Novels and nightcaps: 7 bookstores that double as bars

26.09.2024 - 19:47 / thepointsguy.com / Hudson River

From #BookTok to celebrity book clubs to high-profile literary film adaptations, it's safe to say that reading hasn't been this cool in years. So it's not a big surprise that our favorite nerdy pastime has also begun to seep into the world of nightlife.

For years, bookshops have housed cozy cafes where you could while away the hours with your new purchase over a latte or a mug of Earl Grey. But lately, many bookstores are getting their liquor licenses and doubling as bars, each with its own unique perspective. You can pair a Burgundy with Baudelaire in Paris, sip some Irish whiskey as you tackle "Ulysses" in Melbourne, or read about American history over a local cider at one of the most architecturally significant intersections in the U.S.

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Here are seven bookstore bars we're adding to our reading list this year.

Unsurprisingly, New York City is a major hub for literati lounges, with standouts including the East Village's Book Club Bar and the Black woman-owned Liz's Book Bar in Brooklyn. For one of the most charming examples, however, head 100 miles up the Hudson River to the state's first capital, Kingston. Rough Draft Bar & Books sits on the "Four Corners" — the only intersection in America where all four buildings were constructed before the Revolutionary War.

Rough Draft's stone building dates to 1774, and it has housed the Kingston Academy, a cabinetmaker, a newspaper and a radio station. Now, it falls somewhere between a neighborhood bookshop and a rustic tavern, where you could imagine the Founding Fathers drinking a pint while trading edits on their pamphlets. The rotating list of beers, wines and ciders skews local and creative, meaning you might find drinks like beet-infused rosé cider from Wayside Cider in the Catskills.

Open until midnight seven days a week, Leopold's describes itself as a "night owl-friendly neighborhood bookstore." The hours are perfect for a shop just a few blocks from the University of Wisconsin campus. Travelers will particularly love the selection here: Shelves are arranged not by genre but by country of origin. For example, Japanese cookbooks share space not with other cookbooks but with novels and poetry collections from Japan for a fuller picture of the culture.

That worldliness extends to the wines sold, with bottles from unexpected spots like Lebanon, Macedonia, Georgia and India. (Join house sommelier MJ Hecox for Friday "office hours" to learn more and try samples.) The bar — lined with an exuberant tropical-plant-and-macaw wallpaper — serves a wide assortment of cocktails, ranging from Black Walnut Manhattans to gelato-based Grasshoppers to an assortment of clever $5 shots.

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