Gair — A Girl's Guide to Drinking Alone

41 Washington St at Water St, Dumbo

The Place: A cocktail bar perfectly perched over Brooklyn’s most famous photo-op spot.

The Time: Thursday July 25, 6:30pm. It’s a nice night and I wanna take a walk up to Dumbo to get a cocktail. I have Gair, a bar that opened last year, flagged in my Google maps so that’s where I choose to go. Sometimes it’s really just that simple.

The Vibe: After navigating through the throngs of tourists and influencers taking pictures in front of that iconic NYC backdrop at the intersection of Washington and Water (you know the one), I go up a half-flight of stairs and enter the bar. The interior is spacious and modern (dare I say, industrial) with high ceilings and two entirely windowed walls so lots of light pours in. There’s marble and cement and chrome, with a big horseshoe bar in the middle, a row of tables on the right side, and a counter along the window-walls so you can people-watch while posting your pics on the ‘gram and sipping a cocktail. Pretty ingenious, actually. It feels business-y and touristy, while still feeling cool—no small feat. The hostess leads me to a seat smack in the middle of the bar. There are two guys to my right, followed by another dude with a laptop, then a small group of coworkers to my left. (It seems that the tourists have all chosen the window seats.) It’s not too busy, the music’s not too loud, and I’m perfectly content.

The Bartender: Almost right after I sit down and make eye contact with the bartender, he gives me a small pour of wine. I guess he observes the confused look on my face and says, “you asked for a taste of the chilled red?” Poor guy looks like a deer in headlights when I say no, then we both immediately overcompensate: him by saying things along the lines of “it’s been a long day, it’s loud in here” and me with a flurry of “no worries, it’s all good, it looks delicious though!” I think he would prefer that I acquiesce and just get the chilled red, but I’m here for a cocktail. And I tell him as such.

The Drank: Once we’ve gotten through the Chilled Red Debacle™, I maintain my status as probably this bartender’s least favorite person by asking a bunch of questions about the No Fumar, a cocktail that looks incredible with aji amarillo whiskey, corn, chili, fernet, and mole. I’ve been obsessed with aji amarillo since visiting Peru a few months ago, so I eagerly ask how they make this whiskey. “Do you infuse the peppers directly into the liquid?!” “No, we buy it like that.” …ok! “I’m not crazy about fernet, how much is in there?” “It’s there.” …well then!

So I settle on the One Night in Bangkok ($20), a cocktail I pick mainly because it has Saint Luna Moonshine (shoutout to Aubrey, co-owner of Saint Luna and one of the badass ladies featured in my next book!). It’s also got Thai iced tea, peach, coconut, boba, and lemongrass, served over crushed ice. It’s yummy, albeit a little sweet for my taste, but it really does taste like both boba tea and traditional Thai iced tea. It comes with a big wide straw, which is needed for the tapioca pearls that are at the bottom of the drink, but it also means I get chunks of crushed ice whenever I take a sip. It’s a textural surprise that is sometimes nice to crunch on, and other times, completely disorienting (I almost choked a few times, tbh). There isn’t a cocktail less than $19 (even the no-ABV ones are $15), and I know these are tourist prices, even if I can’t directly see the Manhattan Bridge from my bar stool.

Was I Hit On?: Ha, no! But someone else clearly was, since I very distinctly hear from across the bar: “No way!! You’re a Pisces!?”

Should You Drink Here Alone?: You can. Gair is serving its purpose of being an upscale drinking option in a supremely busy area, good for both visitors and locals. But I wouldn’t take a special trip here again. After all, I’m a born and bred New Yorker—I’ll let the tourists have this one.