When heavily tattooed brothers George and Justin Ruotolo opened their East Village haunt Whiskey Town , the philosophy was simple: create an atmosphere with no pretensions, a place where people can get wasted and rock out to some good heavy music. They must get bored easily because here it is a year later and they've opened up another similarly titled bar a little bit further down in Chinatown. Admittedly, the concept isn't too different; it's still a place that lends itself well to heavy drinking and partying rather than dancing and fashion, but their strict no-bullshit policy seems to have loosened a bit.

See, at Whiskey Town, they go so far as to only serve beer in cans so that the label won't gum up if kept on ice and so as to lend itself towards shotgunning. That's how serious they were about drinking. At Whiskey Tavern, they've dropped their self-imposed limitations, offering a variety of beers (gasp) on tap and (gasp) in bottles. Beers on tap and in bottles include Guinness, Smithwick and Miller, but to name them all would take up this whole page. Let's just say there's a lot. Naturally, they've also got a wide variety of whiskeys (and whiskys).

Unlike 'Town, 'Tavern's also got a menu. A menu of food. Granted, the food is typical bar food, but that's a big step forward for these guys! If you feel like a bite while you eat, you've got your choice of hamburgers, egg and chicken sandwiches, and wings. Presumably you'll be drinking so much that cutlery becomes dangerous. For dessert, opt for one of the classy Hostess cupcakes. No, not classy. What's the word I'm looking for? Oh, trashy.

But the place is trashy in a decidedly calculated sort of way. It's not as if the Ruotolos are idiots; they know exactly what they're doing. While the two brothers (both of whom play in bands) are catering to their own tastes, they've also recognized that there's a market for unpretentious watering holes that have become oh-so-rare in the East Village.

Like Whiskey Town, the music leans heavily towards hard rock: think Queens of the Stone Age, the Clash, and Black Sabbath. The place hosts DJ nights and brunches (two very different things) every Saturday and Sunday and has four flat-screened TVs kept in commission to watch the Yankees or Rangers depending on the time of year. Unlike Whiskey Town, though, Whiskey Tavern is only open until midnight.