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.
After a scorching summer and steamy September, the VinePair team is more than ready to settle into autumn in New York. And along with our sweatshirts and fleece-lined jackets, we’re pulling some of our favorite seasonal drinking pastimes out of storage. Some of us are hitting our neighborhood haunts for creamy pints of Guinness, vermouth service, or Georgian wine. Others are spending their chillier nights parked at hotel bars or dropping into new, subterranean hotspots for Martinis and Midori-spiked cocktails. And after some careful research — we’ll call it imbibing with enthusiasm — we’ve narrowed down our favorite cups and cocktails we’ve encountered this month.
Here are the best things to drink in NYC this October, according to our editors.
A Cold Guinness at Inga’s Bar
As we come into fall, one of our favorite things to drink is a fresh pint of Guinness, and one of the best pints in Brooklyn is at Inga’s Bar. They don’t have branded glassware, so you can’t “split the G,” but they pour a perfect pint — an “absolute creamer,” as Guinness enthusiasts would say. It’s the ideal neighborhood bar and restaurant with great drinks and fantastic food. We’re partial to the burger, but you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.
A Dirty Martini at Motel Morris
In the wrong hands, a Dirty Martini can just end up being a $25 glass of boozy sea water. Every once in a while, though, there comes a take on a Dirty Martini that rises above the potential spec of overproof vodka and Atlantic Ocean and delivers a complex, layered cocktail. Exhibit A: the Room 132 cocktail at Chelsea’s Motel Morris. With Reyka vodka, Boatyard gin, dill-infused dry vermouth, and “dirty brine,” the drink straddles James Bond-esque sophistication and Jewish deli aromatics in one fell sip. A few drops of olive oil function as the garnish, and add a bit of viscosity to the whole shebang.
Georgian Wine at Chama Mama
At Chama Mama’s Brooklyn Heights outpost, you’ll find outstanding Georgian fare and Lasha Tsatava, beverage director and Georgian wine evangelist. Once he’s seated at your table, he’ll walk you through the wine list’s extensive offerings and share his knowledge of the grapes and traditions flourishing on the Black Sea. Order by the glass and pair your bounty with some XL lamb dumplings and khachapuri, a steamy, cheese-y bread boat that gets an egg yolk stirred into it tableside. You’ll leave a more informed drinker and pleasantly tipsy, to boot.
The Isola Bella at Cafe Mars
With its mix of rhum agricole, grappa, Marsala wine, pistachio, and orange, the Isola Bella at Cafe Mars in Gowanus is a fruity and funky take on a tropical punch that fits just perfectly with the restaurant’s playful twists on Italian-ish dishes. Also great (if drink-adjacent): the Castelvetrano olives in Negroni jelly.
The Alaska Martini at Coqodaq
Coqodaq might be best known for its elevated take on Korean fried chicken, but there’s no shortage of phenomenal cocktails to pair with it at the Flatiron hotspot. The house Alaska is a sure-fire standout, delivering provocative herbal notes undercut with robust, juicy melon. Vibrant green and garnished with an atomic-red cherry, the drink is just as fun to gaze at as it is to consume. But proceed with caution: This combination of gin, vodka, Midori, green Chartreuse, and blanc vermouth is sure to creep up on you.
The Bukowski Cocktail at the Riff Raff Club
The just-opened Riff Raff Club sits on the 39th floor of the NoMad district’s Virgin Hotel. The space’s stunning panoramic views are worthy of a visit alone but even more notable is the individual spearheading the project: internationally renowned bartender and Chicago native Charles Joly. The Riff Raff Club marks Joly’s first-ever New York bar, so to honor that milestone, order a Bukowski Cocktail. Created by Joly in the aughts and starring the Windy City’s most infamous liqueur — Jeppson’s Malört — this shaken-on-the-rocks sipper is at once astringent and bitter while also bright, herbaceous, citrusy, and surprisingly moreish. After you polish that off, stick around for a smoked Negroni or “Beetlejuice”-era Vintage Martini.
A Double-Feature at Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels and Experimental Cocktail Club
While dinner and a movie is a classic one-two punch for a night out, this new two-level wine bar and cocktail lounge in Flatiron certainly gives the date-night champ a run for its money. Beloved downtown wine bar Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels recently expanded with a chic new location, and a revived iteration of Experimental Cocktail Club just opened in its basement. Start your night at Compagnie with a few by-the-glass pours — if you’re feeling confident, try your hand at guessing the bar’s mystery wine of the day — then head downstairs through a series of hidden doors to the swanky, underground cocktail lounge for a nightcap. We loved the Anse Céron, the bar’s take on a Daiquiri made with rhum arrangé, coconut oil, banana water, lime, and absinthe.
Vermouth Service at Leland Eating & Drinking House
With low-ABV drinks trending, we’re now accustomed to seeing slews of vermouths on the list at local tapas joints and Basque-inspired bars. But we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Prospect Heights’ seasonal American restaurant Leland Eating & Drinking House offers an extensive vermouth service, too. Start with a pour — served with ice, an olive, lemon peel, and seltzer — alongside some freshly baked onion focaccia. We opted for the savory and herbaceous Navazos Palazzi Vermut Rojo from Jerez, Spain.
