9 Holiday Cocktail Recipes From NYC’s Best New — and Classic — Restaurants

Maxine Wally and Kristen Tauer

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The holidays call for sweet, smoky drinks filled with warmth and mirth — New York City’s best bars and restaurants will be offering those good tidings this season. WWD has culled a list from new and classic haunts on what signature cocktails they’ll be serving. Check out the recipes below to try your hand at filling a coupe glass.

King Restaurant
Mr. Bloom

2 oz. Compass Box Glasgow Blend Scotch whisky
.5 Cocci vermouth di torino
.5 Cynar amaro
1 dash orange bitters, 1 dash angostura bitters

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Stir in coupe with orange twist and cherry.

“When the weather gets cold, I crave a cocktail that’s going to leave a trail of warmth down into my belly. This satisfies my craving for a Manhattan with an extra twist of herbal spice and smokiness. The intensity of the whiskey is softened by the vermouth, while the bitters and amaro add a sweet and nutty dimension. Created by our bartender Stephen Walkiewicz and named for Joyce’s protagonist in “Ulysses;” nevermind that the original Rob Roy cocktail was an homage to Scottish, not Irish, nationalism.” — Annie Shi, co-owner

Maison Premiere
Maison Sherry Cobbler

1 teaspoon Allspice Dram
.25 Demerara
.5 lemon
.5 pineapple
.75 blueberry/blackberry jam
.75 Lustau Amontillado
.75 En Rama Manzanilla
.75 Lustau Oloroso
.75 Lustau Pedro Ximenez

Build in a Boston tin, and serve in a poco grande glass. Serve with crushed ice and garnish with two halved blackberries, thin sliced half-moon orange, a mint bouquet and a cut coffee straw.

Olmsted
Hot Buttered Rum

To make the cocktail:

1.5 oz. Rum (We use a half and half blend of Goslings Dark Rum, which brings dark brown sugar and spice notes, and Smith and Cross, which brings a fiery kick and some fruity notes)
1 heaping spoonful of spiced butter

Preheat a mug with hot water. Add the rum, butter, and enough boiling water to fill. Stir the butter until combined. Shave a little nutmeg on top if you’d like. Optionally, we love to serve our hot buttered rum with a little ice cream for an even more decadent dessert float!

To make the spiced butter:

455g (1 lb.) Room Temperature Butter
455g (1 lb.) White Granulated Sugar
455g (1 lb.) Dark Brown Sugar
5g cloves — ground
5g fresh-grated nutmeg — ground
10g cinnamon — ground
5g all-spice — ground
1 oz. Rum

Let butter soften to room temperature. Use a stand mixer or with a hand mixer to combine all ingredients, then store in the fridge (will keep all season). When planning to entertain, take the butter out of the fridge a few minutes before serving to let it soften.

Dear Irving on Hudson
The Vice Versa

Build in shaker:
.75 oz. grapefruit juice
.5 oz. luxardo bitter
.5 oz. giffard pamplemousse
1 oz. Dorothy parker gin
Shake with ice, strain into flute
Top with 2 oz. brut rose Champagne
No garnish

“Named for a sassy Dorothy Parker quote, it’s meant to be fresh and bubbly, but with layers due to the balance of rose, grapefruit and bitter orange. Makes a great aperitif if people are stopping in before dinner. Made in Brooklyn at New York Distilling by Allan Katz and team, the botanical blend of gin contains elderflower and hibiscus.” — Meaghan Dorman, bar director/partner

NoMad
Not the Buttons

Recipe by Nathan O’Neill, Make It Nice bar director (NoMad NYC)

2 oz. Orange Bitters
1/4 oz. Spicy Ginger Syrup
1/2 oz. Lemon Juice
1/2 oz. Honey Syrup
1/2 oz. Brown Butter Falernum
3/4 oz. Elijah Craig Bourbon
1 1/2 oz. Palo Cortado Sherry

Shake and fine-strain into a large rocks glass over ice.

Atla
La Bandera

Recipe by Yana Volfson, bar director at Cosme and Atla

1 1/4 oz. Casa Dragones Blanco
1/4 oz. Giffards Creme de Cacoa
1/4 oz. Velvet Falernum
1/2 oz. Lime Juice
1g tarragon
2g hoja santa
2g mint
Pomegranate salad or seeds

Build cocktail directly into glass: place herbs at bottom of the glass and press to release aromas before adding in the Casa Dragones tequila, creme de cacoa, velvet falernum and lime juice.

Slowly add crushed ice and swizzle at least three times. Finish with fresh pomegranate seeds/salad.*

*For the pomegranate salad: remove seeds from pomegranate and infuse with canela, chili guajillo and chili puja for at least 2 hours.

Quality Branded
Après Ski Sangria


Recipe by Bryan Schneider, bar director (Quality Branded)
Available at Quality Meats’ Nog Shop pop-up (throughout month of December from 5 p.m. to close)

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp whole allspice berries
1 tsp whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise pods
Peel from half an orange

1/2 cup Aquavit
1/4 cup lemon juice

1 bottle of wine

Add all the ingredients to a pot (except for the wine, aquavit and lemon juice). Stir on medium heat until it is simmering for five minutes. Add one bottle of wine before bringing the pot back up to a simmer, being careful not to boil the wine. Cool and strain. Add in the aquavit and lemon juice before chilling in the fridge overnight. Serve over ice in a wine glass. Garnish with an orange slice, mint and cinnamon stick.

The Polo Bar
Highflyer

2 oz. Hennessy Paradis
1/2 oz. Giffard Elderflower
Liqueur
1/4 oz. China China
Amaro

Served in a DOF (double old-fashioned) with one large rock and a grapefruit twist.

 

Minetta Tavern
Jasper’s Punch

1/2 oz. punch syrup based on nutmeg, lime juice, angostura bitter and various spices.
2 oz. rum (Minetta Tavern adds Appleton Estate 12 Year rum.)
Shake and served on ice with a lime wedge.

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