What to Drink in NYC Right Now (May 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.

It’s May, the sidewalk seating is back out, and the air is filled with the vibrant energy of the anticipation of summer (which often in NYC is better than summer itself).

For the VinePair team, this means leisurely afternoons at apéro hour, TK, and popping bottles of Lambrusco with heaping plates of pasta and prosciutto. Plus, checking out the city’s latest openings, whether that be a cheeky breakfast-themed cocktail pop-up or a new wine bar from a Michelin-starred restaurant.

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

Breakfast-Themed Cocktails at A Pop-Up Called Pancakes

Ever dream of drinking cocktails late-night at your favorite sandwich counter? A Pop-Up Called Pancakes is turning this fantasy into a reality this month at Flatiron’s beloved deli S&P Lunch. New York bartenders Izzy Tulloch and Danielle De Block teamed up to curate a whimsical menu of food-inspired cocktails — and stacks of pancakes, of course — in a month-long residency every weekend through June 1. Our picks include the nostalgic Ants on a Log, featuring Jack Daniel’s, peanut butter, celery, and raisin, and the Fines [Herb] Gibson, a traditional Martini in build, made with Fords Gin, fine herbs, and vermouth, but served out of a classic diner-style syrup dispenser.

Aperitivo at Bar Bianchi

While Aperol Spritzes run rampant throughout the city, not a lot of NYC bars fully embrace the spirit of Italy’s aperitivo culture like the newly opened Bar Bianchi. The expansive, Milan-inspired space sits on a buzzy corner of the East Village with ample sidewalk seating for outdoor summer drinking. It has a compact cocktail menu that focuses on spritzes, Negronis, and vermouth-forward drinks, all of which come with a complimentary plate of olives and potato chips during apéro hour. (In our book, free snacks are essential to a true aperitivo experience.) The Bianchi Bianco — the bar’s take on a White Negroni — is bright and refreshing, and comes with a sizable slice of grapefruit.

Red Hook Pinball Museum at Pitt’s

One of the latest additions to Red Hook’s expanding dining scene, Pitt’s opened in January in the former Fort Defiance space. Chef-owner Jeremy Salamon’s menu blends classic New York bistro fare with North Carolina influences. On the drinks side, beverage director Ben Hopkins looks closer to home: The opening lineup included a barley shochu-spiked riff on Fort Defiance’s signature Irish Coffee. This week, Hopkins and team added another neighborhood tribute: the Red Hook Pinball Museum. Named for the retro mini arcade that opened in Seaborne’s backroom in February, the cocktail is an inventive spin on a Manhattan, combining Fort Hamilton Double Barrel Rye, Don Fulano Añejo, Punt e Mes, and Bordiga Maraschino. An expressed and discarded grapefruit twist lifts the nose, while a mini cantaloupe ball at the bottom of the glass delivers a refreshing twist on the classic cherry garnish.

Listán Blanco at Shmoné Wine

Michelin-starred restaurant Shmoné recently expanded with a neighboring wine bar. The cozy, walk-in-only spot in the West Village is the perfect place to pop in for a glass, a few oysters (topped with “the tiniest” chopped salad), and Shmoné’s celebrated Jerusalem bagel with labneh. The list, curated by wine director Yonatan Chaitchik, offers a wide selection of bottles from around the world. We drank the Borja Perez Listán Blanco from the Canary Islands, full of smoky, mineral volcanic character, as well as a light-bodied, berry-forward Trousseau from Arnot-Roberts in California.

Lambrusco at Roscioli

While Lambrusco might never be the official drink of the summer — try as it might — when the weather gets a little warmer we always feel compelled to order a glass of the fizzy Italian red. And there’s no better place to indulge in a big plate of pasta or prosciutto and a glass of Italian wine right now than Roscioli, a West Village transplant of the fan-favorite Roman restaurant. When it comes to the wine selection, leave it up to Roscioli’s beverage director Hugo Wai, who might suggest anything from a skin-macerated wine made by Italian nuns to an obscure but delightful Rossese di Dolceacqua. We enjoyed the Podere Sotto il Noce “Saldalama” Lambrusco, a lightly sparkling wine made in the ancestral method. While it exhibited Lambrusco’s signature mixed berry and bright cherry notes, it was one of the most elegant and refined versions we’ve ever come across.

Girl Cola at Lullaby

Credit: Lullaby

Tucked away on Rivington Street on NYC’s Lower East Side, Lullaby is quietly serving some of the best cocktails in the five boroughs. And on its most recent menu flip, the team added a vodka-based drink that’s the result of a two-year-long labor of love to make a carbonated cocktail that fizzes with the same ferocity as a freshly cracked can of soda. Created by bar manager Liz Hitchcock with help from co-owner and beverage director Harrison Snow, Girl Cola is an achievement in carbonation, flavor, and tapping into nostalgia. It tastes and looks like cherry cola, arrives in a pebble tumbler cup just like a fountain Coke, and is dispensed out of a soda gun, for crying out loud! If you fancy another drink after a cup of the cola, try out Lullaby’s Valley Girl, Kyle’s Highball, the Pavement Princess, or quite literally anything else on the menu. You can’t go wrong.

Crisp Whites and Funky Skin Contact Wines at Hildur

Located in the heart of DUMBO is Hildur, a newly opened Scandinavian spot with French influence and a backyard prime for summertime sipping. While the wine list is relatively small, it features bottles from across France, Italy, Austria, and even the Canary Islands. For whites, we ordered the Grüner Veltliner from Jurtschitsch, which is textured and grippy, offering green apple and white pepper notes along with slate-like minerality. For something with a little more funk on it, we got the Amélie & Charles Sparr skin contact, which is made from Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer grapes. With intense acidity and a delightful pithy bitterness, the wine is complex, aromatic, and offers refreshment with every sip.

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