Covering the 11 top gin cocktails of the month around the country at Liquor.com, you’ll find my top national drinks now at these bars/restaurants (click on each for the featured cocktail):
- The Saratoga, San Francisco
- Henrietta Red, Nashville
- Clay, New York City
- The Good Lion, Santa Barbara
- Trifecta Tavern, Portland, OR
- Clique at The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas
- Copper Spoon, Oakland
- Retreat Gastropub, St. Louis
- Vino Enoteca, Palo Alto, CA
- The Whistler, Chicago
- Manhattan Cricket Club, New York City
As one of the greatest, far-reaching spirits in history, gin is worth drinking any day of the year. But spring seems particularly suited to its green herbaceousness, its citrus-driven brightness, its chameleon-like versatility. From Nashville to Portland, these 11 bars and restaurants around the country are doing gin right.
“Hail Mary” Bloody Mary (The Saratoga, San Francisco, CA)
Passing the one year mark and launching Sunday brunch in December, The Saratoga‘s lox and cream cheese-dotted tower of Jenga tart tots and extensive 700+ spirits and vintage spirits collection make it one of the best new brunches in town. Then there is the “Hail Mary” version of any of the Bloody Marys. You can choose the likes of a mezcal verde or “Root” versions. Root is a gin-aquavit “Bloody” festive with carrot, ginger, habanero, pickle brine and soy sauce. For a dish in itself, upgrade the drink to a “Hail Mary”, garnished skewers of fried pickles, bacon, quail eggs, jerky, jalapeño poppers, fried chicken and poached shrimp.
99 Lives (Henrietta Red, Nashville, TN)
Straight off a James Beard Awards’ semi-finalist nod, Henrietta Red serves some of the best food (with excellent service) in Nashville. While eating stellar wood-roasted oysters doused in the likes of green curry or dill mustard butter, bar manager and drink industry vet Patrick Halloran ensures the drink side keeps step. He crafts beautifully balanced cocktails, boozy-elegant jello shots and has a deep knowledge of spirits like all brandy categories from Calvados to Armagnac (note: he also has some rare vintage pours). He does right by local spirits and a martini variation in the 99 Lives cocktails. Local Corsair Barrel Aged Gin takes center stage with just the right balance of dry vermouth, Cocchi Americano and Luxardo Bitter Bianco to keep it spirituous yet graceful.
Gnarls Barkley (Good Lion, Santa Barbara, CA)
A game-changing Santa Barbara bar when it opened in 2014, The Good Lion brought elevated cocktails in a classy yet chill environment to laid back Santa Barbara — complete with leather banquettes, striking tiles and artwork in a lofty, historic space. Owners Brandon and Misty Ristaino and GM Jon Jarrett (also of rum/Tiki-centric Test Pilot) craft approachably smart drinks and serve complimentary punch while you decide what to order. Especially fun for the drink geek is the likes of Gnarls Barkley, a boozy beauty served room temperature, showcasing Hotaling & Co.’s Genevieve genever-style gin, Cutler’s Gin and Green Spot Irish Single Malt Whiskey, accented by bitter orange and pink Himalayan sea salt. To take it even further, the drink is paired with local chocolatier Twenty-Four Blackbirds’ dreamy pink peppercorn licorice salt caramel truffle.
Golden Pineangle (Manhattan Cricket Club, New York, NY)
On the Upper West Side, Manhattan Cricket Club sits hidden upstairs above Australian restaurant Burke & Wills, like an Old World apartment serving exquisite cocktails. Members get first seating and their own liquor lockers but anyone can drop in and wait for a spot if the cozy space is full. Founder/GM Tim Harris walks that borderline of winter and spring with Golden Pineangle, what they dub “Tiki meets apres ski.” Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur and rosemary bitters impart the bold alpine notes, Four Pillars Navy Strength Gin brings the herbs, then passionfruit, pineapple, lime and silky pandan syrup seal the deal with tropical Tiki spirit.
Tomato Marrow Gin Gibson (Trifecta Tavern, Portland, OR)
From ever-popular PDX baker-restaurateur Ken Forkish (Ken’s Artisan Bakery, Ken’s Artisan Pizza), Trifecta Tavern’s warehouse-rustic space rolls out wood-fired New American dishes and Ken’s famed bread. On the drink side, bar manager Colin Carroll relies on classics but also has wood-fired cocktails and a “Milk, Butter, Marrow” cocktail section. In the latter, the Tomato Marrow Gin Gibson, created by lead bartender, Bryan Cross, utilizes roasted bone marrow from the kitchen. Cooked sous vide with gin, the fat is strained off, dehydrated tomato powder is added, then steeped before another fine strain. This marrow-infused gin is stirred with Dolin dry vermouth and celery bitters, then garnished with a pickled pearl onion. The result? A bracing, vegetal riff on a classic Gibson.
Who’s Driving? (Copper Spoon, Oakland, CA)
The divey charm of the former Art’s Crab Shak in North Oakland was transformed into Copper Spoon late 2017 by owners Vita Simone Strauss and Carmen Anderson, complete with a long wood bar, cozy booths, lamb merguez burgers and salmon hand rolls, favorites from the owners’ quirky Sassafras Seagrass food truck (note: try chef Andre Hall’s booze-inflected Beets by Dre: roasted and pickled beets, smoked yogurt, bacon and beet mezcal gelee). Who’s Driving? is a house cocktail that tastes like summer in spring, showcasing Ford’s Gin and lemon against the bracing bitter of Saler’s Gentian, given berry-vinegar kick from a house strawberry shrub.
Two Birds One Stone (Clique at The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, NV)
Housed in The Cosmopolitan hotel sprawl, Clique is on the casino floor, surrounded by the clang of slot machines. But cozy couches, bar food and playfully sweet cocktails offer a break from the chaos. Antony Sazerac’s Two Birds One Stone cocktail has enough sweetness to please the Vegas crowd but it is balanced. A bracing base of Tanqueray Gin, Novo Fogo Silver Cachaca, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao and Amontillado sherry goes silky-vegetal with basil cordial, balanced by citrus and slowly dissolving ice cubes of basil, spinach and cucumber juice laced with edible flower petals.
Bellevue Heights (The Whistler, Chicago, IL)
There are many great bars in Chicago’s Logan Square ‘hood, but The Whistler is also a live music venue, featuring everything from jazz to soul, with its own record label (Whistler Records), and quirky nights like “Cards Against Humanity” or “Movieoke,” where people perform movie scenes. But the intimate space is also about the drinks, thanks to bar manager Julieta Campos and team. Bellevue Heights is a drink created by bartender Doug Phillips, taking inspiration from a classic Clover Club and the Bellevue-Stratford hotel in Philadelphia where that drink was invented. Playing delicately with Leatherbee gin and Tio Pepe Fino sherry, Bellevue Heights unfolds with subtle nutty, creamy, fruity, tannic, dry notes from a house pistachio white tea syrup, banana and Angostura bitters.
Wise Guy (Retreat Gastropub, St. Louis, MO)
St. Louis Retreat Gastropub delivers on the modern pub fare with a craft beer list. But owner Travis Howard and bar manager Tim Wiggins give cocktails plenty of attention, too, in changing, playful menu themes like ‘90s television shows. Wise Guy features St. George Spirits’ herbaceous Terroir Gin, bright with golden beets, pineapple, pink peppercorn and lemon, topped off with a mineral splash of Topo Chico in a collins glass. Garnished with a sprig of rosemary, the herb is torched for dramatic effect and smoky aroma.
EVOO Martini (Vina Enoteca, Palo Alto, CA)
What’s a gin cocktail menu without a Martini variation? While lofty Italian restaurant Vina Enoteca, a gem near the Stanford campus, isn’t a gin bar per se (they stock over 350 spirits of all stripes), bar manager Massimo Stronati crafts a stunner of a martini with his EVOO Martini. We do see olive oil drops adding texture to cocktails around the country and this London dry martini is silky with EVOO drops. But in addition to orange bitters and green olives as a garnish, Stronati’s “secret” amp-up is the nutty backbone from PX sherry and a bright, basil freshness from St. George Aqua Perfecta Basil Eau de Vie.
Good Morning Heartache (Clay, New York, NY)
Though at first glance Harlem’s Clay is about farm-to-table cuisine and natural wines, Harlem local and bar director Andrea Needell Matteliano likes to play with spirits in creative ways, hearkening back to her days at Michelin-starred Agern. Good Morning Heartache is a gin-based sour cocktail where gin’s herbaceousness plays off the floral-herbal notes of genepy. The drink then goes floral, earthy and vivid from beets, pink peppercorn, lime and hibiscus rose bitters.
