There is something about cold weather that makes us think about brown spirits and a recent trip to Brooklyn gave us the opportunity to check out a place that is a must destination for brownies like us - Char No. 4 (196 Smith Street).
Char No. 4 tags itself a whiskey bar and restaurant, and it certainly delivers on the brown liquor front. The list has 150+ American whiskeys as well as whiskeys from around the world, so we were excited to peruse the list and take advantage of the 1 oz pour options to taste some obscure stuff.
The long bar was inviting as we slipped in early one night. We started with a couple of cocktails, hoping to ease our way into the bourbons and single malts. Unfortunately, this proved a mistake - the Hound Dog, Ancient Age bourbon, fresh grapefruit juice, honey, mint and lime was initially refreshing but quickly became boring. Even worse was the pointless Kir Royale-esque Kentucky Royale, Henry McKenna bourbon, sparkling wine, cassis and orange zest. The heavy bourbon basically killed any effervescence in the sparkling wine and the drink was a complete failure.
Meanwhile, the bar got busy with people ordering, of all things, wine and beer. In a whiskey bar! Still we were determined to get into the ounce tastings, Bud-swigging neighbors be damned. We started with one of three tastings Char has created - the Belmont Park, which consisted of Four Roses single barrel bourbon, Jameson Irish Whiskey 18 year and a Laphroaig 7 year Signatory Single Malt scotch. At $25 for three one ounce pours, the tasting was a bit steep but nevertheless rewarding. The highlight was the delicious Jameson 18, surprising since Irish whiskey is not our thing. We then jumped to some 1 ounce tastes - the 1990 Lochnagar old malt cask 15 year old ($14, 1 ounce) was quite good as was the Blanton's silver, a rare find ($20, 1 ounce).
And the food? Decidedly meaty, with a Southern flare and actually pretty good. We enjoyed the house cut smoked bacon, the pork sausage with lentils and the lamb pastrami.
This being Brooklyn, the service was friendly at points, unprofessional at others and not enough staff was totally knowledgeable about the booze list. That's unfortunate in a place with this depth of great liquor but perhaps not so surprising when considering that many people just prefer beer to delving into the vagaries of 12 vs 15 year old single malts.
Char No. 4 tags itself a whiskey bar and restaurant, and it certainly delivers on the brown liquor front. The list has 150+ American whiskeys as well as whiskeys from around the world, so we were excited to peruse the list and take advantage of the 1 oz pour options to taste some obscure stuff.The long bar was inviting as we slipped in early one night. We started with a couple of cocktails, hoping to ease our way into the bourbons and single malts. Unfortunately, this proved a mistake - the Hound Dog, Ancient Age bourbon, fresh grapefruit juice, honey, mint and lime was initially refreshing but quickly became boring. Even worse was the pointless Kir Royale-esque Kentucky Royale, Henry McKenna bourbon, sparkling wine, cassis and orange zest. The heavy bourbon basically killed any effervescence in the sparkling wine and the drink was a complete failure.
Meanwhile, the bar got busy with people ordering, of all things, wine and beer. In a whiskey bar! Still we were determined to get into the ounce tastings, Bud-swigging neighbors be damned. We started with one of three tastings Char has created - the Belmont Park, which consisted of Four Roses single barrel bourbon, Jameson Irish Whiskey 18 year and a Laphroaig 7 year Signatory Single Malt scotch. At $25 for three one ounce pours, the tasting was a bit steep but nevertheless rewarding. The highlight was the delicious Jameson 18, surprising since Irish whiskey is not our thing. We then jumped to some 1 ounce tastes - the 1990 Lochnagar old malt cask 15 year old ($14, 1 ounce) was quite good as was the Blanton's silver, a rare find ($20, 1 ounce).
And the food? Decidedly meaty, with a Southern flare and actually pretty good. We enjoyed the house cut smoked bacon, the pork sausage with lentils and the lamb pastrami.
This being Brooklyn, the service was friendly at points, unprofessional at others and not enough staff was totally knowledgeable about the booze list. That's unfortunate in a place with this depth of great liquor but perhaps not so surprising when considering that many people just prefer beer to delving into the vagaries of 12 vs 15 year old single malts.
Continue reading Char No. 4.
Meanwhile, the Upper West Side gets its first wine bar devoted to organic, biodynamic and sustainable wines, The Tangled Vine Wine Bar & Kitchen (434 Amsterdam Ave at W. 81st, 
Beer may come in many, many forms and styles but we've never seen sweet potato beer, at least not 'til now. At this year's International Restaurant & Foodservice show (running through tomorrow at Javits), the Japanese have a huge presence with booth upon booth devoted to ramen, miso, shochu, sake and, yes, beer! We stopped by Coedo's booth and tried all five beers. They were well made but the Beniaka particularly struck our fancy. Whenasked what it was made from - there was a nicely balanced sweetness - we were told "sweet potato" made from Kintoki sweet potatoes from Kawagoe in Central Japan. They say it's the only sweet potato beer in the world, which while not technically true, is besides the point. It was damn fine beer and you can't go wrong with any Coedo beers, assuming you can find them.
