Library of Distilled Spirits

Union Square’s most handsome new bar has all the trappings of a bookish retreat (captain’s chairs, rolling ladders, communal wooden tables)—except for, you know, books. Instead, illuminated shelves in the bar’s wall-length library cases are stacked with liquor, like a boozy scene out of Beauty and the Beast. They have curated a heavy-hitting, four-digit spirit list that’s catalogued in an encyclopedic tome. Sure, New York has seen this brand of scholarly-looking bar before—the Library Bar at the NoMad comes to mind—but with cocktails this good and a staff this accommodating, more is more in our book.