Where to Drink Right Now: The Turtle Club

So, it’s the middle of Winter and Hoboken looks like some sort of set from a post-apocalyptic movie about climate change or something. You know there are a ton of great bars downtown, but you live not just uptown, but back a few blocks. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s a bit more residential than downtown, and you’re wondering where you can go for a drink that won’t involve you having to strap on ice skates and fight your way across endless expanses of sidewalks that no one is paying any attention to. But it has to be a great place, a place you’ll want to have a few cocktails or glasses of wine at. You live in Hoboken, after all. You don’t settle when it comes to taverns.

May I humbly suggest The Turtle Club?

Located on Park between 8th and 9th Street (where we old-timers remember the Goldhawk used to be), The Turtle Club claims to have a link back to a social club established in 1796 that met in Sybil’s Cave, and sported Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and John Jay as members, presumably before Burr and Hamilton fell out and held one of the last legal duels in the country, in which Hamilton suffered fatal wounds and Burr became the answer to an eternal trivia question.

But I digress. This is America, and so we don’t care much about your fancy links to history, we just want to know if The Turtle Club is a good place to drink. And it is!

First of all, it’s a great vibe and atmosphere. When I went for the first time the bartender was attentive, friendly without being intrusive, and, above all, knowledgeable. The Turtle Club straddles a sweet spot between being knowledgeable about beers, wines, and liquors and being snobby: They know their stuff, but they seem focused on giving you what you want without pushing you.

They have a great wine list, a good food menu, and they offer a few interesting and unique touches – just look at the drink menu and be awed. In other words, this is a place to come when dinner is a secondary consideration, and you’re forming your own Drinking Club. It certainly beats meeting in some damp cave. Naturally, I’m partial to whiskey in all its forms, so I’m always going to like a bar like this over a place that has sixteen lite beers and a dubious free happy hour buffet.

Check it out, especially if you live above 7th and back past Garden. If you like having some choices when it comes to your cocktails, Form a Drinking Club and take over The Turtle Club for your meetings.