Rough Draft

MAY we offer you this month’s drink specials? ManCherryAn Candidate 🍒 Fruity, nutty, deceptive, and dangerous. Passionfruit According to G.H. 🍃 Complex, mystical, philosophical. Fennelship of the Ring 💍 Herbal, adventurous, epic. We’re also launching our first draft iced latte of 2026! Lavender Lemon 🍋🪻 All-Ethiopian blend cold brew from @counterculturecoffee , lavender, lemon, vanilla, oat milk. All drinks made in-house, with as many real, local ingredients as possible. Drink designs this month by @josh_rosenmeier AND, for the first time, Kaylyn (Fennelship)! #rddrinkofthemonth #may #drinkpuns #bookpuns #ReadSipRepeat #kingstonny

What?? Your Reading Series is evolving! Yes that's right, just like a well-trained Pokémon, Night School is transforming — by adding a fifth reader, starting in May! We're going to experiment with more fun ways to keep the party going, too, but you'll have to turn out to see what those might be... ...and your first opportunity to do so will be 6pm on Tuesday May 19! What a line-up we have in store for you, too: Marcy Dermansky, Chiara Di Lello, Benjamin Hale, Michelle Maryk, Emma Parry — it's going to be a killer night. Free as always, but be sure to pick up a book or five, have a drink at the bar, treat yourself to a tahini miso cookie! #readsiprepeat #nightschoolreadingseries #roughdraftbarandbooks #kingstonny #indiebookstore #bookstoreevents #freeevent

It’s the LAST DAY to vote in this year’s @chronogram Readers’ Choice Awards!! A reminder that we’re nominated for the following: Best Coffee Shop Best Bookstore Best Beer List Best Remote Work Spot Best Trivia (with @triviamaster_maxwell and @bbridgetddaws ) And Best Barista (Brett—or his alter ego @kingstonbread ) Kingston Bread is also nominated for Best Bakery Best Bread Best Bagel Best Sandwich Best Breakfast Sandwich Best Grilled Cheese Link in stories, or head to Chronogram.com/readerschoice to vote! Thank you for your support!!

Live Music Friday Night!! Join us in welcoming returning favorites, Stephen Johnson and his Nu-Bossa Band 🎶 🪘 🎸 🇧🇷 FREE as always for this evening of Brazilian fusion, with a $10 suggested donation for the artists.

An absolute 🌈 of new arrivals today! We love all of our new babies, of course, but we’re particularly excited about the new Isaac Fitzgerald, a beautiful new edition of a classic Odyssey translation, some psychological horror thrills from Sarah Gailey, a dark, satirical debut from Sarah Wang, and a novel of psychedelics, retro-futurism, and technoshamanic rituals in translation from Mónica Ojeda! We even spot paperback cover art by #FriendOfTheShop @samantha_french 👀 Something for everyone. Come on in. #newtitletuesday #bookstagram #ReadSipRepeat #kingstonny

Happy Mother’s Day ☀️ Open 8-8 for all your Mom Day needs 📚 🍷 ☕️ 🍻 💐 #ReadSipRepeat #mothersday

We're delighted to welcome the legendary David Baerwald for the launch of his debut novel, THE FIRE AGENT! You might know David from his musical work (including but not limited to writing “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge and playing with a veritable who’s-who of musical talent from the last half-century) but it turns out he’s a spectacular writer as well. Our own Drew Broussard will be chatting with David about his book and David will be signing copies after.  Join us at 6pm on Tuesday June 2nd — free, as always, but be sure to pick up a copy of the book and grab a drink or a snack from the bar! #readsiprepeat #roughdraftny #bookstagram #indiebookstore #bookstoreevent #kingstonny #hudsonvalleyevents

THE OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH for THE PROBLEM DRINKER will be @roughdraftny in Kingston on JUNE 1st at 6 p.m. What better way to kick off the summer than with a bookish, boozy Monday night? 🍸🚬 Featuring short readings and a discussion on “self-destructive” tendencies in writing with @kylekouri @celardolor @anneheltzel and @scottlaudati . Comment your favorite drink if we’re going to see you there. Poster artwork @celardolor #memoir #debut #booklaunch

Trivia Night IS BACK!! For weeks, Max has traveled the globe, seeking out the world’s most challenging questions, and he’s bringing them back TO YOU 👊 6pm Signups 6:30 Start Let’s go!!! 📸 by @triviamaster_maxwell And don’t forget to vote for the dynamic duo of Max and Bridget over at Chronogram.com/readerschoice, along with all of Rough Draft’s other nominations! #trivianight #pubquiz #ReadSipRepeat

I can't believe it, but for some reason @roughdraftny let me curate their Curated Shelf for the month of May. And of course, my Top Shelf Pick is our current Jiffy Book Club selection, "Glorious Country," by @victoriasamericaneden You can still join The Jiffy Book Club at the link in my bio. And go vote for Rough Draft in all the @chronogram Readers' Choice Awards!!

This new release needed its own post! The Fly Fishing Book 🎣 by local author, artist, illustrator, innkeeper, and #FriendOfTheShop, Steven Weinberg. We’ve got a ton of these beautiful books, including a few more signed copies with bonus prints, if you get here soon… Happy Pub Day, @steven_draws ! #pubday #localauthor #localartist #ReadSipRepeat #kingstonny

4 more random picks from the 2026 Hudson Valley Book Trail map! No. 10, Rodgers Book Barn @rodgersbookbarn Year Est. 1972 Hillsdale (Columbia County) Maureen has over 20,000 titles of old and unusual books. A literal large barn of books! No. 4, Rough Draft Bar & Books @roughdraftny Year Est. 2017 Kingston (Ulster County) Anthony and Amanda offer brews of both the coffee and beer kinds with their large selection of new books. No. 45, Old Books @oldbookshudson Year Est. 2024 Hudson (Columbia County) Mike's bookshop offers secondhand books of general interest, and the occasional live music performance! No. 53, Booksy Galore @booksygalore Year Est. 2014 Pound Ridge (Westchester County) Susan refers to her bookstore as a gathering place for bibliophiles, offering new, used, and vintage books. 👉🏽Reminder, the info here is just the basics! 👉🏽👉🏽 Please check out their social media pages, their websites for info, events, specials, etc, or support them through sites like bookshop.org 👉🏽Remember that these are physical brick and mortar bookstores, and your physical presence is key! **The 2026 framable canvas trail maps are making there way to bookstores on our trail! Thank you to all stores who have placed orders, I am still working on getting all these deliveries completed 😊 #hudsonvalley #hudsonvalleybooktrail #newyork #bookstores #readersofinstagram