In 2019, Pablo Moix and Steve Livigni’s Venice bar hidden behind Scopa Italian Roots was catching fire as one of the nation’s most unusual drinking destinations. The pair had spent years scouring Southern California and beyond for the rarest spirits, particularly whiskies and tequilas, procuring bottles that went back a half-century. One could taste rare mezcals or bourbons made in the 1970s from recipes that no longer exist. An expensive foray into connoisseurship, Old Lightning wasn’t built to weather a pandemic. It took Moix, with new partners Sal Autora and Mario Gudemi, four years to reopen, and what a windfall for Southern California’s drinking culture that they’re back in action. Staffers will ask after your interests and preferences. A short, ever-changing list of cocktails dips into aged spirits as ingredients, and it would be a pleasant part of an evening to swing by for a drink or two in the cloistered, handsome room. The big thrills here, though, come with splurging on flights of peerless finds. Give the bartenders a price and they’ll work with your budget. The flavors of decades-old ryes are particularly twisting: spicy, sweet, layered, complicated. To sip one is to swallow a detective novel.

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