New York Department Of Small Business Services
Small Business Of The Year Award
...Ms. Smothers uses her shop as a way to bring the community together and infuse it with new life by treating her customers like guests entering her home and sharing her extensive professional knowledge with them... a wonderful example of a successful small business making an impact in the community.
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The Village Voice - Mar 17, 2006
Liquid City - Bourbon 101
"For answers, we turn to Tonya "Lenell" Smothers, a bourbon expert who stocks what she claims is the city's largest selection at her Red Hook liquor store, Lenell's."
--Corina Zappia
full article
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New York Magazine - March 2006
Food: 2006 Picks - Best Liquor Store
"Spirit shops can be soulless places. LeNell's is just the opposite:..."
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New York Times - Nov 20, 2005
Pride, Straight Up
"...To be honest, Ms. Smothers seems to be the best friend Bourbon ever had, arguing that the drink is to the United States what Champagne is to France and Vodka is to Russia..."
--Erica Rex
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BKLN Magazine - Winter 2005
Brooklyn Wine Merchants Think Small - And That's A Good Thing, Grape Expectations
"...The most personalized and, shall we say, eccentric of the Brooklyn wine shops is located in Red Hook..."
--Melissa Clark
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Whiskey Magazine - October 2005
"...An idiosyncratic store designed to be cosy an unintimidating... LeNell has changed the way that people drink in this part of Brooklyn..."
--Chuck Cowdery
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New York Magazine - October 2005
The Red Hook Diet
"...This self-styled 'wine and spirit boutique' is part museum, part mixologist’s mecca, and part funkily furnished parlor of your eccentric southern aunt. Owner Tonya "LeNell" Smothers is passionate about bourbon, bitters, and cocktail culture, and her idiosyncratically stocked store proves it..."
--Robin Raisfeld & Rob Patronite
full article
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New York Times - May 4, 2005
Dining & Wine
"LeNell Smothers ...a bourbon aficionado, carries about 100 kinds of bourbons at her shop. Plan to spend a little time in the shop and ask her advice."
--Florence Fabricant
full article
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Ardent Spirits - May 2005
Winner of the Fear and Loathing Cocktail Competition
We won Gary and Mardee Regan's cocktail contest with our own Fear and Loathing cocktail.
--Gary and Mardee Regan
full article
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Absolute Magazine - May 2005
Can the Return of the Classic Rye Manhattan Project Survive the Drought of Serious Rye?
"...At LeNell’s selling this esoteric whiskey has become a calling. The owner offers the city’s most extensive selection of rye, pointed not long ago to a $95 bottle of 18-year-old Black Maple Hill rye ’Sometimes you have to eat ketchup sandwiches for a few days,’ she joked, sort of. ‘But you tell yourself it’s all in the name of whiskey.."
--Bob Willey
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New York Sun - Jan 26, 2005
Food & Drink
"LeNell’s, with its highly personal flavor, is a treat of a store, promising a warm welcome and new discoveries on every visit. For bourbon aficionados in particular, it’s well worth the trip from any borough."
--Paul Adams
full article
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The Brooklyn Papers - Aug 28, 2004
Brooklyn Bites
"...eclectic wine and spirits boutique exudes plenty of down-home, southern charm. ...a welcoming atmosphere quite different than the usual liquor store."
--Lisa J. Curtis
full article
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The New York Post - Aug 26, 2004
Hooked on Red Hook
"...notable for its impressive range of specialty, small-batch whiskeys and esoteric but excellent value wines."
--Tom Sykes
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The Brooklyn Papers - Aug 14, 2004
Absinthe-minded
"..this isn't your grandfather's intimidating, warehouse-like liquor store. Buy anything from the boutique, replete with chandelier and a bathtub full of--what else?--gin, and it will be packaged in one of the shop's leopard print bags."
--Lisa J. Curtis
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Gentleman's Quarterly - April 2004
Wine Guide, The 50 Best Wine Stores In America
"Red Hook gem includes a section devoted to African-American winemakers."
--Kristen Wolfe Bieler
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Time Out New York - Mar 18-25, 2004
Best Bars, Brooklyn
"Last, although it's not really a bar at all, bourban fans need to visit Alabama native Tonya LeNell Smothers's liquor store, ... which has one of the largest bourbon selections in the state.
Smothers will pour almost anyone a few sips from her selection of more than 80 brands - including 20- and 23-year old Pappy Van Winkle and George T. Stagg
- which is not only legal, but also downright hospitable."
--Jeffery Lindenmuth
full article
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