What to Drink in NYC Right Now (March 2025)

When the VinePair team isn’t busy working at HQ, we’re in the field doing what we do best: scoping out the best cocktails, wine, and beer in the five boroughs. Here are the cool, current, and flat-out excellent drinks you should try in New York right now, according to our editors.

In March, the VinePair team was busy tasting cocktails for a top secret, soon-to-be-released project, so in our spare time, most of us looked to beer or wine for refreshment — whether it be juicy chilled reds from Virginia, crisp Chardonnay from the Jura, or a side-pour Spaghett.

This month, we’re also catching up with some of the city’s latest openings, from Flatiron’s buzzy Italian spot Borgo to yet another new Williamsburg wine bar. Plus, we share a sneaky way you can up your Guinness intake outside of your typical pint (just in time for a certain holiday).

Here are the best things to drink in NYC this March, according to our editors.

Virginia Wine at Borgo

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Andrew Tarlow’s premier Manhattan restaurant is dressed for the part, boasting a grandiose dining room with white tablecloths, towering candlesticks, and a roaring fireplace. But the vibey new haunt still rings true to Tarlow’s Brooklyn roots in many respects, including the wine program. Instead of a list with the expected Barolos and Brunellos, celebrated sommelier Lee Campell designed a forward-thinking collection that showcases everything from the classics to more off-the-beaten-path Italian wines, as well as exciting young producers from the U.S. A longtime champion of Virginia wine, Campbell is also a partner in Common Wealth Crush, a winemaking collective based in Virginia. Campbell features a few wines from the project at Borgo, including Family Meal, a chillable red made with a hodge-podge of grapes that changes with each vintage. The easy-drinking wine, filled with crunchy red berry notes, is a joy to sip alongside the restaurant’s sizable prosciutto-filled arancini and cheesy focaccia.

Split Ends at Bar Snack

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There’s no denying the power of Guinness, so when we find it floated on top of a very compelling cocktail, at one of New York’s newest bars, ordering it is a no-brainer. The Split Ends at Bar Snack in the East Village is a very delicious take on a Whiskey Sour (what they call “a whiskey sour like no other on four walls”). Featuring fresh raspberry, amaro, and the aforementioned Guinness float, its creamy body and sweet fruitiness recall a confection with just enough bite to remind you it’s indeed a cocktail.

Jura Chardonnay at Rude Mouth

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Opened by The Four Horsemen’s former cellar manager Ava Trilling, Rude Mouth is a new bar in Williamsburg with some serious natural wine pedigree. In a city where it feels like every wine bar is a restaurant in disguise, the walk-in-only spot offers refuge for those in search of a true wine bar experience, including all the classic comforts: a rotating by-the-glass list and unfussy (but delicious) small plates like a baguette with butter or a plate of ham and cheese. There’s also a bottle list with over 175 options to explore if guests feel like nerding out, which is exactly what we did on a recent visit. We landed on a bottle of Chardonnay from Plume, a project from an exciting young producer in the Jura, Aymerick Geantet. The Plume Chardonnay showcases the Gevrey-Chambertin-born winemaker’s Burgundian roots, with a light touch of reduction on the nose alongside notes of lemon biscuits, tart grapefruit juice, and a salty minerality. Finding the balance between bright acidity and a rounded texture, this bottle was the ideal accompaniment to the salva cremasco cheese and aged jamon.

The Missionary’s Downfall at Sunken Harbor Club

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With spring creeping on the horizon, don’t miss the chance to enjoy one of winter’s hottest drinks trends: frozen cocktails. A surprising number of the city’s best bars keep the frozen machines running year round, and one of most interesting options to enjoy right now is the Missionary’s Downfall at Brooklyn’s Sunken Harbor Club. The bar’s take on the old-school tiki classic (literally) blends acid-adjusted pineapple juice with rich honey syrup, peach liqueur and aperitif, white rum, frozen pineapple chunks, ice, and mint, the latter of which delivers a striking bright green hue. As complex and herbaceous as it is fruity and refreshing, learn more behind the drink and its creation via our in-depth conversation with the bar’s chief cocktail officer, Garret Richard.

Japanese Wine at Tsukimi

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Japanese wine is on the rise in the U.S. Though the category was essentially unheard of a few years ago, a number of pioneering importers are bringing in more bottles from the island nation than ever before — though the coveted, small- production wines are still only available in relatively limited quantities. For those curious to try these hard-to-find wines, the best way to explore the full spectrum of what Japan has to offer is a visit to East Village restaurant Tsukimi. The modern kaiseki counter offers a Michelin-starred tasting menu accompanied by a wine pairing featuring exclusively Japanese winemakers. The majority of the wines come from Japan, with a few pours showcasing Japanese winemakers in California. A standout of the tasting was a sparkling wine from the Niseko Winery in Hokkaido. It’s an aromatic blend of organically farmed Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, and Gewürztraminer made in the traditional method. It’s expressive without being overly floral, and still delivers that bready, creamy richness on the palate that makes Champagne lovers swoon.

Gowanus Sunset at Queue Beer

One of the top-ranked American lagers on beer tracking app Untappd right now is not some craft creation, as you might expect, but Miller High Life. More specifically, it’s the Miller High Life poured via a Lukr side-pull faucet at Brooklyn’s Queue Beer, which dubs the serve “Canal Champagne” in a nod to the nearby Gowanus Canal. In late February, bar proprietor Shane Monteiro paid further homage to the nearby area and added an optional addition to the serve, in the form of Aperol and lemon juice. Inspired by the simple bottled-beer cocktail the Spaghett, Queue’s draft interpretation arrives with a striking, deep orange hue and pillowy, red-tinted foam “clouds” floating on top. All of which inspired another evocative name: Gowanus Sunset.

Dessert Wine at Smithereens

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It’s that time of year again when the weather in New York turns on a dime, trapping all of us in seemingly endless, between-season limbo. But that’s exactly what makes a trip to East Village newcomer Smithereens worthwhile, especially if it means getting to enjoy this luscious dessert wine. Hailing from Mostviertel, Austria — home to over 300 pear varieties — Speckbirne 302 begins its journey with Speckbirne pears, known for their high sugar content, low tannins, and low acidity. When transformed into booze, the fruit tends to produce a very high-alcohol cider, with this expression bolstered even further with the addition of pear eau de vie, which is added halfway through fermentation to stop the process. The spirit imbues the fruit wine with a rich, round sweetness that simply can’t be beaten. Bottled at just over 18 percent ABV, you can expect to find notes of stewed pear, honey, caramel, and hints of baking spices.

Daiquiri With Bitters at Rialto Grande

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A Daiquiri is like a plain pizza slice: It’s one of the best ways to gauge an establishment’s ability to deliver on the classics. If it hits, chances are the other drinks will be good, too. Although Crown Heights’ Rialto Grande might be just a small step above a dive bar, its Daiquiri is absolutely exceptional — not to mention it’s only $12. The addition of bitters wasn’t a request, but it turned out to be the pièce de résistance, keeping the drink’s inherent sweetness in check. We urge any skeptics to look past the somewhat shabby glassware. This Daiquiri is one for the books, and now we know to have a bottle of Ango in reach whenever we go to make one ourselves.

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