Jaywalker Opens in Bushwick as New York Distilling Co.'s New Cocktail Bar and Distillery

• Jaywalker, a new cocktail bar and distillery from New York Distilling Company, opens this month at 573 Johnson Ave in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

• The 3,000-square-foot, 370-person venue is built around Jaywalk Rye, a whiskey made from a revived 17th-century New York rye varietal.

• The cocktail program comes from beverage veteran Jamie Gordon, with Manhattans and Martinis priced at $12.

• Culinary offerings come from Brooklyn's Kings Co Imperial, serving modern Chinese dim sum designed for sharing.

Jaywalker, a new cocktail bar and distillery from New York Distilling Company, opens this month in Bushwick, marking the brand's first major expansion since its acquisition by Scotland's Loch Lomond Group. The 3,000-square-foot space at 573 Johnson Ave reimagines what a distillery tasting room can be, built less around formal tours and more around the everyday ritual of a good drink with company.

At the center of the concept is Jaywalk Rye, New York Distilling's flagship whiskey made from a revived 17th-century New York rye varietal, according to the brand, one-third the size of conventional rye grains. The whiskey's stated purpose, per the distillery, is to push back on the assumption that rye is necessarily spicy. The distillery floor itself is visible throughout the space, with copper stills anchoring the room, while murals by David Wondrich and Dean Kotz trace the history of Jaywalk Rye and American rye whiskey in graphic-novel style along the back wall.

The cocktail program marks a return to New York for beverage industry veteran Jamie Gordon, who built the menu around the everyday textures of city life: the corner flower shop, the bodega, the Greenmarket. The approach shows up most clearly in the $12 Manhattans and Martinis, priced to encourage a second round rather than a single splurge order. The house Manhattan, "The Original," is built with equal parts Jaywalk Small Batch Rye and a house vermouth blend, finished with bitters and a brandied cherry. Beyond the classics, the menu includes a reimagined Egg Cream made with Jaywalk Bonded Rye, Ferrand Cognac, homemade chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer, finished with fresh nutmeg, and a Floral Arrangement Martini built on Dorothy Parker New York Gin, sakura vermouth, jasmine-infused extra dry vermouth, and chamomile bitters.

Summer brings a run of frozen drinks as well, including a Vesper Frosé made with Dorothy Parker Rose Petal-Infused Gin, Lillet Rose, pink peppercorn and grapefruit-infused vodka, and rose water, and a Vacation Mode Manhattan combining Jaywalk Small Batch Rye, bourbon, Luxardo Cherry Liqueur, cardamom-infused sweet vermouth, and Angostura bitters.

New York Distilling Company founder Allen Katz frames the bar's ethos around a single cocktail. "Steinbeck said that 'New York is where you prove if what you think in theory makes sense in real life.' For me, the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of a great Manhattan is the epitome of a great night out," Katz said. "By the second drink in hand there is usually a realized plan in play built on curiosity and confidence. That's the feeling we want Jaywalker to capture."

Culinary offerings come from Kings Co Imperial, the Brooklyn restaurant known for modern Chinese dishes built for sharing. At Jaywalker, that translates to Fan Fan Beef & Pork Long Dumplings, Chicken Wontons served with cinnamon red oil or spicy peanut sauce, and Cold Sesame Noodles topped with scallions and peanuts, all built as snacking food meant to circulate around a table rather than anchor a sit-down meal.

Designed by Contagious to read as distinctly Brooklyn, the venue balances industrial textures and oversized murals against leather banquettes and velvet upholstery, a mix the brand describes as inspired by a New York City artist's loft. At 3,000 square feet and a 370-person capacity, the room is built to flex between a casual weeknight crowd and larger gatherings, with an adaptable layout and a sound system designed to support live programming. Jaywalker is open Thursday through Sunday, 4 p.m. to midnight, and will show USA and Scotland World Cup matches this summer.

Jaywalker is less a tasting room than a statement about what a distillery can be once it stops treating the public as tourists on a factory tour. By pricing its signature cocktails at $12 and building the menu around the textures of daily New York life rather than around rarity, New York Distilling Company is betting that the more compelling story is the one a regular tells after their third visit, not their first.