In this day and age of social media influencers, calculating a person’s or a bar’s actual influence on the world can be tricky. While I’m sure you could crunch the numbers, taking in account followers across different platforms, often it’s more accurate to use a different set of criteria. That’s especially the case when it comes to New York City bar Death & Co, which opened back in 2006.
It’s hard to find many other establishments that have done more to improve America’s cocktail culture. For one thing, quite a few top bartenders have worked or trained behind the stick at the East Village watering hole. Its menu has also featured a number of new drinks that have since become classics. And all the concoctions it has ever offered were collected together in a popular coffee table-size book published in 2014, which made its wealth of world-class recipes available to home and professional bartenders around the world.
And the wonderful thing is that the cozy bar is still open and is still innovating. It recently launched a new drinks menu for winter that is part graphic novel and part text book. Here are the drinks you should try this season at Death & Co.
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Altimeter Julep
Step up your Julep game with this tequila version that also call for eight-year-old apple brandy, maple syrup, Yellow Chartreuse, and a wintry Douglas Fir syrup.
El Topo
For many bartenders (both pro and amateur), it can take a real act of courage to use Scotch in a cocktail. That certainly wasn’t the case for the person who came up with this wildly creative tipple. In addition to Great King Street Scotch and Lustau Amontillado Sherry it also calls for a fermented pineapple drink.
Crazy Diamond
In the 1800s, Cognac was a very popular cocktail ingredient and this brandy-based drink shows the dexterity of the liquor. Here the French spirit is mixed with hazelnut eau de vie, strawberry, and sparkling wine.
Black & Blue
What’s better than one whiskey? Two. This concoction includes both Monkey Shoulder Blended Scotch and Wyoming Whiskey as well as blue plum eau de vie, port, amaro, and lemon juice.
