The Little Whiskey

Best new bar in Bushwick! I don’t get the bad reviews! These people are amazing and NY staples. They have the best staff and make killer cocktails, you can watch a game on their big screen TVs or not… either way. the vibe is everything! This my spot!

I went to The Shity Whisky on Friday night. I was busting to drain my bladder and spend a bit of time here but the anal retentive barman said «sorry, it’s for customers only.» I glanced round the bar at the only two customers and said I am a customer. I’ve been here before and I want to order a drink. And there were two customers drinking the cheapest beer for some reason.
I offered to buy a drink and said i’ll take it on the road if you dont mind. Yet the twat still wouldn’t budge and he declined. I offered to pay a handsome tip. But he still declined. It looks like a great bar inside and the beers are probably nice too. But such a simple arrogant move spawned the rep of this bar in the Bushwick community now known as «The Shity Whisky» yes the Shity part is a lack of chilled out laid back customer service. I’ll never go again. I’ll tell everyone in the vicinity to steer clear. And I’ll repeat that to you my friend. Too many cool bars here, don’t waste your time on this one. the barber across the road has much better customer service.

Meh, meh, meh. Boring and bland. $ 10 beer and a shot «special» is not special. The bar is fine. TV’s, sports, the most interesting thing is the fact they have a jukebox. Over all fine, but if you’re looking for a bar with any personality, go somewhere else.

Living in Greenpoint, I’m not very familiar with the Bushwick nightlife scene. So when a few friends asked me to come out to their hood for drinks, I was open to explore!
Unfortunately, this place was such a disappointment. Overpriced (with nothing special to offer), an off-​putting, young, rowdy and shockingly bro-​oriented crowd (which is a theme I see in other reviews on here), and a bartender that seemed very interested in doing everything except bartending.
With so many bars in Brooklyn, I just don’t see why anybody would choose this spot. After one cheaply poured drink, the 3 of us all agreed to get out of there as soon as we could. Honestly, we walked a few blocks down the road and found a great quaint little cocktail bar that was everything the The Little Whiskey wasn’t…a good time.
Would not recommend and will never go back.

Browick bro bar. Terrible addition to what was a great corner. Overpriced, unfriendly, likely won’t make it out of the year. I can’t imagine there is a big enough B&T crowd looking for a midtown vibe in Bushwick yet. Just as vanilla as vanilla gets. Called the little whiskey because they only have a little whiskey. Really boring mundane list nothing interesting in that department either. Big pass.

I like this place a lot! I live nearby and I LOVED the preceding establishment, Cains. But the bartenders here are friendly and attentive, the drink specials are solid– they serve $ 10 cocktails in pint glasses — who the hell can complain about that?! Someone griped it was a bro-​dude bar filled with assholes sporting popped collars… Well, I hate those douchebags as much as the next poor bitch, for real. I’ve seen a couple of them here, true. But this is my neighborhood bar– and I fully believe the vibe is what WE make of it. And I’ve had a good ass time so far! Come in and party and you’ll be shown nothing but love!

It’s a bro-​bar, through and through. Sideways baseball hats, popped collars, tight fitted shirts, it’s all there, even if it has a suspenders and handlebar moustache glamor put over it by michevous faerie folk. Either this vibe will make you feel at home, or make your skin crawl.
$ 10 for a beer and a shot, when every single other bar in the neighborhood will get you the same deal for at least four bucks cheaper.
Two TV’s in a bar this size is distracting and annoying. Eventually they’ll expand and maybe that will no longer be the case, but for now, you have two televisions showing different games crammed into a bar designed for none. Too much, Little Whiskey. Too much. And for people who are happy to finally have a bar in the neighborhood that has televisions, may I please refer you to Old Stanley’s, Central Station, Eastlands, PineBox Rock Shop, Sweet Science, 983, and even Birchwood.
They have a selection of Whiskey, just like every other bar that has whiskey. This is not a selling point for a bar, it is the definition of bars. They don’t have anything I haven’t found at other places, though they do have more than your average amount. Bulleit’s running for $ 12 here for a neat pour. Other places in the neighborhood you can get that for about $ 8 Maybe $ 10. But here? $ 12. Why they have to charge so much when the owners are their own landlords, i don’t know. I guess they just assume people will fall for it.
Oh, the red «Little Whiskey» sign in the fireplace area may confuse some into thinking they are in a boring strip club. Fortunately there is an equally gaudy «BAR» sign out front to clear things up, in case you are a moron or just enjoy living in bad cartoon.
Either you will like this place, or you won’t. Either you care about how shady the owners are, or you don’t. But the fact is this place is an overpriced franchise bar that is the opposite of what Bushwick is about, painted to look like what you expect Bushwick to be. Did you know that realtors in this neighborhood purposefully leave garbage around on the street, so when showing places to newcomers, it looks like they’re getting the «authentic Bushwick experience.» That is a fact. And that is also a perfect metaphor for the Little Whiskey.

When Vogue Magazine called Bushwick one of the «coolest neighborhoods» in the world (har har), they definitely hadn’t seen this place– it hadn’t arrived yet. This bar is repulsive on so many levels. It’s a big tv sports bar, crammed into a tiny space. (not for long, I see they’ve started expansion in the back. Beer pong and cornhole, anyone?) The handlebar mustached bartenders are bursting to show how super nice and cool they are but it’s a gross lie. People new to the neighborhood won’t care, but the shady owners are teamed up with Cayuga Mgmnt, blasted into this neighborhood, raised the rent 500% on the last bar (which everyone loved), and just took over– and now their friends are writing reviews about how butthurt people are, just get over it. Yes, nieghborhoods change. This is NYC. But they don’t have to change for the worse. Did you really move to Bushwick for a bro bar? Hey, I love sports too, I just don’t want to see my neighborhood turn into Murray Hill. SUCKS that you’re here, Little Whiskey, nobody wants you.
Beware of any «5 star» reviews. No one is walking into this place and saying, «oh yeah, this place is a 5 star review– I’m RUNNING to Unilocal about this!» These are friend-​zone reviews trying desperately to help their crappy friends’ bar. Oh and the girl who says she loved the last bar, but this place is awesome? YEAH RIGHT.
YES I WENT THERE. STOP TAKING THIS REVIEW DOWN, Unilocal!
Hey but there’s more! If you want to watch sports in Bushwick, check out Pinebox– they’re a great bar, with the game always on… And there’s plenty of other bars with TVs around! And without! Definitely head to Birdy’s or Three Diamond Door. And it’s NYC, it’s always changing– there’ll be some great bars on the way. Unless this neighborhood turns completely Republican, and more franchised shit holes like this one show up…

Man, the people who are so against the change in the area are going to hate me!
The wife and I just moved into the area, and stumbled in here on our way home from dinner. So glad we did! Service was awesome and the bartender (Ryan? Brian?) was really awesome and talked up some great whiskeys I had never even heard of before!
I loved the décor and the juke box! Ryan/​Brian didn’t even mind me playing half of one Faith No More album.
This place definitely welcomed us into the area, and we will definitely be back, as we have found our new local.
To the people slamming the place. .. Areas change. And I’m sure you all are the ones who «douche-​rified» this area just a few years back. If it makes you happier, Ryan/​Brian was sporting a sweet handlebar mustache. That’s traditional Bushwick, right? Think I heard Guru rapping about those. ..

As someone who watches Sunday football, I’m happy to finally have a good bar in Bushwick to watch the games without having to travel more than 5 blocks. I love the bartenders here (and at their other locations) and love that they’re willing to put on the Lions games for me if no one else minds. Good whiskey selection, too!
I’ve only been hanging around the neighborhood since ²⁰⁰⁷⁄₂₀₀₈ so I’m not a life-​long Bushwick resident but it seems that all the bad reviews are coming from people who are butthurt over Cain’s Tavern. Get over it, neighborhoods change, bars change, etc.
Lets all grab a whiskey now.

I stopped in a couple days ago. Looks like the worst parts of the Williamsburg weekend bro down are spilling into Bushwick. Big tvs, bland obvious décor, and a room full of bros that don’t realize it. What a douche fest, and what’s worse? It’s a totally unremarkable place trying to masquerade as interesting. Sad to see this happening in Bushwick already.

My review keeps being taken down for not being «specific» enough. I was here the other day and I didn’t like this bar. The TVs were distracting and the drinks were overpriced. The vibe of the bar is like a trashy sports bar from a sleepy suburb. It was really bro-​y feeling. If you are into sports I guess it might be okay? It seems like they are trying to copy the unpretentiousness of the last bar that was there but in making it more «cool» they are turning it into an times square olive garden. Is that specific enough?

Was here the other night, against my better judgement. Wanted to see how the new owners were screwing up what used to be one of my favorite spots. You ever see that episode of The Simpsons, when Bart is working at the burlesque theater? And Grandpa Simpson walks in, puts his coat and hat on the rack, then turns around and puts ‘em both back on and leaves immediately? Yeah, that was me.
And ho! They even removed my first review, claiming it wasn’t first-​hand. You bet your godforsaken shuggoth that it was a first-​hand review.
Here it is again, for posterity.
Representing the worst of gentrification, The Little Whiskey opens its maw of brosephian debauchery at the former site of a Bushwick staple. Spreading its intolerance and insistence on Just One More Jäger Bomb like the Cthonic madness of a date-​rape tentacle; lighting up the night with a double big screen of sportsball; singing its neon siren song of ‘BAR’ as if it wasn’t obvious; wailing its cacophony of popped-​collar mating calls, it bequeeths from its gaping jaws stumbling wastes of oxygen into the grimy night at last call.
O, Elder Brogod! Return and sleep ye ‘neath the lost city of V’ka Ton; leave not your madness here.

Was skeptical after all the bad reviews but passed by and it looked pretty good. We went in and got greeted from the bartender right away, which is pretty rare in these parts, especially with a full bar. It’s a bar, not sure what all these people are butt-​hurt about. It serves beers and drinks and it is actually nice inside. Was shocked at the lack of soulless douches and frat bros others wrote about. Sounds like a few people had some gripes to pick. Happy I didn’t take their advice, had a great time and I’ll come back for sure.

I had a blast here the other night. Tough not to considering how well the staff treated my buddies and I. The place was jumpin (with other people that seemed to be havin a blast), but despite the crowd, the service was 100% on point.
I will definitely be back.

I never post reviews, but this is such a welcome addition to our neighborhood. Finally there’s an unpretentious and fun place to hang out.
Stopped in for a drink with my boyfriend after dinner (we ended up staying for 4)!
Super friendly bartenders (which is refreshing to see in Bushwick), cold beers, warm environment. What more can you ask for?
And I loved the jukebox!

I moved from Bushwick this past March and happen to be in the neighborhood a few days ago when I walked past this place. Thinking that the bar that used to be there had changed its façade, I stopped in for a drink and to say hello to the always friendly bartenders. Bad choice. It was nothing like the bar that it took the place of, aside from not changing the décor besides adding some headache inducing neon lights. Tvs too big for the space made it feel like I was in another lacrosse bro fake sports bar, and I like sports. I don’t like sports bars that pretend to be something they aren’t. This place just confirms that my choice to move from Bushwick was the correct one. If this is what Bushwick is becoming everyone better start running. $ 10 shot and beers replaced $ 5 shots and beers. Bartenders with «staff» t shirts replaced bartenders that knew you by name. Good job CCM (the owners of the building and bar). Try not to waste your time here, and try not to rent any of their apartments.

Drinks: $ 10 for a beer and shot? I don’t understand. Don’t they know you can go down the block to 4 other bars and pay $ 6?
Décor: Why is it so dark in décor, and accented by the blue glow of TV’s? The outside looks like most funeral homes.
I wanted to like this place. Seems like a corner bar that wants to be in Time Square squeezing the extra dollars out of tourists and Bridge and Tunnel weekenders. Maybe they can convince those people to come out to visit Bushwick, who knows?
Verdict: Pass

Can you give a place zero stars? The outside paint and décor looks like some cookie-​cutter pub façade that a 12 year old thinks a pub looks like from watching TV. Smelled awful when I walked in. Huge TV on the far wall and some bro working behind the bar. Gross. Left immediately. First nail in the coffin of Bushwick, next incarnation: Bro-​town.

Worst bar in the neighborhood. $ 10 beer and a shot?! Insanity.
Two massive tv’s in such a small space is a total vibe killer. Bad vibes all around.
All in all, don’t waste your time. Plenty of other good bars and dives in the hood who actually deserve your money.