#soccer bar

[sophiaisrunning]

Més Que—local soccer bar (Window design by me) Buffalo, New York United States

[nydrinker]

Woodwork

583 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn (Between Pacific St. and Dean St.) Visited 3pm on a Wednesday, during a Champions League Match What would cause more than a dozen people to pile into a dark bar on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon? The prospect of watching an important soccer match. (Or football if you prefer) Woodwork is the new soccer bar along the revitalized Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn, showing soccer and only soccer from open to close every day of the week. They are serious about this, turning down requests for baseball, basketball, or anything else anyone feels like watching, even if it means showing MLS matches over the Yankees and Mets.

Soccer played across the Atlantic means morning and afternoon start times, something that allows bars like Woodwork to fill up with patrons on a weekday afternoon, but means they have to fight the bright afternoon sun, something that was clearly a problem on this sunny Wednesday. The glare rendered one of the three TVs completely unwatchable and made sitting at the far end of the bar nearly intolerable. Everyone from other patrons to the bartenders was just moving dark blobs, which is unfortunate because the bartenders were entertaining and knowledgeable about their soccer. A bartender kidding with patrons may usually just mean she’s flirting for tips, but when she is ripping apart your soccer knowledge while she’s at it, it’s much more effective. Unfortunately for her, a good portion of the clientele seemed unemployed, underemployed, or working freelance. But there was a healthy mix of self-employed people or guys in suits playing hooky from work that rounded out the eclectic and diverse crowd.

The long wood bar wraps around the bar with three big TVs behind the bar. A couple of tables and chairs were along the walls and windows, but the attention was clearly put into the bar, so much so that the beer menu has a polite reminder saying “Respect the wood. Use a coaster.” What the beer menu doesn’t seem to have is draught beer. Woodwork is stocked with only cans and bottles. Not sure if they are planning on adding taps, but it is just strange to watch soccer without being able to get a well-poured Guinness. The can and bottle selection is interesting though, with a mix of $3 Red Stripe bottles and Miller High Life cans to $10+ bottles of interesting European beers. Some beer taps would be nice, so would darker curtains, but it sure is nice to have a legit soccer bar in Brooklyn.