New Williamsburg Axe-Throwing Bar To Try For Liquor License

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A new axe-throwing bar on North 11th Street is hoping to have better luck with its request to serve booze than another hatchet-hurling spot in Greenpoint.

Buffalo-based Hatchets & Hops are planning to open their first New York City spot at 98 North 11th St. later this year, but will first need to gain the support of the same community board that told Noble Street's Bury the Hatchet a few months ago that booze and axe-throwing don't mix.

Hatchet & Hops owners made their first appeal to the Community Board 1 members at their meeting earlier this month, even before their liquor license application was up for consideration, to get a head start on getting to know each other. They recognized that the other axe-throwing spot's applicants "did not really get along" with the community board.

"We wanted to come and start this conversation a little better," one of the owners said. "We're really excited to be here and we're really excited to be part of this community."

The Buffalo company told the Commercial Observer that they are waiting on liquor license approval to open within the next six months. If company's upstate location is any indication, the Williamsburg spot will likely serve beer and wine, but not spirits.

Bury the Hatchet, which opened last October, had also asked to serve just beer and wine. Community Board 1 members shot down the application by a vote of 22 to 12, with some saying they didn't feel the activity was safe with alcohol and others citing concerns about the owner's lack of knowledge about the area or their failure to make contact with local neighbor groups.

The community board isn't the final say for liquor licenses, which ultimately head to the State Liquor Authority. Bury the Hatchet's application, though, seems to have been denied by the state officials as well, considering that their website says the Greenpoint spot does not serve alcohol.

Hatchet & Hops application was not listed on the board's agenda for its last meeting, meaning that it likely will not face a vote for another month or two.

The company has a 10-year lease for its 3,000-square-foot spot, which is right near Brooklyn Bowl, the Commercial Observer reported.

The Observer also reported that Hatchet & Hops isn't the only hatchet-throwing spot coming to the borough. Bad Axe Throwing, one of the largest axe throwing companies in the U.S., signed a lease for a 4,526-square-foot spot in Downtown Brooklyn in Albee Square, the Observer said.