With the continued craze for cocktailian scholarship and the painstaking revival of potables past, hot drinks are having a heyday. Some follow time-tested recipes to a T; others embark on modern-mixology tangents. A few are off-the-menu seasonal specials, available by request when the temperature drops. All are deeply, stress-meltingly comforting.
Pegu Club’s Sleeping Monk
Pegu Club’s Kenta Goto calls this boozy but balanced concoction of chamomile-infused Scotch, lemon, honey, yellow Chartreuse, and Benedictine a Sleeping Monk, and after three or so cups, you may very well need to take a nap. It’s best sipped when the the temperature drops below 30, during a blizzard or hail storm, but even slightly nasty weather provides a good excuse.
$13; 77 W. Houston St., nr. W. Broadway; 212-473-7348
Photo: Hannah Whitaker
Pegu Club’s Hot Port Sangaree
Audrey Saunders’s take on the nearly forgotten sangaree category employs pomegranate molasses, lemon, Cointreau, and orange bitters to tart, tangy effect.
$13; 77 W. Houston St., nr. W. Broadway; 212-473-7348
Photo: Hannah Whitaker
PDT’s Hot Buttered Pisco
Irish coffee meets hot buttered rum with several quirky twists, chief among them the use of Peruvian pisco and a compound butter somehow made with vanilla Häagen-Dazs.
$14; 113 St. Marks Pl., nr. First Ave.; 212-614-0386
Photo: Hannah Whitaker
Rye’s Hot Butternut Rum
Aged rum, Earl Grey tea, housemade Falernum, and a pat of butternut-squash butter discreetly served in a teacup.
$10; 247 S. 1st St., nr. Havemeyer St., Williamsburg; 718-218-8047
Photo: Hannah Whitaker
Dutch Kills’s Bear Trap
Bourbon-spiked spiced apple cider, sweetened with honey syrup, enriched with butter, and flecked with cinnamon.
$10; 27-24 Jackson Ave., nr. Dutch Kills St., Long Island City; 718-383-2724
Photo: Hannah Whitaker
Fort Defiance’s Kentucky Nightcap
A classic bourbon milk punch turned cockle warmer with the aid of an espresso-machine wand.
$9; 365 Van Brunt St., at Dikeman St., Red Hook; 347-453-6672
Photo: Hannah Whitaker
Clover Club’s Glögg
The ever-crowd-pleasing spiced-wine punch, powered with aquavit and port and steeped with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg overnight.
$12; 210 Smith St., nr. Butler St., Cobble Hill; 718-855-7939
Photo: Hannah Whitaker
