Best bars in Williamsburg: The essential drinking spots

Brooklyn’s best bars are largely concentrated in Williamsburg, and here’s our pick of the bunch, from dives to cocktail parlors.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, guide: The best of the neighborhood


Whatever your poison, Williamsburg is prime bar-hopping territory. European suds connoisseurs should head to Radegast Hall & Biergarten, while cocktail aficionados will appreciate Donna, Dram or Huckleberry Bar. There’s also a good choice of dives among the nabe's best bars, including the excellent Tender Trap. If you want to try absinthe, swing by Maison Premiere for a drop of the “green fairy” (and a plate of oysters). For something more substantial, consult our selection of restaurants and cheap eats.

RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Donna

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 2/4
  • Critics choice

For those who crave not just great drinks, but also the culture of drinking well, there’s a certain thrill that comes with encountering a new bar that you want to get to know beyond the first date. The gorgeous Donna, a breezy, rum-soaked drinkery secreted away near the Williamsburg waterfront, is

  1. 27 Broadway, (at Dunham Pl)
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Dram

  • Critics choice

This airy Williamsburg bar is New York’s first truly progressive cocktail joint—a casual mixology haven with stools to spare for drinkers of all persuasions. The lighthearted but exquisitely executed menu changes according to the whims of Dram’s precocious barkeeps. The Mighty Tux is a botanical

  1. 177 South 4th St, (between Driggs Ave and Roebling St)
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Maison Premiere

Maison Premiere

  • Critics choice

The majority of NYC's N'awlins-inspired watering holes choose debauched Bourbon Street as their muse, but this gorgeous salon embraces the romance found in the Crescent City’s historic haunts. Belly up to the oval, marble-topped bar and get familiar with the twin pleasures of oysters and absinthe:

  1. 298 Bedford Ave, (between Grand and South 1st Sts), 11211
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Sputyten Duyvil

Spuyten Duyvil

  • Critics choice

Don’t arrive thirsty. It takes at least ten minutes to choose from roughly 150 quaffs, a list that impresses even microbrew mavens. Most selections are middle-European regionals, and bartenders are eager to explain the differences among them. The cozy interior is chock-full of flea market finds,

  1. 359 Metropolitan Ave, (at Havemeyer St)
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The Commodore

The Commodore

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 1/4
  • Critics choice

First came the gastropub, an import from Britain featuring upmarket pub grub in an ale-drinking setting. Now, welcome the gastrodive, which further blurs the lines between restaurant and bar. The Commodore in Williamsburg, with its old arcade games, Schlitz in a can and stereo pumping out the

  1. 366 Metropolitan Ave, (at Havemeyer St)
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