Best of New York 2012 • Fun

• Noorman's Kil

  609 Grand St., nr. Leonard St., Williamsburg; 347-384-2526

  There are bars with huge whiskey menus, and bars with friendly, knowledgeable staffers, but none combines selection and sophistication like Noorman’s Kil, which stocks (at the moment) 328 bottles selected by four co-owner whiskey geeks. Distillers from all over the world visit regularly to discuss their products, while an on-site library is stacked with whiskey encyclopedias. The ­atmosphere is quiet and neighborhoody on the weekdays and loud and lively on the weekends, and women whiskey lovers can be found there as well as men. “We have clean bathrooms,” one of the owners explains. “And hooks under the bar.” As a ­bonus, there’s a fortifying grilled cheese menu to enable extended brown-liquor exploration.

From the 2012 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine