The historic hotel-bar inside 1899 at The Lodge — cocktails, bar fare, and mountain views from a wooden and mirrored bar rumored to have been built for Al Capone. Locals call it St. Andrews Bar.
The historic hotel-bar move in Cloudcroft. Cocktails inside 1899 at The Lodge, four nights a week, at a wooden and mirrored bar rumored to have been built for Al Capone.
"A classic cocktail at the bar, thirty minutes before your 5 PM reservation. The lounge opens at noon and the dining room at 5. That gap is the move. Sit at the bar, not at a table."
Cocktail at the bar · 4:30 arrival
"Walk in straight from the Scottish 9 next door at the Lodge course. The lounge is open midday and built for slowing down. A drink, the views, a piece of bar fare. No reservation, no hurry."
Walk-in · afternoon drink & bar fare
"Whiskey at the wooden and mirrored bar. The rumored Al Capone build is the room's actual selling point. The kind of bar you can't fake, in the kind of hotel you can't fake either."
Whiskey · at the historic bar
The lounge runs four days a week, eight hours a day. Closed Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The schedule is published on the official Lodge dining page; for a holiday weekend or a special evening, a quick call still helps.
Confirm before a long drive: (575) 682-2566 · Lodge dining page · Lodge Facebook.
St. Andrew's Lounge is inside The Lodge at Cloudcroft, off Corona Place. About a 10-minute walk or 3-minute drive from the Burro Avenue strip. The bar is an interior outlet of the hotel, not a separate roadside building. Once you're in the Lodge, ask for the lounge inside 1899.
Phone: (575) 682-2566
Lodge web: 223collectionhotels.com/the-lodge
Dining: Lodge dining page
Follow @LodgeAtCloudcroft on Facebook for current lounge updates.
What this lounge actually does well, and when to head somewhere else for a drink in Cloudcroft.
The lounge interior and the wooden, mirrored bar inside 1899 at The Lodge.
The official Lodge dining page lists the lounge as Wednesday through Saturday, 12 PM to 8 PM. Closed Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. That schedule is published, but holiday weekends and private events at the Lodge can shift it.
Walk-ins look standard for the lounge itself. The lounge isn't pitched as a reservations-required room the way 1899 is. If your night depends on the lounge being open, call (575) 682-2566 first.
Same building, same address, separate identities. 1899 is the Lodge's restaurant and runs Wed–Sat 5 PM to 8 PM with reservations required. St. Andrew's Lounge is inside 1899 and runs Wed–Sat 12 PM to 8 PM, walk-in friendly.
The clearest way to use both: drink at the lounge before your 1899 reservation. The lounge opens five hours earlier than the dining room, so the bar is the natural staging area for a Lodge dinner.
The room's centerpiece is a historic wooden and mirrored bar, rumored to have been built for Al Capone. That's a rumor, not a confirmed fact. But it's the single piece of bar lore worth knowing before you walk in, and it's the reason to sit at the bar rather than at a table.
For broader Lodge history, the Cloudcroft Reader's Lodge feature covers the property's century-plus arc.
Park at the Lodge. Lodge property parking serves the lounge. The bar is an interior outlet of the hotel, so you arrive at the hotel first and ask for the lounge inside 1899.
Specific ADA details for the lounge weren't documented in the sources I checked. If a step or threshold matters for your visit, call ahead to confirm before driving up.
I held back on these. Lodge property imagery includes patios, mountain views, and fireplaces, but how much of each shapes the bar specifically — versus the broader hotel — isn't pinned down in current bar-specific official text. Same with regular live music: not confirmed as a standing St. Andrew's feature.
If any of these is the reason for your visit, call (575) 682-2566 first.
"St. Andrew's is the historic-hotel-bar move in Cloudcroft. It isn't the brewery, it isn't the winery, and it isn't a quick downtown drink stop. It's a wooden and mirrored bar inside 1899 at The Lodge — rumored to have been built for Al Capone — running Wednesday through Saturday from noon to eight. If your night runs through The Lodge, the lounge is where it should start."
Three peer drinking and dining stops, plus a way back to the full guide.