TABLES FOR TWO.(Brandy Library)(Bar Review)

BRANDY LIBRARY -- 25 North Moore St. (212-226-5545)--No prizes for guessing what Brandy Library is about. Floor-to-ceiling shelves all around the room display nearly a thousand bottles--not just brandy (though there are more than four hundred of those) but also Scotch, bourbon, rum, Calvados, vodka, and others. An enormous copper alembic stands just inside the door, and the bathrooms are lined with woodcuts depicting distillation throughout history. The decor is masculine and clubby, with low lighting, tawny walnut finishes, tawny leather sofas, and pretty waitresses (known as librarians) swishing back and forth in tawny satin dresses. The visual effect is roughly like being inside a bottle of whiskey.

Though the underlying idea of Brandy Library seems a little on the tacky side, the execution is excellent. The owner, Flavien Desoblin, and his spirit sommelier, Ethan Kelly, have amassed a serious collection of vintages stretching back to the beginning of the last century, and their employees display a commitment to the cause of spirits that borders on the fanatical. One evening in August, a librarian hobbled in on crutches, having been hit ...