{"id":4478,"date":"2026-06-26T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4478"},"modified":"2026-06-26T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T05:00:00","slug":"undercurrent-is-brooklyns-new-by-appointment-rum-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4478","title":{"rendered":"Undercurrent Is Brooklyn\u2019s New\u00a0By-appointment\u00a0Rum Bar\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inside the venue making New York fall in love with cane spirits again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"undercurrent<\/div>\n

I hit New York <\/a>for a bar crawl last week, and the spot on many bartenders\u2019 lips was Echo Lake<\/a>, the new\u00a0Williamsburg\u00a0rum bar from cocktail super couple Chloe Frechette (former\u00a0spirits journalist) and Paul McGee (formerly of Chicago\u2019s\u00a0renowned\u00a0Lost Lake bar).\u00a0The\u00a0airy\u00a0warehouse\u00a0space\u00a0they\u2019ve created has\u00a0tropical touches \u2013\u202frattan lampshades, a fish tank\u00a0and a plant-filled patio\u00a0\u2013\u202fbut\u00a0it keeps\u00a0Tiki kitsch\u00a0at arms\u2019 length.<\/p>\n

Instead\u00a0you can expect\u00a0cool, clean twists on classic rum drinks that really showcase the spirit: a\u00a0flinty\u00a0Seaweed Daiquiri, a grown-up Pina Colada with sherry and lime,\u00a0and\u00a0their own take on the\u00a0Rhum\u00a0Arrang\u00e9e, a\u00a0traditional French Caribbean\u00a0infusion of spices and\u00a0fruit, served over pebble ice.\u00a0The whole thing is\u00a0stylish and fresh \u2013 and\u00a0conspired to make\u00a0me fall in love with\u00a0cane spirits\u00a0all over again.\u00a0\u201cEveryone who\u2019s anyone\u00a0can be spotted on the back patio at Echo Lake,\u201d declared the New York Times<\/em> this week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Possibly even\u00a0more exciting\u00a0than Echo Lake, though, is\u00a0Undercurrent, their candle-lit\u00a0speakeasy in the\u00a0cellar, which houses an array of\u00a0vintage and rare bottlings\u00a0from\u00a0the couple\u2019s\u00a0vast\u00a0spirits collection.\u00a0Furnished in burnt-orange chenille and red marble, this\u00a0by-appointment, 20-seat drinking\u00a0den lends itself to the\u00a0spiritous deep-dive, and offers a\u00a0chance to taste with, and learn from,\u00a0two\u00a0of the most personable experts in\u00a0cocktails and cane spirits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"undercurrent
\u00a9Lizzie Munro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe exciting thing for me is the diversity of rum; it\u2019s made in a huge variety of styles all around the world\u00a0from Jamaica, Barbados and Cuba,\u00a0to South Africa and Sicily,» says McGee. «People are using different types of stills, molasses and sugar cane juice, and even heritage sugar cane varieties as they do at Clairin, a\u00a0collection of\u00a0rhum\u00a0agricoles<\/em>\u00a0made by a group of micro-distilleries in Haiti.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Storied\u00a0bottles\u00a0in their\u00a0vintage rum collection include a\u00a01935\u00a0Bacardi Carta Oro, distilled in\u00a0the days before\u00a0the Bacardi family\u00a0was\u00a0exiled from Cuba by Fidel Castro (worth around $1,200 today). There\u2019s also a\u00a01963 Trader Vic Mai Tai rum, a custom blend created\u00a0by Tiki godfather Trader Vic for\u00a0his signature cocktail\u00a0recipe.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the most spine-tingly moments\u00a0for me was tasting a\u00a0British Royal Navy rum bottled in 1955,\u00a0an era when\u00a0British\u00a0sailors were still being issued with a daily \u2018tot\u2019 of\u00a0the stuff.\u00a0Housed\u00a0in its original\u00a0wicker-encased\u00a0flagon,\u00a0this\u00a0treacly\u00a0blend of Guyanese, Trinidadian, and Barbados rums\u00a0was\u00a0rich and savoury, with notes of dark molasses, bitter coffee, mushroom, and cinder toffee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"undercurrent
\u00a9Lizzie Munro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Undercurrent\u00a0also\u00a0serves\u00a0a range of\u00a0vintage\u00a0amari, which I find often age\u00a0pretty well\u00a0(and even those that don\u2019t are worth enjoying for their beautiful old labels).\u00a0I particularly enjoyed a weathered bottle of the Italian artichoke amaro Cynar from 1970.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given the specialness \u2013 and often fragile nature \u2013\u202fof these spirits, sipping neat is\u00a0often advised. But\u00a0there is also the chance to taste some of them\u00a0mixed\u00a0in superannuated classics. McGee shook me a Daiquiri with a 1974 bottling of the\u00a0Puerto Rican rum Don Q (sweetened\u00a0with golden caster sugar, rather than plain sugar syrup, as is his preference).\u00a0Or you can have an Old Pal made with 1960s Canadian Club Whiskey, dry vermouth and 1970s Campari.<\/p>\n

For ballast, bar snacks include\u00a0oysters, bread with crab butter\u00a0and\u00a0snapper crudo.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"undercurrent
\u00a9Lizzie Munro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in\u00a0the present day, meanwhile,\u00a0rum continues to\u00a0evolve \u2013\u202fMcGee is particularly excited about those\u00a0now coming out of\u00a0Oaxaca,\u00a0a part of Mexico more commonly associated with mezcal.\u00a0And he sees\u00a0real cross-over potential between traditional rhum\u00a0agricole\u00a0and Mexican spirits.\u00a0\u201cWe get a lot of people asking for unaged cane juice rhums from places like Martinique, Reunion Island,\u00a0Gaudaloupe\u00a0and Haiti. And a lot of rums from Mexico are also distilled from cane juice [rather than molasses].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRum is often pigeonholed into being a vehicle for escapism \u2013\u202fit\u2019s often thought of as \u2018exotic\u2019,\u201d adds Frechette, \u201cand we hope to showcase rum in a different context by sharing the real stories of where these spirits come from [because]\u00a0good\u00a0rum, like wine, is an agricultural product that reflects the land where the sugar cane is grown, how it\u2019s harvested, how it\u2019s fermented, how and where it\u2019s aged, and more than anything the hard work and expertise of the people who produce it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re simply after the ultimate Daiquiri, or a spirited step back in time, this is the place to come.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Undercurrent and\u202fEcho\u202fLake\u202fare both located at 357 Grand St., Brooklyn, NY, 11211.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inside the venue making New York fall in love with cane spirits again.\u00a0 I hit New York for a bar crawl last week, and the spot on many bartenders\u2019 lips was Echo Lake, the new\u00a0Williamsburg\u00a0rum bar from cocktail super couple Chloe Frechette (former\u00a0spirits journalist) and Paul McGee (formerly of Chicago\u2019s\u00a0renowned\u00a0Lost Lake bar).\u00a0The\u00a0airy\u00a0warehouse\u00a0space\u00a0they\u2019ve created has\u00a0tropical touches […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}