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The Best Cocktail Bars in Brooklyn, New York

At Westlight you can see lights to the west
At Westlight you can see lights to the west | © Andrew Boyle

With absinthe-focused menus, down-to-earth food-and-drink combos and obscure ingredients, Brooklyn’s cocktail bars are as unique as the locals who love them. From Williamsburg to Red Hook and beyond, here are the best cocktail bars in Brooklyn, New York.

Maison Premiere

Bar, Restaurant, American, Seafood, Gluten-free

Maison Premiere in Williamsburg, New York, USA
© Noah Fecks
Part French Quarter New Orleans, part old-world Paris, Maison Premiere is entirely unmissable in trendy Williamsburg. Home to New York City’s largest collection of absinthes, the bar features cocktails made from premium spirits enhanced by coconut, pecan and more. Come by for oyster happy hour and slurp down some seafood with your drinks.

Yours Sincerely

Bar, American

Leaning into its identity as a cocktail laboratory, Yours Sincerely serves drinks swirled in beakers and test tubes. Its drinks come with cheeky scientific names such as its take on the daiquiri, called the Lab Rat, as well as the negroni, known as the Critical Mass. Grab your lab coat and strap on your goggles to become your own mad scientist: you can concoct your own drink and channel that inventive spirit by plucking mixers and elixirs from the menu.

Erv’s on Beekman

Coffee Shop, Bar, Cocktails, Coffee

What was once a hole-in-the-wall watering hole has since expanded into a large coffee shop and cocktail bar. Having taken over the laundromat next door, Erv’s is now a comfortable joint filled with locals. The coffee shop is popular with folks looking for a place to work during the day, but the space transforms once the sun sets – laptops disappear and coffee-stained mugs are replaced with glasses brimming with vodka and whiskey. Be sure to grab something to eat as Erv’s brings in great chefs to make exciting culinary experiences, such as flavorful chicken kebab and breakfast tamales.

The Long Island Bar

Cocktail Bar, Bar, American

Don’t let the name confuse you: Cobble Hill’s Long Island Bar couldn’t be more convenient to reach – or more delicious. Brought to you by industry legend Toby Cecchini (the inventor of the Cosmopolitan), the Long Island Bar complements its retro setting with classics including gimlets, daiquiris, negronis and a fan-favorite double dry-aged beef cheeseburger.

Come for the drinks, stay for the food, stay for the drinks

Bed-Vyne Cocktail

Cocktail Bar, Cocktails

Head to Bed-Vyne Cocktail for the chill ambiance, chic patio and live music. The place offers standard cocktail fare but also has quirky seasonal offerings like frozen punch in the summer and cold-weather drinks like the Nutcracker, made with rum, apricot, banana, pineapple and lime, in the winter. Plus, there are special weekly events, including karaoke on the first Sunday of the month and DJs, live music and tacos on Taco Tuesday.

Fort Defiance

Bar, Restaurant, American

Fort Defiance, New York
Image courtesy of Fort Defiance

With a drinks menu divided into brunch, dinner and after-dinner cocktails sections, Fort Defiance throws the ‘5pm rule’ out the window. (What could be more defiant than that?) Helmed by bartender and writer St John Frizell, this Red Hook haunt serves a breakfast martini invented by renowned London bartender Salvatore Calabrese, an Irish coffee the New York Times calls ‘the best in the known world’ and the Kensington, made famous by St John and Men’s Journal, just to name a few.

Clover Club

Bar, Cocktail Bar, American

Clover Club, New York, USA
© Clover Club 

Headed by Pegu Club and Flatiron Lounge alum Julie Reiner, Clover Club gives cocktail connoisseurs a reason to visit Cobble Hill. A Victorian aesthetic pairs well with throwback beverages including royales, sours and fizzes, and communal punches at this bar scene that features a working fireplace and occasional live jazz.

Tooker Alley

Bar, Pub Grub

The name Tooker Alley comes from a Chicago institution from the early 1900s that encouraged all kinds of people to come together and “elevate your mind to a lower level of thinking.” That sense of humor expands to the drink selection, such as the Hi Falutin’, which is a whiskey cocktail described as “a puttin’-on-airs, high-steppin’, diamond-pinky-ed, cane-twirlin’, dandy of a cocktail.”

Dromedary Urban Tiki Bar

Cocktail Bar, Cocktails

Tiki bars have become hard to find, but Dromedary Urban Tiki Bar is here to satisfy all of your tiki-kitsch desires. The tropical cocktails swirled with rum and tequila are served in ceramic tiki glasses or with fun straws and colorful cocktail umbrellas. Pair your drink with some classic pub fare like fries, burgers and chicken tenders.

Grand Army

Cocktail Bar, Bar, Charcuterie, American

The expansive cocktail list at Grand Army, a Boerum Hill hang-out, is always evolving, thanks to seasonally shifting inspirations that have included everything from Brothers Grimm fables to Gilmore Girls episodes. Drinks inspired by the singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt included Fog Upon the Light of Day (vodka, cucumber, smoked salt, manzanilla sherry, honey) and A Summer Thursday (mezcal, cap course blanc, pineapple, italicus, absinthe). The only constant is the quality, which, of course, is always grand.

Nothing but time, distance and a few dollars stands between you and this Grand Army cocktail

Sweet Polly

Cocktail Bar, Cocktails

Sweet Polly, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Courtesy of Sweet Polly

Tucked off Flatbush, Sweet Polly is owned by Murat Uyaroglu, who’s best known for working on Hungry Ghost, a Brooklyn coffee mini-chain. The cute space can get busy on weekends, with guests sipping cheekily named cocktails like #Instagramodel, which is stirred with St Germain, gin and fresh cucumber juice. As you drink, pad your stomach with a platter of oysters, carnitas tacos or roasted carrots bright with honey.

Westlight

Cocktail Bar, American

Westlight, New York
© Westlight

If you visit one rooftop bar in New York City, make it Westlight. Located 22 floors above ground level at the William Vale Hotel, this buzzy bar in the sky serves original cocktails with ingredients like curry and Swedish Punsch, with an unparalleled side of sweeping Manhattan and Brooklyn views.

Dick and Jane

Cocktail Bar, Bar, Cocktails

Dick and Janes Cocktail
Courtesy of Dick and Jane's

Hidden behind an unmarked door in an old carriage house, Dick and Jane feels like a well-kept secret. This cozy spot is perfect for a date as the intimate atmosphere lends itself to quiet conversation. The cocktails take center stage and change regularly, but past drinks have included the Roman King (rye, aperol, absinthe, brandy, cherry) and the Steve McQueen (gin, elderflower, herb syrup, pineapple, lemon, cucumber, chili pepper).

Finish off a visit to Brooklyn by booking a stay at one of the best hotels near the Brooklyn Bridge through Culture Trip.

This article is an updated version of a story created by Julia Goicochea.

About the author

Parrish Turner hails from Georgia. He is an editor and essayist, but he gets to spend his time at Culture Trip focusing on traveling the world through books. Turner graduated from The New School with an MFA in creative nonfiction.

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