Corlear’s

One of my favorite spots in the village, the jam sessions are absolutely genius and bartenders are super friendly. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a chill bar in LES!

Surprised by the horrible reviews re: service as the bartenders were super chill and seemingly competent when I visited.
My poor review, however, is based solely on the drinks. The whole jam gimmick was so enticing that I made my friends trek out here to meet me. Boy did I feel guilty afterwards. The drinks were nothing special and honestly just tasted like weak and at times, peculiar juice. We tried at least 5 different jam-​liquor combos and I can’t remember enjoying a single one. I can’t even name one. Not a great sign…
Space is cute but I miss the bar that used to be here!

No idea what Henry is talking about– sorry to hear he was disappointed enough to recruit his friends to share negative reviews. As a neighborhood resident, I’ve had only superlative experiences at Corlear’s– the vibe, staff, and drinks are fantastic. Looking forward to seeing what’s to come!

I wish I could give this place negative stars — the management is out to TAKE YOUR MONEY and shortchange you on service!
A few weeks ago, I went here for a friend’s birthday party and though we paid for an open bar, what we got instead was an incredibly stressful night due to sloppy and unscrupulous management. On top of 30 minute wait times to get a drink, the poor waitress was incredibly frazzled (please, treat your staff with more respect!) and was instructed to stop serving us drinks AT THE OPEN BAR THAT WE PAID FOR. And to add insult to injury, I only received 2 drinks even though I placed an order 4 times.
In short, if you want to spend $ 45 wondering all night where your drink is, Corlear’s is the place for you. Or just set your money on fire.

I cannot emphasize enough how unprofessional this bar treated us during and after our birthday celebration here. I first found this place via Unilocal and ventured a visit with a friend with whom I was planning to co-​host a birthday drinks. The initial deposit negotiation went smoothly enough, and a simply deposit fee of $ 500 was requested by Corlear’s prior to the event, which was also documented and signed. We were given the space in the back along with the sidebar «table» that ran along the wall on the right-​hand side.
We arrived the night of the party with friends in tow, and all of us were excited for the promised «open bar» for a seemingly reasonable $ 45 a person. Little did we know, we’d be getting 1 – 2 drinks each TOTAL throughout the course of the entire night, constantly having to submit the orders to the waitresses as SOON as we got a drink as it easily took an hour to receive another drink. Keep in mind here, we kept the party size at a reasonable 25 people, and this was clearly laid out to the event planner. What we didn’t realize is that we would be sharing bartenders with the entire bar, meaning those 2 – 3 bartenders manning the main area up in the front were also trying to frantically serve US drinks. That is patently absurd. If we had known this, we would’ve simply told all of our friends to show up at the venue, nurse their drinks for a good 2 – 3 hours, and come out with $ 30 more in their pocket. The «service» we were promised and naively expected wasn’t delivered properly at all and I was near fuming by the end of the night because after all– we invited our closest friends to celebrate our birthdays. We ALSO weren’t allotted nearly the same amount of space that we were promised, as by the time we had arrived, the «side bar» I had previously mentioned was already taken up by another group.
By the end of the night, I was overall disappointed but still glad that our friends made it out for the night. That said, by the time we were billed for Corlear’s service, I was already very, very hesitant to tip the 20% that I tipped drinks. Frankly, we were served in an appropriate manner, didn’t get the space we were promised, and had to share bartenders with an entire bar that otherwise had paid very little for just a drink or two. Thought all of this was very unacceptable but THEN the event coordinator – who shall remain unnamed as she was fired subsequent to this event (yes, she messed up THAT badly) told us that the $ 500 deposit was now magically a «reservation fee» for the space and not the deposit we had agreed that it was. This is after we had signed the doc that referred to the fee as none other than a «deposit,» so at this point I’m about to flip out but the event coordinator said: no worries, we’ll figure this out. Let me give you a call tomorrow or at the very latest Monday to clear this all up. I obviously agreed, given how late it was and because I wanted to consider this all with a cool head rather than at the end of the night to celebrate our birthdays.
The short end of it was that we weren’t contacted until WELL over two weeks later, after my prompting them with a phone call and many emails, and then after numerous negotiations. They first refused to budge, then budged to admit that they were 50% wrong, by giving us 50% of our money back, and then proceeded to give us the full amount back after SO MUCH TIME WASTED. This was just an overall embarrassment to this bar and I really hope management gets its act together. Seriously, do not go to this bar. It’d be a gigantic waste of your time and a waste of your money.

WORST service ever! Came here for a big group private party and OMG it was the worst 3 hrs of my life:
1. There was only 1 waitress to serve 20 – 30 of us
2. Obviously, it took the waitress FOREVER to serve us the drinks (30−45min wait at least)
3. The waitress messed up the orders (aka who ordered what and names of the drinks) at least 5 times — shouldn’t the first thing you learn be what all of the drinks look like and what they are called as a waitress?!
Drinks were pretty good tho. Just would not recommend big groups going there.

Be VERY careful about planning any sort of event here.
My friend and I celebrated our birthdays here, and invited 30 of our friends to join us as part of an open bar. We paid a $ 500 deposit to secure the spot for Sat night, and verbatim from the contract we received:
«Please note that room reservation deposit of $ 500 (five hundred dollars) is non-​refundable in the case of cancellation unless notice of at least 48 hours is given.»
When we asked for our deposit back, they said the wording above means you cannot get your deposit back unless you cancelled with 48 hours notice. Meaning, because we didn’t cancel, we couldn’t get our deposit back. Not only does that go against the very definition of a «deposit» but their deceptive/​fraudulent interpretation of the contract goes against the plain reading of the agreement that would be generally understood by their customers.
To add insult to the injury, most of the people in our party only got two drinks in our two hour open bar, which cost $ 45/​person! They purposely set it up so it would be impossible for us to order drinks in a timely fashion. The 30 of us had to order drinks through just one specific waitress, and the bartender was shared with the rest of the bar. Our open bar drinks were prioritized last, so every time another customer ordered a drink, ours were pushed farther back in the queue. It was insane, we literally put in 6 drink orders to get one drink back from the waitress 45 minutes later.
Not only did they refuse to give our deposit back, they also tacked on a mandatory 20% tip which they would not return even with our lack of service and drinks.
It took us 3 meetings, 2 phone calls, and a legal consult until they begrudgingly offered to return the deposit as a one time «favor». All of this was also handled in the most unprofessional way possible. From making us sit around for 40 minutes after our scheduled meeting time until they were ‘ready’ to talk, to having a friend of the manager very aggressively tell us we were not intelligent enough to understand their contract.
And to top it all off, after paying them over $ 1300, they refused to even give us a receipt (maybe they found a way to creatively avoid taxes like how they avoided giving us the service we paid for…)
Hopefully someone who owns this place or a more senior manager will read this and finally give us our 20% tip payment back, it has been to say the least, the least amount of fun I’ve had after an open bar.
tl, dr: Corlear’s is the perfect case study of how to milk every dime out of your customers with no regard to frivolous matters, like the law and taxes.

What a cute little place! My coworker first told me about this Corlear’s where you can make custom jam cocktails. I love jam and I love cocktails, so it was a perfect fit.
There is a full bar and a full cocktail menu, but I immediately opted for the $ 11 make your own jam cocktail special. They jam they with is Wilkins and Sons, which happens to be my favorite British jam. You pick your alcohol (bourbon, gin, vodka, tequila) and then you pick your flavor of jam (there are about 20.) Your cocktail is shaken up with some lime juice and simple syrup… It’s DELICIOUS.
The combo I chose was «Little Scarlet» strawberry jam with vodka and mint. YUM! My friend ordered blood orange with tequila and it was delicious too. While we were drinking we made friends with the bartender, and he made us more «complex» cocktails on the house where he mixed various flavors of jams together.
It was a really fun experience, and at $ 11 a pop it’s a pretty sweet deal too.

I really enjoyed this cocktail bar in an area that sorely needs good spots. A worthy successor to Elsa, which previously occupied this space.
Great list of classic cocktails and an awesome beer list. I love what they’ve done with the place. Very long bar and plenty of seating, this is a great place to bring a date or hang out with your buddy.

Love their jam cocktails! Best cocktail selection I’ve seen in weeks (St George gin! Purity! High West Campfire!). Very happy with the Manhattan as well.
Came with a buddy after the bar we were looking for (The Sanatorium) was strangely closed, SO glad we stumbled in here instead!

Jam cocktails AND 24 craft beers on tap? You make my head spin, Corlear’s, and that’s only partially due to how plentiful your alcohol is. This place ain’t easy to get to regardless of where you live, but I can pretty much guarantee you that it’s worth the trek. Cocktail fans, beer snobs and everyone in between can find something that’s to their liking here. Though Corlear’s is still quite new (and thus not highly-​trafficked), I’m pretty confident that it will become a mainstay in this area.
Corlear’s is a beautiful little bar that sits right on the board of Alphabet City/​LES. The space lends itself to pretty much any occasion — there’s plenty of bar seating in front and a few bigger tables in back. You could easily come here with a small group of friends (actually, I’d highly recommend), but overall Corlear’s seems like an ideal first or second date environment. It’s slightly intimate but fairly laid back (so non-​menacing) and has tons and tons and tons of drink options. At one point, my friend and I both realized that we were sandwiched between two prospective couples — hope it worked out for you all, lovebirds!
We came here for happy hour (they have drink specials everyday between 4 – 7) and the place was dead. Certainly open, but you wouldn’t know it from peeking inside. But given how far Corlear’s is from all public transit options, I doubt it’s ever even close to busy during happy hour — this neighborhood doesn’t start to pick up until WELL after 7. So while I can’t speak to the late night/​weekend vibe here, I can at least say you’ll have no trouble finding a seat early evening. As is customary in my bar-​centric world, I chatted up the bartender about the general flow here. As I expected, he reported that it gets pretty packed on Fridays and Saturdays, but that it’s eerily empty earlier on.
Now onto what you’re really hoping to get out of this review: DRINKSTUFF. You’ve got your choice of two superb options: jam/​preserve cocktails and craft beer. Pick your poison, literally.
Cocktails: As others have noted, the basic setup here is pretty simple. You give the bartender a spirit and a preserve. Given how niche this place is, the bartenders are knowledgeable about what combinations work. My first drink (pictured) was a gin/​apricot cocktail, which was incredibly tasty. For reference, my friend ordered gin/​grapefruit and this was equally yummy (just depends on if you’re in the mood for sweet vs. sour). I’ll also note that the menu doesn’t give you the whole story — it lists all of your primary spirits (but oddly not whiskey, which makes no sense because they’ve got a fantastic whiskey selection here) and plenty of jams, but Corlear’s has way more than what’s listed. Just look at the bar setup! Where you’d typically see oodles and oodles of bitters at the front of the bar, you instead can feast your eyes on a massive jam selection. Translation: forget the menu, look at what they have, talk to the bartender, imbibe happily.
Beer: I had to try beer as well. I really should’ve stuck with cocktails given how yummy and unique they are at Corlear’s, but this impressive selection was seriously calling to me. They’ve got most domestic stuff (think Allagash /​Finback /​Left Hand) but it’s all super high quality. As I always do at beer spots, I had to try a few before deciding. They’ll happily give you a taste! I went with a Belgian tripel, because I am really the most predictable. Period. This menu changes often, so beer lovers can always find something new/​interesting here. Like I said, come one, come all!
NOTE ON PRICES: Given how expensive most NYC cocktail bars are, Corlear’s is refreshing in more ways that one. Quench your thirst, save your wallet. At happy hour prices, my cocktail ($ 2 off) + my beer ($ 1 off) came out to 18 bucks. Yes, that’s TWO drinks for that price in this city we love so much. Cocktails are $ 11 or $ 12 here normally, which really ain’t bad considering the usual $ 15/​$ 16 I’m used to paying.

Came here for an open bar event that was part of a birthday party and was highly disappointed by the service.
The service was incredibly slow. For the party of the 20+ people, it became clear quite quickly that they could not cover the group with just one waitress. Having to wait 20+ minutes for the waitress to bring another drink every time really defeats the purpose of the an «open bar» event.
Lastly, the staff decided on their own accord that despite having agreed to a two hour event for the group, they were ending the event early because of the number drinks already ordered. The lack of professionalism displayed by the establishment was incredibly disappointing and I would not recommend Corlear’s for any large group events.

I attended a friend’s birthday party here the other night and service was slow and unorganized. He had an agreement for an open bar and for the area in the back of the bar roped off for our party of about 25 people.
Our one waitress had the responsibility of everyone’s mixed cocktail and hope that the bartenders — who also made drinks for the rest of the entire bar — would somehow prioritize the party in the back. I felt bad that she constantly had to walk around asking who’s drink was who’s and what 75% of the party still wanted to drink. Each drink took 20 – 30 minutes to arrive… I might as well have just ordered from the bar directly.
The event lacked efficiency and the drinks were more juice/​jam than liquor. I will not be hosting a large party here in the future.

It is good! They obviously need some work because they just started up 3 weeks ago. The whole jam concept really works. They have really high quality jams and they mix them super well with your choice of liquor. I highly recommend plum and rum. Also raspberry jam and gin was quite nice. They have a good beer selection that’s cheap. During happy hour, you could get a craft beer such as Allagash for $ 3. The bartender could definitely be more friendly but I think they’ll be more into it once they get the hang of things. Can’t wait till they start offering food!

I enjoyed my time at Corlear’s and that I could custom-​make my cocktails using their signature jams. I tried the pineapple + tequila and orange + rum, and the latter was more delicious than the former.
I appreciated that the doors to this place stayed open and that it has a casual, homey vibe. I didn’t like constantly asking the bartender to refill my water glass, and his tone/​attitude was very flat, like he was just doing his job and didn’t want to put forth effort into interacting positively with me or other customers.
It’d be great if their «jam sessions» cocktails menu listed some suggested jam and hard liquor pairings, because I can’t imagine that all the jams go well with whiskey, for instance!

Came in here on Thursday night, it was pretty quiet. I’m guessing it’s new and people are still learning about it.
Service is pretty good and prices are quite reasonable.
Their signature drinks are the «Jam» cocktails, it’s $ 11 per drink and they have a lot of different option of jams. You can also choose your spirits, Vodka, Gin, Rum or Bourbon.
The cocktail itself was decent nothing special, I just thought that it was too simple. It’s only the jam and your choice of spirits, no bitters or any other components goes in the cocktail.
I guess since it was reasonably priced for the «Jam» cocktail, you can get buzzed at a reasonably priced drinks. However, if you are looking for craft cocktail-​I can’t really confidently say that this might be your place for that.

Like many of the others, I was drawn to this place because of the imported jam mixers.
For $ 11.00, you pick your spirit and jam combination, and the bartender completes with fresh lemon juice and simple syrup. So simple, fresh and delicious. Seriously considering buying a jar of cherry jam to pair with bourbon so I can enjoy this on the regular.
The space draws an interesting, diverse crowd, which isn’t a bad thing by any means.
Come here and get creative with your own drink concoction at a fair price! Great selection of beers, too.

Came here for a quick Valentine’s Day nightcap. Corlear’s consists of a long narrow bar area, with some tables in the back for small groups. Place was probably about only half full, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable by any means. I especially enjoyed the eclectic music, ranging from Whitney Houston’s «I Will Always Love You» to Justin Bieber’s «Sorry». And that was not the only Bieber song to be played while we were there. Ha.
Corlear’s focuses on cocktails utilizing imported fruit jams. Yes, that’s right, fruit preserves from England. Sure, it sounds a little weird, but I actually really enjoyed the mixtures and while it seems like it’s pretty simple, the drinks were very delicious and strong. I would say that these drinks are perfect for those who prefer sweeter drinks, however. Most of these flavors are fairly uniquely blended, such as strawberry champagne, black cherry, and different citrus marmalades. There are actually many more flavors than the menu lists, so based on availability, you can actually ask the bartender to list anything that isn’t currently on the menu.
In all, the bartenders were incredibly friendly and helpful with recommendations. For the whiskey/​bourbon, some of the popular jam pairings were blood orange and peach, which we went for and were both delicious. After that, I went for a regular old-​fashioned, to see how legitimate their craft was, and I was not disappointed. My old-​fashioned was generously poured, and a good balance between sweet and strong. The rest of the cocktail menu isn’t very innovative, and has a lot of your standard drink offerings, such as the old-​fashioned, but as I said, they seem to know their stuff. Prices were about $ 11 for the jam cocktails, and from $ 12 – 13 for the standard cocktails.
Would I come back? Considering that Corlear’s is on its first legs, I would probably wait awhile before a return trip and I can’t speak to the weekend vibe, but for now, it seems like a pretty nice place for low-​key cocktails during the week.

Jam cocktails, 24 (quality) beers on tap, chill vibe, and a cool bartender? Yeah this place has it going on, you’d better get down here quickly before it gets insanely busy… because it will absolutely be a staple bar soon.
The corner of third and B has treated me well over the years, namely in the form of boozy brunch at Café Cortadito and Poco, and I was stoked to try a new place down here after a long Friday of work (Props to RJ for suggesting). Walking in, I knew this place and I would get along:
*Iconic New York décor in the form of antique pictures, and a cool map hiding behind the booze; I got a nautical theme out of the place too, which I always appreciate.
*Speaking of booze, this place has high end liquor on display that complements the high-​end look of their bar; its gorgeous IMHO in both quality and design
*The jam cocktails are delightful. Quality jam goes in to these handmade concoctions, along with your choice of alcohol — try the raspberry and gin, thank me later
*24 beers on tap, sold in half and full pours. The beer is quality too, with standards like BK Sorache Ace, to Curieux, and Firestone. Solid pours reasonable prices.
The space itself really is laid out nicely, considering how small it actually is; they have quite a few seats at the bar, along with classic back bar seating. They also feature a stone topped counter adjacent to the bar that is pretty cool looking, and has stools on both sides (adding a few extra seats in never hurts). Like I said classic New York vibe with a hint of nautical theme, but I think that is why this place will Excel — it has a high end feel without being pretentious. It’s refreshing, and is a business model that more places should strive for. 100% worth checking out (even if you are not in the area… it’s worth the trip as a destination bar, and yet is a fun barhopping spot too) Corlear’s is sure to get more and more popular; I can see it being packed on the weekends and for happy hour soon.

like to beer n cheers in the clear? come to Corlear’s.
like to leer and jeer? don’t come here.
seriously though…
ever had a delicious marmalade shaken with an equally delicious booze? no? yeah they do that here with expertise and ease. come here now if that’s yo JAM. seewhatididthere.
classy trendy cool without the attitude is how i’d begin to describe newcomer to Alphabet City bar scenery – Corlear’s. definitely that Prohibition-​ish era vibe brought into the now without all the forced douchey speakeasy crap that everyone is trying to reinvent. no pretentious retro hipster garbage. (don’t get me wrong speakeasies are great– like 10 years ago when they were cool – and the ones that started the trend are awesome) thankfully, Corlear’s sidesteps all the forced period nonsense and focus on creating a seamless experience that evokes those «olden drink times» without all the baggage in a modern era.
the drinks have a lot of width but focus on a curated list of beers on tap as well as a list of craft cocktails. the BEERS are dispensed out of a west coast style tap system that is inset into the back wall. clean design to the eye. and a hand written list of beers on a chalkboard that rotate. Flagship Dark n Mild w/​Vanilla Beer on tap? HELL YES! beer is delicious along with a list of other tasty brews (Workers Comp Saison, Sour Bikini and more!). you can order your draft in 8 oz. or 16 oz pint sizes. 24 beers on the rotation, chosen for your imbibing pleasure and discovery. AMAZING!
cocktails menu is split into two categories… classic cocktails like the OLD FASHIONED to a VIEUX CARRE to a SAZERAC. quality drinks with quality ingredients. the other part of cocktail choices is creating your own drink:
1) choose a base liquor (bourbon, gin, vodka, tequila or rum)
2) choose a jam/​marmalade: cherry, strawberry, raspberry, apricot, blueberry, cranberry, ginger, grapefruit, lime, orange, peach, plum)
3) the slinger of drinks will shake both with simple syrup and lemon over ice.
4) drink and repeat.
i chose cherry and bourbon – all i will say boozing is already an addictive… this draaank would send me sliding down that slippery slope of danger but at least i’d have this the sweet bite of this elixir in hand. the struggle is REAL. i tried my bestie’s raspberry n gin shaken draaank that stirred my tastebuds, too.
the space itself: much larger than you think. the aesthetic clean to the eye without some sort of forced minimalism. there’s a lot of character and charm to the space without clutter or busy-​ness. the Corlear’s branding is subtly placed throughout (Corlear’s refers to notorious NYC lower east area in the 1800s known as Corlear’s Hook). the bright glassy door open into the bar that stretches from the mouth of the establishment to halfway in. deep. the bar dominates the front space asit houses all of the spirits, beers, etc. use of backlighting, reflective surfaces, metal, and shiny woods gives the bar a lot of heft and makes it a point of focus as you scan the rest of drinkery without it being a glaring eyesore. pushing past the tons of seating at the bar itself. opposite the bar is an inset table flush to the left wall that runs pretty far back into the space with a ton of high seating for casual drinks. other than the seating flush to the wall… there are a couple of high tables in the back for more intimate conversations as well as bigger nooks and sitting options for groups looking to get their draaaanks on. one cool seating option is a long stone table bar top that has seating on both sides and is backlit with a cage of booze bottle. Niiiiice! the lighting is not low but it’s not bright. there’s a fair amount of old school lighting hanging from the ceiling. this bar’s lighting is instagram/​snapchat/​etc. friendly. a lot of thought seems to be put into the décor and design as it all flows into a fairly seamless visual of style and chill relaxation of throwing back some drinks and getting a lil rowdy. there’s of course music running through above-​head speakers… probably needs a bit more curating to align it better.
Corlear’s is a refreshing approach to the ever-​growing bar scene in ABC City. a drinks scene which is sadly becoming kinda mediocre. thankfully, Corlear’s rises above stale concepts and competition – and over-​delivers excellence. this oasis of a bar definitely works for a first date, date night, birthday draanks, post-​work recover n commiseration with coworkers. it’s quality but you are paying for it and the quality shows throughout from drink to ambience. oh and for those of you who enjoy early drinks… Corlear’s opens at 4 pm! my liver curses Corlear’s however. lol
there were some hiccups in service. a liil slow, but i’m confident the folks here will figure it out.
drops mic bc mics didn’t exist during the Prohibition. plus i’d rather enjoy this JAM of a cherry-​n-​bourbon draaaank in peace w/​o jawing with you foolz!
i out.
zzz.