What will $10 get you at Nostrano?

Madison is a college town, and that means drink specials. A mere $10 at Lava Lounge on a Saturday night gets you three $2 Long Islands, and tipping a dollar per drink still leaves a leftover dollar to jam in the jukebox. On Wednesdays, those who are so inclined can drink 10 beers for 10 bucks at Brothers. But that’s all been done before, so put the stomach pump down and let The A.V. Club show you the kind of quality hooch a ten spot gets you at swanky new eatery Nostrano (111 S. Hamilton St., 608-395-3295).

Piper
A cunning nectar of crushed raspberries and mellow citrus, the Piper is a Crème De Yvette and Maraschino Liqueur in a Junipero gin base, served with lemon rind. All ingredients are premium, and the entire enterprise exudes class.

Corpse Reviver
For those brought low by zombie bite or a night out at Wando’s, this concoction of Plymouth gin with Lillet Blanc, Cointreau, and Absinthe (though not the kind Lord Byron drank to provoke reality-challenging hallucinogenic fits of madness) is a restorative tonic with depth.

Seelbach
Raymond Carver fans will look on this Bookers Bourbon, Peychaud’s Bitters, Agostura, Cava, and Cointreau as on a salubrious inebriant preceding a creative bout with the typewriter. After just one, writing a prize-winning short story seems entirely possible.

Are they worth the whole sawbuck? Each of these drinks is $8, and leaving a crumpled one would be mildly churlish, so it’s best to close out the $10 with a two-dollar tip. But a touch of class in a pleasing atmosphere—there are fresh flowers on the bar, for crying out loud—is a nice alternative to a tummy full of low-quality, gut-rotting rail drinks in a swinish dive every once in a while.