What to Drink in NYC Right Now (December 2024)
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.
The dreaded chill of winter finally reached us in New York this month, but we’re trying to focus on the positives: catching up with family and friends over a decadent meal, embracing hot cocktails, and, of course, popping bottles of Gamay while watching the new crop of trashy holiday movies on Netflix.
But when the VinePair team musters the courage to step out into the cold, where exactly are they headed? Some are taking this time to check out the latest openings in NYC’s string of seafood-focused restaurants, while others are checking in on Brooklyn stalwarts. And of course we had to pay a visit to Taylor Swift’s favorite new spot to try a buzzy Martini variation.
Here are the best things to drink in NYC this December, according to our editors.
Riesling (and Narragansett) at Smithereens
Credit: VinePair Staff
Smithereens is a New England-inspired restaurant that recently opened in the East Village, and descending into the dimly lit subterranean space truly feels like going below deck on a fishing boat off Cape Cod. Sommelier Nikita Malhotra curated a wine list that matches the restaurant’s seafood-focused fare, but there’s a twist: The extensive program exclusively features white wines. (OK, fine, there’s one bottle of red on offer.) On a recent visit, we enjoyed a beautifully bright and fresh bottle of Riesling from Eva Fricke in the Rheingau with dishes like the buckwheat pancake on smoked bluefish and a classic Maine-style lobster roll with the most tender poached lobster meat. The beverage menu also includes some fun nods to New England, including cans of Narraganett and Moxie Original Elixir.
Sour Cream & Onion Martinis at The Corner Store
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After opening in SoHo this September, The Corner Store quickly became one of Manhattan’s hottest tables when Taylor Swift visited not once, but twice. Yet somehow this new haunt’s Sour Cream & Onion Martini has garnered almost as much buzz for the restaurant as Swift herself — quite a feat for a drink. So we had to check it out for ourselves. The elaborate drink, made with cream-washed gin, vermouth, spring onion, and dill, comes with a petite side of sour cream and onion chips. The cocktail does bear an impressive resemblance to the salty, savory snack, and goes exceptionally well with The Corner Store’s Wagyu French Dip.
Hot Pearl Diver at Clover Club
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You know when you put a sentence into Google Translate, then plug the result in to translate it back to the language you started with? Usually the result is a butchered version of the original phrase, but what if, instead, you got a more eloquent, poetic version of it? Well, that’s the case with the Hot Pearl Diver at Brooklyn’s Clover Club. While the original drink was inspired by Donn Beach’s idea to make an icy take on Hot Buttered Rum, the folks at Clover Club made the Pearl Diver a hot drink, and its flavor profile goes above and beyond any Hot Buttered Rum we’ve ever encountered. It’s sweet, spicy, vanilla-forward, and has a citrusy kick to round out the whole package, simultaneously providing the escapism we crave from tropical drinks and the coziness we get from piping-hot cocktails.
Salad Negroni at Bar Snack
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“Dressed up classics for dressed down people” is the ethos of East Village newcomer Bar Snack, which opened in late November and is helmed by storied bartender Iain Griffiths and Brooklyn-based bar owner Oliver Cleary. Culinary flavors are featured throughout the drinks menu but, according to Griffiths and team, the aim is not to include food in the drinks or indeed make them taste like food. Instead, the intention seems to be offering new spins on familiar classics that playfully call back to plated items. Case in point: the Salad Negroni, which showcases a traditional base blend of gin (Fords), sweet vermouth (Dolin and Cocchi di Torino), and Campari. Add to that a seasoning of basil eau de vie, nectarine aperitif wine, lactic acid, and salt, and the “dressed up classic” part of the equation becomes quickly apparent. As for the profile: Fruity, lightly herbaceous, bitter, and sweet, the best way to describe this drink is, well, a Salad Negroni.
Submariner at Time and Tide
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As the name might imply, there are strong maritime vibes at Time and Tide, the newest restaurant from Kent Hospitality Group. Not in the blue-and-white-striped nautical decor kind of way (though some of the light fixtures maybe evoke portholes), but woven throughout the food and drinks. With the exception of a few dishes, the menu is more or less exclusively seafood with playful fishy touches (like a very delicious giant housemade goldfish cracker). And the wine list, overseen by head somm Ross Cohen, is divided into two sections: the more classic “wines of time,” and “wines of tide,” from smaller producers near water. For its part, the cocktail list, from beverage director Harrison Ginsberg, calls on ingredients from the sea, mostly in the form of seaweed (dulse, nori, sea lettuce), though the Mezcal & Uni — a $45 mezcal shot with a sea urchin “bump” — is the obvious eyebrow-raiser. This time around we enjoyed the Submariner, a mix of whiskey, young ginger, ume, lemon, and sesame, with a tangle of wakame on top. It was bright, spicy, and just savory enough to whet the appetite for the fish feast ahead.
Kiwi & Peel at Monkey Thief
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When the hankering for a tropical drink strikes in the middle of winter, the Southeast Asian-inspired cocktails at Monkey Thief hit just right. The recently opened Hell’s Kitchen bar offers roughly a dozen cocktails teeming with a medley of lush fruit notes accented by ingredients like Thai and osmanthus teas, chilis, and regional botanicals. While each is ideal for enjoying when you need a break from the December gray, a clear standout for us was the Kiwi & Peel. A combination of Wild Turkey rye, golden kiwi, Thai tea, banana, tamarind, coconut, and lemon, the drink arrives in a tall glass filled to the brim with pebble ice. Zingy, refreshing, and slightly spicy on the finish, it makes for a fantastic after-work drink, especially when complemented by the bar’s delectable small bites.
A Quick Sake or Sapporo at Sendo
Credit: VinePair Staff
Behind a discrete door and up a narrow set of stairs in NYC’s NoMad neighborhood, diners will find Sendo, an intimate, fast-moving sushi counter inspired by the casual standing sushi bars in Tokyo. Sendo serves sets of nigiri and hand-rolls at a brisk pace, so over the course of the 40-or-so-minute meal it’s only right to wash down each piece of toro or yellowtail with some citrus-forward sake or a tall glass of crisp Sapporo for the full experience. If you’re doing some last-minute holiday shopping around Herald Square, this is the perfect quick escape from the cold.
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