First Draft: Yours Sincerely
In a long, narrow room just to the right of beloved local restaurant Dear Bushwick, a postscript of a cocktail bar has recently popped up. Called Yours Sincerely, the dark, one-room bar shares more than just a wall with its sister restaurant; it too functions as quaint, quiet place with an English countryside feel, and is an ideal spot to grab a nightcap or wait for a table next door. Laid out in the same shotgun fashion as Dear Bushwick, Yours Sincerely is populated in front with high, skinny tables that are perfect for couples, and bigger booths in the back that could easily accommodate larger groups.
I took a friend on a recent weeknight to celebrate her new job, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we could really celebrate, thanks to the bar’s relatively low prices. Most good cocktails in Brooklyn tend to run from $10-$15, with many hovering around the $12 mark. But at Yours Sincerely, each libation is a cool $8, and only $4 for their mini “cocktail shots.” The bar accomplishes this financial feat by operating on an entirely different system than any of its counterparts: All the cocktails here are on tap. Preparing the drinks in bulk is what allows the bar to charge well below the standard cocktail price, but it’s also a process that requires fastidious attention to detail. The bartender informed me that every ingredient is weighed out to the tenth of a gram.
Even if the process feels counterintuitive in today’s cocktail world, the resulting drinks banish any doubt. After several rounds of the Empirical Formula (the house take on a Gin & Tonic), my companion remained enamored with its delicate balance of homemade tonic and Dorothy Parker gin. It made no difference that this carbonated cocktail came out of a tap-—the bubble was as bright and sparkly as if poured from a freshly cracked can. The other cocktail style, poured from a nitrogen-based system, worked with equal, curious charm. A Sazerac, here called a Big Worm, was as warm and rich as any of the carefully stirred ones I’ve tried in the past. Their miniature “shots” too, were a delightful snap of flavor that seemed far preferable to straight liquor shots; an Ionic Bond gleefully mixes mid-level tequila and Cocchi Americano for a sharp, sweet palate cleanser between or before rounds.
Aside from the twenty or so cocktails on draft, the menu also features three house-made sodas, six craft beers, two wines and Evan Williams—all available through the same draft system. The night’s standout though, was a twist on the standard Penicillin; dubbed as an Administered Dose, a heady mix of peated Scotch, ginger, and honey. It goes down like an elixir, and is served quicker and cheaper than at any other bar in the borough. It’s the kind of drink that can turn a nightcap into an all-nighter, or a pre-meal nip into a binge.
41 Wilson Avenue, Bushwick