Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Brooklyn Cocktail Bars


mjr_inthegardens

Recommended Posts

The impending openings of Weather Up in Prospect Heights and rumored opening of The Clover Club in Carroll Gardens may mean that Brooklyn denizens will be able to more easily find a well-constructed cocktail without venturing (or staying in) Manhattan...

Weather Up:

NYMag

Brownstoner

I walked by on the way to get my zip car on St. Marks... the shutters were down but a telltale piece of exposed subway tile told me the storefront. No further word on an opening date but must be any day now barring licensing issues.

Rumored "The Clover Club":

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/b...-reiner-to.html

I haven't seen the location or heard or found anything additional about this rumored establishment since this blog posting appeared. Clearly the "late december" opening was not realized.

Also -- The Hideout is open on Adelphi Street in Fort Greene. But it sounds insufferable:

Ny Times: "sexy but small"

So:

Any one got any further scoop?

and in the meanwhile is there anywhere besides by kitchen to get a decently made cocktail in downtownish Brooklyn?

cheers from brooklyn,

MJR

edit to fix clover club nabe

Edited by mjr_inthegardens (log)

�As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy, and to make plans.� - Ernest Hemingway, in �A Moveable Feast�

Brooklyn, NY, USA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MJR, it must have been a slip of the typing finger that caused you to locate the Smith St. Clover Club in Prospect Heights.

Also, a charming former bartender at Hearth recently opened a cocktail lounge in Williamsburg called something like the Huckleberry Lounge.

Eater also reported the very recent opening of another cocktail lounge in Williamsburg -- the fanciest and most D&C/PDT-like yet to open in Brooklyn -- called (I think) the Delmano Hotel.

Edited by Sneakeater (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MJR, it must have been a slip of the typing finger that caused you to locate the Smith St. Clover Club in Prospect Heights.

FIXED!

�As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy, and to make plans.� - Ernest Hemingway, in �A Moveable Feast�

Brooklyn, NY, USA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hotel del Mano is the new one in B-berg, it is on Berry and N. 9th. It is a great room, excellent cocktails, coolest low boy doors EVER, and killer back bathroom. What's not to love.

Toby

A DUSTY SHAKER LEADS TO A THIRSTY LIFE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hotel del Mano is the new one in B-berg, it is on Berry and N. 9th.  It is a great room, excellent cocktails, coolest low boy doors EVER, and killer back bathroom.  What's not to love.

Toby

The news finally got out : P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hotel Delmano is a gorgeous space and the bartender there made me a lovely old fashioned with Hess' bitters.

Brooklyn cocktailians shouldn't forget about Huckleberry. They have a solid classic cocktail menu and creative seasonal cocktail selections.

I'm afraid I cannot resist a bit of self-promotion either but I think I should put this on the Brooklyn cocktail radar. I've been working for 2 years to get the old Chickenbone reopen. We hope to launch by early March. Our rather obsessive focus is on cocktails but to venture slightly away from hallowed ground like Death & Co,PDT, etc, we are referencing more of a 19th century and apothecary like vibe in terms of design and atmosphere. In terms of drinks? I can only hope to come close as they set the bar pretty high. I do have six housemade bitters ready and am testing those and other tinctures until the menu is finalized. The Kold Draft is still two weeks away from being installed but hope to do some soft openings/tastings once that is figured out.

"Wives and such are constantly filling up any refrigerator they have a

claim on, even its ice compartment, with irrelevant rubbish like

food."" - Kingsley Amis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I checked out The Hideout last night.

didn't go off menu but the house list seems well-mixed. the emphasis here is much more on using things like fig jam, etc. than say the more vieux carre type drinks you tend to find at PDT or D&C. but they're thoughtfully composed.

decor is easy on the eyes.

definitely recommend if you're in the neighborhood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With all this talk of new cocktail joints opening up in Brooklyn, nobody has mentioned the two places that have been faithfully mixing classic drinks for a while here.

The Good Fork down in Red Hook (across the street from LeNell's) has been preaching the gospel of classic libations long before any W-burg hipsters jumped on the bandwagon. St. John Frizzell is a cocktail historian, channeler of Charles H. Baker, and a student of the craft. When he's working the stick, there is no better place in Brooklyn for a classic cocktail.

Jack the Horse Tavern in Brooklyn Heights is the other joint. Full disclosure: I ran the bar program there the first 1 1/2 years of it's life. I still drop in there time to time for a drink, and am glad to be able to order a Martinez, a Brooklyn, or a Ramos, and have faith that it will be constructed correctly. That is still a rarity here in Kings County.

I think that these two still represent the best of what Brooklyn can offer in a cocktail, but there are a couple of joints that I haven't seen yet. Although I will place The Jake Walk on Smith Street on the short list, as they seem to take pre-prohibition drink making fairly seriously. And certainly, when the Clover Club opens, there will be some mighty fine drinking going on. I look to forward to that opening like a lil' kid looks forward to Christmas.

It's just cold booze in a glass. Drink it, dammit.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

There's surely been some activity on the Brooklyn cocktail front in the last couple of years... but I'll fast-forward to spring of 2010 to mention a couple that we dropped-in on in Williamsburg the other day.

Before we got to the newer places, we stopped by the above-mentioned Hotel Delmano. Had something OK off the menu, but then asked for a Sazerac. I wasn't sure why I made that particular order, but someone pointed out later that it's one of the most Sazerac-ish rooms outside of New Orleans, so I suppose it was inevitable. They have a version on their menu that involved pears in some fashion, but I asked for a traditional take. I don't think it was just the decor, but that was actually the most perfectly-balanced Sazerac I've ever had, including drinks from several places in the city of its origin... Really liked the space, good bartender, good feel overall.

A couple blocks down the street, at the corner of Berry and North 11th, is a new place called The Counting Room. It's not really trying to be a cocktailian destination, it's just a pretty nice bar. Our motivation for visiting was more specific: Maks Pazuniak, of what was formerly known as the Rogue Cocktails blog/book, now Beta Cocktails recently moved back to the area, and is now working at The Counting Room. We'd become rather addicted to the drinks he and Kirk Estopinal had made us down at Cure in New Orleans, and even though we knew it wasn't going to be the same scene, we figured it was worth dropping by to say hi. And we were not disappointed. Despite not having all the ingredients he's used to having on-hand, he still managed to make us some fascinating drinks, even in the midst of being slammed on a saturday night, with an unexpected birthday party adding to the chaos. So, if you're in the area, it's worth asking for Maks, and requesting something Beta Cocktails-ish... He made me something from Cure, I think it was called In Search of Lost Time...

Then we took a stroll over to south 4th st, to the new-ish Dram which IS trying to be a cocktail destination. (BTW, no, I do not mean Dram Shop in Park Slope, just Dram... ) It's a great-looking space, lots of wood and right angles, except for the illuminated kayak over the bar. There's a small, but interesting drinks menu, a big bowl of punch, some tiki glasses on the shelf, but even the menu points you in another direction - there's a listing for Bartender's choice:

1. Name Your Spirit

2. Then Choose Stirred & Spirit Forward or Shaken & Refreshing

And that's what I often like to do anyway, just give a good bartender some parameters and see what happens. We got some tasty improvs from bartender Nick Jarrett, who we know from his couple of days each week in Phllly at The Franklin. We've learned to trust him implicitly.

We meant to imbibe a few more drams of whatever Nick was pouring, but after only a couple, we got sidetracked by a futile search for nearby late-night food. Ahh, it's just another reason to make another visit. That initial sampling was quite promising, so we'd recommend checking it out. Just have whatever Nick's making...

Dram

177 South 4th St.

Brooklyn, NY 11211

718-486-dram

http://drambar.com/

The Counting Room

44 berry Street (at 11th St)

Brooklyn, NY 11211

(718) 599-1860

www.thecountingroombk.com

Hotel Delmano

82 Berry St (at 9th St)

Brooklyn, NY 11211

(718) 387-1945

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

There's surely been some activity on the Brooklyn cocktail front in the last couple of years... but I'll fast-forward to spring of 2010 to mention a couple that we dropped-in on in Williamsburg the other day.

A couple blocks down the street, at the corner of Berry and North 11th, is a new place called The Counting Room. It's not really trying to be a cocktailian destination, it's just a pretty nice bar. Our motivation for visiting was more specific: Maks Pazuniak, of what was formerly known as the Rogue Cocktails blog/book, now Beta Cocktails recently moved back to the area, and is now working at The Counting Room. We'd become rather addicted to the drinks he and Kirk Estopinal had made us down at Cure in New Orleans, and even though we knew it wasn't going to be the same scene, we figured it was worth dropping by to say hi. And we were not disappointed. Despite not having all the ingredients he's used to having on-hand, he still managed to make us some fascinating drinks, even in the midst of being slammed on a saturday night, with an unexpected birthday party adding to the chaos. So, if you're in the area, it's worth asking for Maks, and requesting something Beta Cocktails-ish... He made me something from Cure, I think it was called In Search of Lost Time...

The Counting Room

44 berry Street (at 11th St)

Brooklyn, NY 11211

(718) 599-1860

www.thecountingroombk.com

Stopped by the Counting Room last night around 7:30 and was greeted downstairs by Maks who was by himself behind the bar. This will undoubtedly be my new cocktail destination outside of my neighborhood spots Death and Co. and PDT. I loved the casual, unpretentious atmosphere. The entire cocktail menu (on their website) was quite enticing and in the same vein as the cocktails in rogue (beta) cocktails. Tried the Salt & Ash, Vanishing Sun, Italian Heirloom, and an Improved Holland Gin Cocktail. All were outstanding.

Maks is a super nice (and super talented) guy and I was honestly shocked by how slow business was on a Wednesday night. The wife and I were just about the only people (in the downstairs cocktail bar area) for the hour we were there. I'm pretty sure he now has all the ingredients he needs and they definitely have the Kold-Draft machine too so I hope that anyone who is into this high-end cocktail scene gives this place a chance. I don't want to place too much pressure on Maks but prepare to be blown away by his cocktails.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's surely been some activity on the Brooklyn cocktail front in the last couple of years... but I'll fast-forward to spring of 2010 to mention a couple that we dropped-in on in Williamsburg the other day.

Then we took a stroll over to south 4th st, to the new-ish Dram which IS trying to be a cocktail destination. (BTW, no, I do not mean Dram Shop in Park Slope, just Dram... ) It's a great-looking space, lots of wood and right angles, except for the illuminated kayak over the bar. There's a small, but interesting drinks menu, a big bowl of punch, some tiki glasses on the shelf, but even the menu points you in another direction - there's a listing for Bartender's choice:

1. Name Your Spirit

2. Then Choose Stirred & Spirit Forward or Shaken & Refreshing

Dram

177 South 4th St.

Brooklyn, NY 11211

718-486-dram

http://drambar.com/

I'm not sure if anyone's pointed this out, but Dram is the baby of our very own TVC. He worked on opening this space for a very long time. Dram is not only beautiful and putting out great cocktails, but it's also a comfortable, unpretentious, easy going kind of place. I only wish I lived closer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Had some more great cocktails at Dram.

Nick started us off with a Champs Elysées tweaked with overproof Louis Royer cognac.

Dram-ChampsElysees.jpg

I'm pretty sure this one was a Mighty Tux, with London Dry Gin and two vermouths.

Dram-Gin.jpg

At some point during the night, Tom attacked a fresh young coconut with a cleaver and presented a lovely Tiki variation, based on Scotch and a touch of honey.

Dram-Tiki.jpg

Later on Nick secreted some spicy chili notes into an otherwise refreshing swizzle.

Dram-ChiliSwizzle.jpg

There were several more that somehow faded into the mists of memory... but overall, great drinks, nice place, good people.

Dram

177 S. 4th Street

Brooklyn, NY, 11211

http://drambar.com/blog/

Edited by philadining (log)

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We also made a side-trip to the Counting Room to see what was up with Maks. It's great to see that the cocktail program is really coming together there, there's a really interesting menu, and of course the improvisations are even more interesting.

Maks has been experimenting a lot with salt, especially its interplay with bitter flavors, which has resulted in some interesting drinks, like the Campari Martini.

CountingRoom-CampariMartini.jpg

We also enjoyed an Italian Heirloom, which featured Cynar, Laphroaig, Dewars, and, you guessed it - salt. Really interesting, and delicious, at least to me...

CountingRoom-ItalianHeirloom.jpg

He also shook-up an unusual flip, with Cherry Heering and Mole bitters. Really nice.

CountingRoom-HeeringFlip.jpg

I can't for the life of me remember what this one was, I'm going to assume it as built around a crazy proportion of bitters...

CountingRoom-Cocktail.jpg

There's definitely some interesting mixing going on there. Look for Maks at the downstairs bar.

Counting Room

44 Berry Street

Brooklyn, NY 11211

http://thecountingroombk.com/

Edited by philadining (log)

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Nice write-up of Dram in Time Out.

...The opening of Dram signals a paradigm shift in the world of thoughtful boozing: Here we have New York’s first truly progressive cocktail joint—a casual mixology haven with stools to spare for drinkers of all persuasions...

I'm not sure that having windows is actually a huge change in perspective, but the place does have a nice feel... And indeed they're putting out tasty drinks.

Dram-bar.jpg

I forget what that one was... probably a Nick Jarrett improv.

The article mentions that Dram doesn't serve any food (yet) but that Pies and Thighs is nearby. It's true: you can practically shout an order across the street. It's worth keeping in mind that Traif is only about a block in the other direction, and Fatty Cue is a very short walk, so it's pretty convenient to grab a bite on your way in. Fatty Cue is a little weird about take-out, but they'll wrap up a late-night menu sandwich without too much complaining... (And that Pork Shoulder Banh Mi is outrageously good...)

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Our timing was a little off this past saturday night, apparently we were just a little too late to run into David Chang, or perhaps even more exciting, Sneakeater, hanging at Dram. OK, to be fair, Chang may have mostly been waiting for a table at Pies and Thighs, but hopefully the charm of the place wasn't lost on him.

Dram-INT1.jpg

We sampled a few appropriately summery drinks mixed-up by Nick, had a nice chat with Tom, and generally had a good time chilling.

We'd just retreated from The Counting Room, where Maks had regaled us with some typically interesting and delicious concoctions, but the DJ was getting to be a bit much for our mellow mood. I dunno, thumpy dance tunes might be the right vibe for that space on a saturday night, but it's not especially conducive to contemplating a thought-provoking drink. Nonetheless, I'll brave the sound system for some more Maks mixology, or just be sure to go earlier. Or on another night.

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can keep track of when there's going to be a DJ at the Counting Room here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyn-NY/The-Counting-Room/206956411845

We had a similar issue when we went on a Saturday night, on the later side and chose to go back on a Sunday instead. Really enjoyed my A Lazy Spring (Beefeater Gin, Rosemary-infused Bianco Vermouth, Lemon, Honey, Black Peppercorn) and Karmic Fate (El Jimador Blanco Tequila, Plymouth Sloe Gin, Lemon, Egg White) whereas my husband was all over the Salt & Ash (Chichicapa Mezcal, Grapefruit-infused El Jimador Blanco Tequila, Lapsang Sweet Vermouth, Maraschino, Agave, Angostura, Orange Bitters) and Italian Heirloom.

"I'll put anything in my mouth twice." -- Ulterior Epicure
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • 1 year later...
×
×
  • Create New...