It used to be that throwback drinking meant quaffing Prohibition-era cocktails and Hemingway sippers. But these days, we’re seeing an emphasis on even older traditions, and a resurgence of traditional techniques that have long fallen out of use. Mead, the fermented honey drink that was made as early as 7000 BC in China and was drunk in North Europe during the Bronze Age, is making a comeback that started in the homebrew community and grew outward. And in just a few short months, Williamsburg will be home to one of the largest mead brewing operations in the country.
William Vale Hotel
Now Airstreaming: Mister Dips Brings Ice Cream and Burgers to William Vale Hotel

(Photo: Andrew Boyle)
Certain things are givens these days. If you’re a disgraced celebrity on a mea culpa tour, you appear on The Today Show. If you order something involving burrata, you post it to Instagram. If you’ve been to Austin, you tell everyone you know how amazing it is until they stop talking to you.
If you’re a hotshot chef, you open a fast-casual burger joint. It’s just what you do.
Everyone Looks Like an Insect from the Westlight, the New William Vale Hotel Bar
As of this afternoon, for the first time ever, you can make your way up to the tip top of the brand new William Vale hotel, clink glasses with your crew and look out over the expanse of Brooklyn from the Westlight, the new Williamsburg luxury hotel’s 22nd-floor bar with 360-degree views of the city skyline. Suddenly, Brooklyn will look almost insignificant and underdeveloped, teeming with pathetic, spartan life. Shift your godlike eyes down toward the Wythe Hotel and its unfortunate patrons will look like drunken, desperate ants. “Literally, that’s the Wythe– look how little it looks,” a PR rep laughed along with us.
A Look Around Williamsburg’s William Vale Hotel, Opening Soon With $715 Rooms

(Photo: John Ambrosio)
The rooftop of the William Vale Hotel isn’t finished yet—right now the floor is covered in some kind of black canvas—but I hardly noticed that when I was 21 stories up, with the Manhattan skyline to the west and all of North Brooklyn surrounding me. Across the river, this altitude is nothing (the Flatiron building is 22 stories, for reference) but in Williamsburg it’s pretty mindboggling.