Williamsburg has long been a stronghold of the old-timey fad—witness the 19th-century-style saloons crowding the neighborhood’s noisy avenues. So it’s unexpected that the area is the site of a watershed moment in the most durable arm of the retro trend: the speakeasy. 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.***
Like all things tiki, the swizzle–a cocktail composed of a spirit, fruit juice, liqueur and crushed ice–is back. The libation is named for its mixing technique: You plunge the three-pronged stick into the cocktail and twirl it between your palms. The result is a frosty glass worthy of an umbrella.
At Dram, Williamsburg’s best new cocktail joint, order the Behind God’s Back swizzle; with its combination of rum, cinnamon and almond syrups, pineapple and lime juices and bitters, it’ll leave you swaying.
Read More: http://tastingtable.com/entry_detail/nyc/1942/New_Yorks_summer_of_swizzle.htm
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Williamsburg’s four-month-old cocktail bar Dram has already gained a reputation as a haven for the city’s most discerning drinkers, and on any given night, you’ll probably find several skilled mixologists perched on the tiki-style bar stools alongside the modish, skinny-jeans-clad clientele. While the bar prides itself on serving serious concoctions—“bartender’s choice” cocktails are tailor-made to customers’ personal tastes, juices are fresh-squeezed daily, and ice is hand-carved—the bartenders like to foster an atmosphere of relaxed camaraderie. “The staff [ideally] gets one shift drink,” explains owner Tom Chadwick, and that doesn’t include shots that generous customers occasionally buy for employees. But in keeping with the air of laid-back refinery, this is not a place to overdo things, and most drinkers limit their imbibing to one or two beverages; Chadwick and his team see the rare hammered customer only “about once a month, late night, on weekends,” he says. “We escort them out in the least confrontational manner possible.”
When we visited recently, barkeep Nicolas de Soto, who previously tended bar at the Experimental Cocktail Club in Paris, was in a bind because that night’s barback, Jeff Hazell, was delayed. Luckily, another cocktail maven happened to be hanging out: Toby Maloney, who formerly worked at Milk & Honey and just opened the Randolph at Broome. Maloney had no trouble coming to the rescue and chipping in behind the bar. “There’s something called a shaker face, and it’s just like an ‘O’ face,” he says. “It’s the really intense face that people make when they’re doing it right.”
Wanna work here?
Start out as a barback; you’ll need extensive mixology experience to bartend.Stats
Employees: 13
Employees who have left: 0
Average number of people working per night: 2–4
Average number of drinks served per night: 160
Bar fights: 1. “We had a minor incident last [week], and it was diffused successfully.”—Tom Chadwick, owner.
Times the staff has had to ask someone to leave: “About once a month a situation arises wherein someone isn’t handling their booze well, or they come in a bit too hammered and a bit too aggressive,” says owner Tom Chadwick. “We always get them a cab or make sure we escort them out in the least confrontational manner possible. You never want to embarrass or directly confront someone in that state.”…
Other bars have impressive lists of cocktails. Tom Chadwick’s bar Dram, which opened in Williamsburg three months ago, has an impressive list of cocktail makers.
“I really didn’t want to be the kind of bar that gives you a 75-drink menu, it’s being done really well by places and Death & Company,’’ Mr. Chadwick said. “So I thought I’d have a platform and venue for bartenders, thinking that would be an exciting thing to do.”
Mr. Chadwick, who previously tended bar at the Bushwick Country Club for years, turned to his many friends in the cocktail community, asking them if they’d like to put in a regular shift at Dram, at 177 South Fourth Street (Driggs Avenue).
“They knew how geeky I am about it, for lack of a better word, and how dogmatic,’’ he said. “And I think they knew just from my attitude and approach that it would be a cool project.”
Read More: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/a-brooklyn-bars-all-star-rotation-of-mixologists/
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True decadence doesn’t come in a tumbler. We asked four local barmen and -women to share recipes for supersize cocktails.
Piper’s Punch
a.k.a. the Kilted Bastard
By Tom Chadwick, Dram
“A lot of traditional punch recipes from the seventeenth century use tea. You’re dealing with tannins, different spice profiles. The rooibos plays well with the citrus without being too tannic.”For Recipe and to Read More: http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2010/66747/
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Thankfully, just in time for summer, a handful of bars have broken from the somber speakeasy pack—these laid-back gin joints forgo the attitude without compromising quality. At newbie Dram (177 South 4th St between Driggs Ave and Roebling St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-486-3726, drambar.com), there’s no reservation policy or hidden entryway: Huge windows open onto the street, and the walls are paneled in knotty wood like the belly of a ship. And while the bartenders can prepare a strapping Mighty Tux (gin, Dolin and Antica vermouths, maraschino liqueur, absinthe, orange bitters; $9), they won’t look at you sideways if you choose to chase it with a Coke.Read More: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/86524/relaxed-summer-drinking-jordana-rothman***
In New York, Greg Seider at Summit Bar plans to put a couple of his original cocktails in barrels, while Tom Chadwick at Dram in Brooklyn may be the first to experiment with an aged Martinez (a variation of the martini, made with gin, sweet vermouth and maraschino liqueur).
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The sun’s setting and the first drink goes down easy. The second drink, sipped from a weighty tiki mask, slides down nicely too. The third you’ve left up to the bartender who now knows you pretty well. You may have told him about your last two dates while sharing a key lime wedge from Pies ‘n’ Thighs across the way with a newly acquainted barmate. Such is an early evening at Dram.
Vinyl spins in the background and a luminous oversized canoe casts shadows up and down maple-syrup-colored walls. An aberration from most cocktail dens, Dram’s floor-length windows are thrown open to the street letting twilight seep in amongst punchbowls and lovers in booths. Calves dangle along stools and relieved staff linger about for last words and Diesel stout.
Read More: http://www.papermag.com/2010/06/bar_of_the_week_dram.php
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NEW YORK — The walls are exposed brick and burnished wood. The seating is black industrial steel. The lighting is makeout-friendly dark. Outside, an elevated subway train rumbles by.
Inside the Dram bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, standing before a half-dozen crew and a single camera, is Darryl Robinson, who Scripps Networks Interactive, the Food Network’s parent company, is hoping will become one of the next food TV stars.
Read More: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-06-03-cookingchannel03_CV_N.htm
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The drink: Jet PilotThe bar: Dram, 177 South 4th Street, Brooklyn
The price: $9
The ingredients: Rhum agricole, Jamaican rum, housemade orgeat Falernum, fresh lime juice, and an absinthe rinse, swizzled over crushed ice.
The buzz: Beware, young tippler. This sweet, nutty, spicy potion is far deadlier than it looks. Or tastes. Two different types of rum, and a splash of absinthe will have you on your bottom in no time, so do sip responsibly. Disclaimer in place, you’re in for a treat: swizzles spell refreshment and this tiki-flavored swizzler is no different. It’s garnished with a sophisticated sprig of fresh mint, but the spirit of the drink screams perky paper umbrella. As the name suggests, may cause you to think you can fly.
Read More: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/archives/2010/04/drink_a_jet_pil.php
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Williamsburg is heating up these days with a string of new openings, including Pies-n-Thighs, Traif, Fatty ‘Cue and gin joint Dram, a cozy, wood-paneled bar that sits on once-sleepy South Fourth Street. Sleepy no more! We sat down with bartender Jessica Gonzalez, who likes her neighborhood, thank you very much. P.S. Hipsters are annoying.
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Dram is on South 4th Street in Williamsburg in a space that started out as Zak Pelaccio’s debut restaurant, Chickenbone Cafe. Although Chickenbone closed in 2003, more than a hint of it remains, with very few changes, if any, to the original decor. The kayak-shaped light over the bar is still in place, as is the wooden spoon used as a lock for the bathroom door, but despite those details, Dram is an entirely different beast from its predecessor.
Taking its name from a unit of measure used by apothecaries, Dram serves up cocktails with a lot less fuss than some of the speakeasy-type bars in Manhattan. It feels like a neighborhood bar that just happens to serve excellent drinks—in a fantastic collection of antique glasses, tiki mugs, and even ceramic coconuts. The cocktail menu changes frequently, but let your bartender serve as your guide. Owner Tom Chadwick has recruited a strong team behind the bar, and his menu format, offering only a very small selection of drinks each night, enables the talent and creativity of the bartenders to shine. (On a recent visit, we picked our glassware first, and the bartender, Nicolas de Soto, created cocktails to match.)
Nicolas, who hails from the China Club and the Experimental Cocktail Club in Paris, described how he had created a Cucumber Collins while he was there. Since his arrival in New York, he had the opportunity to play with some St. Germain elderflower liqueur, and eventually came up with the St. Germain des Prés—named after a Parisian neighborhood.
It is a spicy drink—be prepared for a strong zing of chile upon your first sip—but the heat is quickly tempered by the cucumber and egg white. The effect is incredibly refreshing, and tasty to boot.
For Nico’s Recipe and to read more: http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/04/mix-it-up-st-germain-des-pres-at-dram-williamsburg-brooklyn.html
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Dram
177 South 4th St, Williamsburg
Rating: 4 out of 5 L’sBehind a wide brick facade just a block from the Williamsburg Bridge, Dram is marked only by a small orange light bulb with the word “BAR” printed on it. Inside, oversized bamboo lanterns hang from the wood-paneled ceiling, casting a soft glow over the cedar walls, two-top tables and seating alcoves, which are lined with thick, cream-colored cushions. The effect here is minimalist ski lodge-meets-refined tiki lounge. The walls are bare, save for a vintage-looking choking-support poster that illustrates a stylized couple dining beneath palm trees—and then administering the Heimlich, comic book-style, on a fellow guest.
Behind the long, candlelit bar, the cedar shelves are still accumulating bric-a-brac—an antique punch bowl here, a tiki mug there. A well-worn vinyl collection rests above an old turntable. The bartender, wearing a tailored vest and a silk scarf tied around her neck, cranks up some T. Rex and chats with a bar-back about how to organize the mixology library—by spirit, rather than by author, seems the most appropriate solution. The man running the show is Tom Chadwick, who crafted some of the signature cocktails at nearby Rye. He also has a hand in an underground supper club and has future plans for some serious bar snacks—crispy chicken confit nuggets with spicy mayo were served at an opening party a few weeks back—but for now, Dram’s focus is on cocktails.
Read More: http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/no-more-dram-a/Content?oid=1591911
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Dram: Way back in the winter of Aught Seven, cocktail maker Tom Chadwick (you’ll know his work from the menu at Rye) told us that he’d soon be opening a bar called Dram in the Southside Williamsburg space formerly occupied by Zak Pelaccio’s Chickenbone. Well, the seasons changed, America elected a black president, and the world forgot all about Chadwick’s dream. But not Chadwick! Earlier this month he finally quietly opened his charming little lounge, just across the street from the new Pies ‘n’ Thighs, and blocks from Pelaccio’s return to the neighborhood with Fatty ‘Cue.
During a recent visit, the place was almost completely packed with merry imbibers, and the unassuming Chadwick told us about his idea for Dram, which features a different cocktail menu every few days and a rotating staff of bartenders who do time at other cocktail hotspots like Death & Co., Clover Club, and Flatiron Lounge. Chadwick sees his role as “curating” the talent behind the bar, and a tiny kitchen area in the corner will soon serve as a “sort of DJ booth” for a variety of rotating chefs.
Read More: http://gothamist.com/2010/04/08/new_restaurant_and_bar_radar_5.php
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Set up with rustic wood panels on the ceiling, Edison bulb lighting, a handmade kayak floating over a brown lacquered bar, and large paneled windows, this no-frills watering hole features seasonal local brews (Kelso, Old Yankee, Six Point…) and three kinds of ice for daily-rotating cocktails running from turn-of-the-century classics, to tikis, to house spesh’s like the Catalan Daisy (Cointreau/gin/lemon/housemade Demerera syrup/Vichy water) and the Lillet Rouge/Cognac/orange blossom water/honey “Signor Spielbergo”, noted for his breakaway hit Jalisco Park.
Read More: http://www.thrillist.com/brooklyn/dram
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Lowdown:
Earth-toned, wood-paneled, exposed-bulb booze hole keeps in step with the zeitgeist. Vested barkeeps dispense classic cocktails from a menu that changes nightly. New York drafts, international vintages, champagne from New Mexico. Housemade ginger beer joins rye and citrus in the “Knuck If You Buck” Buck cocktail, housemade orgeat syrup mixed with rum for riding the Jet Pilot. Artisanal, throwback, and so very now.***
If you’re an employed, thirty-something living in Williamsburg, chances are you have struggled to find a bar that fits your cocktail needs. Enter Dram Bar, a place that retains a decidedly Brooklyn vibe (minimalist décor, tattooed bartenders, indie rock) but caters to a crowd no longer interested in the three dollar jack-and-cokes from The Turkey’s Nest. In fact, you won’t find Jack (or Budweiser for that matter) anywhere on the menu: The cocktail list is classic, refined and okay, a little snooty (though the service, thankfully, is not). The “Knuck If You Buck” Buck, for example, is a refreshing combo of rye, lemon, lime, housemade ginger beer and bitters.
Read More: http://www.sheckysnightlife.com/newyorkcity/search/dram_bar_1_9957.asp
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