3 Killer Cocktails From The “World’s Best Bar”
The award-winning Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog serves up some seriously great drinks.
The World’s Best Bar is surely among the most ephemeral of titles, dependent entirely on where you are at that particular moment, by way of both location and mind, what you’re drinking, and who your company is. But however absurd it may seem, they do award such a distinction, and The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog is the reigning champion.
The acclaimed three-level haunt in New York City’s Financial District won “World’s Best Bar” and “World’s Best Cocktail Menu” at the 2015 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, a New Orleans tradition that is among the most hallowed in all of liquor-dom. Now that they’ve mastered their craft, Belfast, Ireland-born co-founders Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry have written a book, with Ben Schaffer, called The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual.
Here’s how to make three superior cocktails from that landmark tome, should you have the right bitters, the required booze, and more than a little bartending skill at your disposal.
Whiskey Cocktail:
Ingredients:
2 ounces Old Overholt Rye Whiskey
¾ ounce Bénédictine
¼ ounce Royal Combier
3 dashes Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters or Angostura Aromatic bitters
3 dashes orange bitters
3 dashes Pernod Absinthe
Orange peel, for garnish
Directions:
Add all the ingredients, except the garnish, to a mixing glass. Fill with ice and stir until chilled. Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass. Twist the orange peel over the glass to express the oils, then discard.
Maiden’s Blush:
Ingredients:
1 ounce Raspberry Cordial (directions here)
¾ ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce Pernod Absinthe
1½ ounces Ransom Old Tom Gin
Directions:
Add all the ingredients to a shaker. Fill with ice and shake. Strain into a punch glass.
The Bijou:
Ingredients:
1½ ounces Tanqueray London Dry Gin
1½ ounces sweet vermouth
½ ounce Green Chartreuse
2 dashes orange bitters
2 dashes Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters or Angostura Aromatic Bitters
2 dashes Pernod Absinthe
Orange peel, for garnish
Instructions:
Add all ingredients, except the garnish, to a mixing glass. Fill with ice and stir until chilled. Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass. Twist orange peel over the glass to express the oils, then discard.