Old-fashioned success: Gary Crunckleton's craft cocktail bar in Chapel Hill suits his taste--and he's ready for another.

• Author: Rhew, Adam
• Position: Cocktail craze - Column

Hundreds of bottles tower shelf upon shelf behind the wood counter where bartenders in pale blue shirts and bow ties concoct elaborate drinks.

It's a Saturday night, and the amber colors of candlelight and bourbon fill The Crunkleton, a 99-seat craft cocktail bar on Chapel Hill's Franklin Street that Gary Crunkleton opened in 2008. It is decorated with Mission oak furniture from 1908 and funky modern American folk art--no Tar Heel flags or TVs tuned to basketball. "I'm a heavyset guy, I cuss a lot, I like chicken wings, and I'm a man's man," Crunkleton says. "I think people thought I would have opened a sports bar, but that's not really what I'm about."

The bar has received praise from culture stalwarts such as Southern Living, which in February named it one of the three best bars in the South, and national food critics. If you didn't look out the bay window onto Franklin Street, you'd think you were in New York or New Orleans.

Crunkleton, 50, came back to Chapel Hill to attend graduate school after working for four years as a teacher in Charlotte. He had tended bar as an undergrad at Carolina, where he earned a B.A. in philosophy and political science, and picked up a similar gig again. "At first, I didn't know I was a good bartender. It was just a way to make money while I was in school." Eventually, he began to think about opening his own bar. Just missing the cut for UNC's law school was the nudge he needed to open The Crunkleton, aided by $350,000 from an angel investor in Florida.

"I really looked in the mirror," he says, "and asked 'What would I want?' I wanted a place for adults without food." By...