Thayer Hotel 674 Thayer Road, West Point; (845) 446-4731; www.thethayerhotel.com The lounge at the Thayer Hotel is on this list for one reason: It’s a charming throwback to a smokier time when bar patrons shortened their lives and those of all around them. To wit: Because the hotel is located on the grounds of West Point, a federal army base, it is subject to the sovereign laws of Washington, DC, which does not have a smoking ban. (Thanks to Studio Stu for bringing this my attention.)
Guinan’s 7 Garrison’s Landing, Garrison; (845) 424-3440 The pub that launched a HarperCollins book deal. Gwendolyn Bound’s 2005 memoir, Little Chapel on the River lionized this cramped drinking room and general store (the downstairs of the owner’s house), nestled snug between the train tracks and the river near the Garrison train station. Neighborhood Irish pub atmosphere aplenty—with an occasional Irish music session to boot--though if you pop in on a weekend it may be so crowded you wind up drinking your bottle of beer outside.
And finally, the dearly departed bars that I recall drinking to my liver's discontent in, listed in no particular order: Northlight, New Paltz Rock Cliff House, High Falls Tinker Street Cafe, Woodstock Rhinecliff Hotel, Rhinelcliff Joyous Lake, Woodstock Tony's, Kingston The Sturgeon Wine Bar, Kingston
