserve)

½ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce fresh lime juice

1 egg white (1 ounce)

¾ ounce red wine (such as a tempranillo or rioja) and demerara sugar to make a red wine simple syrup

Angostura bitters, for garnish

To make the syrup:

Bring red wine to a very low boil and add equal parts demerara sugar. Whisk until sugar fully dissolves. Let cool. (Syrup will keep for up to two weeks.)

To make the drink:

Add first four ingredients to shaker with ice. Shake and double strain into glass and top with the red wine simple syrup and several drops of bitters.