NYC Is Having a Hot Cocktail Moment

The demand for hot cocktails is coming earlier this year

With outdoor dining now a permanent, year-round fixture in New York City, local bars are seeing a spike in the demand for hot cocktails a few months earlier than they typically would, the New York Times reports.

Bars that never previously served hot drinks — like Boerum Hill’s craft cocktail destination Grand Army and East Village staple Amor y Amargo — now have them on the menu. And bars that previously had a few options, like hit Greenwich Village bar Dante and Clover Club in Cobble Hill, have significantly upped their selection, with Dante now serving seven different hot drinks to choose from. Most of the bars making hot drinks are doing riffs on staples like hot toddy, mulled wine, and Irish coffee, but with unique twists.

Crown Heights all-day cafe Hunky Dory is doing a hot toddy with sherry and a turmeric syrup, and lauded cocktail bar Death & Co. adds a Japanese whiskey with dashi kombu to its toddy. Typically, these bars wouldn’t get a surge for hot drinks at least until December, but with most diners now preferring to sit outside — even though limited indoor dining is now available — cocktail bars are stepping up production, according to the Times.

In other news

— NYC will be able to enforce its ban on single-use plastic bags starting Monday, October 19.

— Acclaimed Hudson, New York restaurant Fish and Game has shuttered and pivoted to become an Italian restaurant called Feast and Floret.

— West Village market and cafe Three Owls is rolling out new pastries by pastry chef Laurie Ellen Pellicano. Items include sesame shortbread, salted butter chocolate chip cookie, and crumble muffins.

— Gramercy hotspot Gupshup has introduced a new fall menu with dishes like tiger prawns served with a lemon chutney, dahi sev puri, and jackfruit meatballs.

— Seafood restaurant Seamore’s will reopen its UrbanSpace location at the corner of West 52nd Street and Sixth Avenue on October 20 and give out free tacos all day long.

— Air’s Champagne Parlor is teaming up with champagne maker Krug on a limited edition box, which includes champagne, caviar, and other fixins. The $179 box will be available for takeout and delivery October 21 through October 24.

— Koreatown Asian fusion restaurant Hortus has launched a new fall menu with newly appointed chef Youjin Jung at the helm. Ten percent of sales will be donated to the California wildfire relief funds.

— East Village Indian gastropub Baar Baar will serve a four-course Diwali menu on Sunday, November 15 for $60 per person. Menu items include duck seekh kebab, goat with baby onions, and kulfi, among other dishes.

— Lower East Side contemporary Russian restaurant Tzarevna is launching a natural wine happy hour that will take place on Mondays and Tuesdays every week. Georgian and Moldovan wines will be the focus, served at $8 a glass along with dishes like Siberian dumplings, borscht beef sliders, and fried potato vareniki.

— Weekend goals: