The Most Warming Winter Cocktails in NYC
Hot chocolate and cider aren’t the only means of getting warm during winter. At some of the hottest New York bars and restaurants, you’ll discover cocktails calibrated to snuggle you from the inside out; from Tavo’s activated charcoal and smoked maple “Black Widow” to Nishi’s scotch, honey and ginger-based “Penicillin.”
Tavo
Although Julieta Ballesteros’ new West Village restaurant is largely inspired by her Mexican hometown of Monterrey, modern global influences abound on both the food and drinks menu; think the “La Fiera” cocktail with Ancho reyes, cilantro and smoked tajin, the “Scotsman’s Blues” with gin, blueberries, aquafaba and dark berry caviar, and the “Black Widow,” featuring rye, meyer lemon, smoked maple syrup and activated charcoal.
Read MoreCovina
Can “California cuisine” translate to winter in NYC? Absolutely, if you’re talking about Covina, where Wood Grilled Chicken Salads and Roasted Spaghetti Squash with pine nuts and currents are accompanied by seasonally-changing Madeira Cobblers, a “Pack of Newports” with wasabi and aquavit, and the “Apple Martinique;” made with green jolly rancher-infused rhum agricole and fresh green apple juice.
Read MoreEdda Bar
While 19-course, $250 dinners at Aska are a special occasion splurge, the Scandinavian resto’s rustic basement bar is an any day kind of place; pairing small bites, like Swedish pancakes with cocktails like the “Freya,” featuring vodka, elderflower and licorice,” and the eponymous “Edda;” a martini-esque concoction made from gin, Baltic amber syrup and Björk — an Icelandic liquor culled from birch sap and bark.
Read MoreRouge Tomate
The name may translate to “Red Tomato,” but this restaurant can make the most of any season — distilling winter into tipples, like a roasted pineapple and brown sugar Bloody Mary, a “Coconut Nog” rich with yam, five spice and liqueur de noix des chartreux, and a toasty “Home for the Holidays,” a hot concoction of cranberry, orange, Christmas spices and Finger Lakes rose.
Read MoreNishi
Just as at David Chang’s other Momofuku ventures, the drinks program at Nishi is small but concise; featuring slightly tweaked classics melding Asian liquors with bright fruit and herbs. This winter, look for the “Blood Orange Daiquiri” made with Japan’s rice-based sochu, a soothing “Penicillin” containing ginger, honey, lemon and scotch, and the “Bonji Old Fashioned,” incorporating bourbon, black sugar and bitters.
Read MoreThe Cannibal Liquor House
This relaunch of Resto prizes libations as much as it does nose-to-tail meat! In addition to an extensive selection of spirits, creative cocktails include the “Truffle Shuffle” with scotch, chestnuts and honey, a “Milk Punch” comprised of nutmeg-spiked fernet, demerara and bourbon, and the “Rye & Cider,” sweetened with ribbons of intense, bitter blackstrap molasses.
Read MoreSunday in Brooklyn
A Bottled Negroni Service for two and whey-based tipples are just the tip of the iceberg at Sunday in Brooklyn; a low waste, unfailingly inventive Williamsburg newcomer. Try the “Little Monchito,” with coconut-infused white rum, pineapple, lime and tonka bean, the “Juanny Appleseed,” a heated cup of apple cider, brown butter and tequila, and the “Protected by Viper;” a seasonal three-fer of applejack, pomegranate and pear, enhanced by the herbal liqueur known as Genepy.
Read MoreBlackTail
Pier A Harbor House’s Prohibition-era bar might seem the perfect summer spot (being that it evokes sultry, steamy Havana), but it’s still a viable place to fly south for the winter, too; buoyed from the bitter, Hudson River winds by Irish Whisky muddled with amaro and pomegranate soda, “Rye & Ginger,” flavored with lemon and fig, and the “Arawak;” a stiff mix of vermouth, Campari, rum, sherry, coffee, cocoa nib and absinthe.
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