The White Slab Palace Sour: cute, yet regal, with perfect foam.The Place: Clever Bottle, 2222 Second Ave., 915-2220, BELLTOWNThe Hours: Monday – Saturday, 5 to 7 p.m.The Deal: $3 drafts, which is good news if you like Odin’s Freya’s Gold Kolsch or Schooner Exact’s King Street Brown Ale, which are the only two beers on tap. House wines are $4, but also are subject to a limited selection of two: a rotating white and a rotating red, which is depressing given an otherwise fantastic, diverse, and mostly local wine list. The draw of this happy hour is really the $5 craft cocktails. Delicately presented selections like the the Juniper Lillet, which looks like a blown-glass paperweight, make Clever Bottle a boozy equivalent to an upscale dessert counter. Their meager selection of snacks is not subject to any happy-hour pricing, but it’s not called “Clever Bowl” or “Clever Lunchbox.”The Digs: It’s difficult to describe Clever Bottle as “airy” given its Belltown surroundings, but it does its best. More often than not, patrons sit by a huge picture window. Because the space is small and simple, two propped doors give the sensation you’re drinking on simply a well-guarded patio. The decor, like the cocktails, is simple and modern but with intricate, vintage touches, like wax seals on their menu or their stamp-inspired logo. Music streams out of an iPad, but a turntable is there, just in case.Most tables are for two, but the simple decadence Clever Bottle goes for is ideally suited for dates or catching up with an old friend. It’s hard to imagine large groups thriving here; the atmosphere is too intimate.The Verdict: One drink, the Bourbon Bramble, was the most whimsical treatment of whiskey I had ever tasted: bourbon, sweet black tea, and jam, punctuated with a blue striped paper straw. Their whiskey-sour variant (?White Slab Palace Sour, made traditionally with an egg white) tasted like drinking a perfect lemon bar. The downside to these was having not a whole lot to cut the sugar, although I imagine the drinks are a nice compliment to Clever Bottle’s small plates (mostly cheese). Even the Savory Rosemary (rosemary, framboise, pink peppercorn, and sparkling wine), as it’s mostly framboise, didn’t really live up to its name, although the peppercorns were a nice touch. A lot of care goes into these drinks–they even make their own bitters!–and it shows. Clever Bottle goes for its niche, sticks to it, and thrives there: a boutique environment with intriguing yet easy-to-imbibe drinks.Follow Voracious on Twitter and Facebook.