Best of Lounge 2013 - The Voting Begins

McIlroy & Ross of Attaboy up for Best New Cocktail Bar

Welcome to the Best of Lounge 2013 Voting!

Click here to VOTE!

The categories open for your consideration are: 

Best New Cocktail Bar/Lounge

• Golden Cadillac (New York)
• Long Island Bar (Brooklyn)
• Sweet Leaf (Queens)
• Dead Rabbit (New York)
• Attaboy (New York)

Best New York Cocktail Bar/Lounge 

• Clover Club (Brooklyn)
• Dutch Kills (Queens)
• Death & Company (New York)
• Employees Only (New York)
• Amor y Amargo (New York)

Best New York Hotel Bar

• Rum House at Edison Hotel
• Lantern's Keep at Iroquois Hotel
• Library Bar at NoMad Hotel
• Bemelmans Bar at Carlyle Hotel
• King Cole Bar at St. Regis Hotel

Most Sought After Ingredient/Bar tool for the Home Bar

• Dale DeGroff's Pimento Aromatic Bitters 
• "Home Bar Basics (and not so basics)" manual by Dave Stolte
• Tuthilltown Distillery Barrel Aging Kit
• Leather Work Apron from Moore & Giles
• Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters by Dr. Adam Elmegirab

Best Barfood 

• Charcuterie at Employees Only
• Scotch Egg at The Dead Rabbit
• Bill's Burger at Bill's Food & Drink
• Derby Cobb Salad at the Astor Room
• Oyster Happy Hour at Maison Premiere

Best Burlesque Act or Performance 

• Coney Island's Enchanted Tiki Room, Lefty Lucy & Co.
• Take Back the 80s Burlesque - Francine "The Lucid Dream"
• Gotham Burlesque at Triad Theatre
• Nuit Blanche: Dolls After Dark at Beaumarchais
• Drunken Dragon at Macao - Calamity "The Asian Sexation" Chang & Minx Arcana

Best Dressed Lounger

• Eff Blangiardo, Acolyte of Sprezzatura
• Michael Haar, Barber and Radioflyer
• Grace Gotham, Chanteuse and Burlesque vixen 
• Robert Kennedy, OcTIEber aficionado
• Dandy Wellington, Song and Dance Man

Diane L. Naegel Award for Best Lounge/Retro/Vintage Event

• Club Wit's End 5th Annual Black Cat Masquerade
• Jazz Age Picnic at Governor's Island
• The Salon: New Year's Eve Eve at DL Lounge
• Loungerati Staff Beefsteak Dinner
• Manhattan Cocktail Classic Gala at NY Public Library

Viva La Music Award: Best Jazz/Swing/Lounge Band

• JC Hopkins Biggish Band
• Michael Arenella & The Dreamland Orchestra
• Gelber & Manning
• Dandy Wellington & His Band
• Terry Waldo, Ragtime piano man at Dead Rabbit and Rum House

David A. Embury Award: Best Cocktail of 2013

• The Midtown (Booker's Bourbon, house made sweet vermouth, Nardini Amaro, Maraschino, grapefruit peel, burnt sugar sour cherry), Bryan Schneider for Quality Italian
• Brancolada (Branca Menta, Appleton Estate V/X, coconut cream, pineapple juice, orange juice, mint sprig), Jeremy Ortel for Donna Cocktail Lounge
• Spanish Crown (Lemon-grass infused mezcal, Suze, creme de violette, La Gitana sherry, blueberries), Maxwell Britten for Maison Premiere
• Banker's Punch (Redbreast 12 Year Cask Strength Irish Whiskey, Dead Rabbit Jamaican Rum Mix, fresh lime juice, raspberry cordial, Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters, dashes Graham’s LBV Port Wine), The Dead Rabbit
• Form of Flattery (El Dorado 12 Year Rum, lime juice, pineapple juice, beet juice, nutmeg Falernum, grapefruit peel), Pouring Ribbons Bar

Additional categories will be voted by the Loungerati editors and include:

• Best Saloon
• Best Seat in the House
• Best Cocktail for the Road
• Best of the International Bars
• Best Dive aka the Gutter Award
• Don't Bruise The Ice Award for Premier Ice Program
• Brian F. Paynter Award: Lounger Number One

Deadline to cast your votes is November 30th, the winners will be announced on Loungerati's 7th birthday Dec 5th (Repeal Day of course).

Cheers!

Fredo, Eff, & The Senator

Destinations: Nitehawk Cinema's "Spirits, Dinner and a Movie" with the Dead Rabbit on August 7th

Our friends at award winning cocktail den The Dead Rabbit have team up with Nitehawk Cinema for the very first Spirits, Dinner and a Movie! The feature film will be Gangs of New York with food and cocktail parings throughout the Scorsese classic. This is a cannot miss event.

Here is the press release and Cocktail/Dinner menu:

Fresh on the heels of their three-time win at the 11th annual Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards (International Bartender of the Year, World’s Best Cocktail Menu and World’s Best New Cocktail Bar), The Dead Rabbit’s Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry will launch Nitehawk Cinema’s very first “Spirits, Dinner and a Movie” event on Wednesday, August 7th in Williamsburg.  Teaming up with the best bartenders in the city, this series is the newest of Nitehawk’s creative repertory programming, combining moviegoer’s favorite things: fantastic drinks, food, and film.

The first feature is Martin Scorsese’s 2002 fictional historical drama, Gangs of New York, which depicts the violent rise of gangland power in New York City. Larger than life, the film has it all: history, love, loyalty, revenge, and true O.G. gang violence. The best part? As with Nitehawk’s “Beer, Dinner and a Movie” and “Film Feast” series, the audience will be served each course during the specific moments inspired by the film.

AUGUST 7 - 7PM ($95)

GANGS OF NY - with The Dead Rabbit

Martin Scorsese • 2002 • 187 Mins. • USA • English • 35mm • Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, Liam Neeson, John C. Reilly • R

In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father’s killer. 

Food & Cocktail Menu

Bill The Butcher Redbreast 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey, poire eau de vie, lemon sherbet, Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters, mace tincture, boiling water, freshly grated nutmeg 

The Dead Rabbit rabbit terrine, whiskey aspic, torn bread

Old Smoke Morrissey

Redbreast 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey, Dolin Rouge Sweet Vermouth, Chartreuse Verte, Bittermens Orange Cream Citrate, Pernod Absinthe, Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters

Three Square Meals bacon and red skinned potato hash, poached quail egg; smoked whitefish salad, celery, My Friend’s Mustard**; blue fish ceviche, lime, jalapeno, tomato

Reddy The Blacksmith Redbreast 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey, Dead Rabbit Jamaican Rum Mix, Grahams LBV Port Wine, fresh lime juice, raspberry cordial, Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters 

Whose Man Are You? port aged rib eye, champ, watercress

Paddy The Priest

small serving of Guinness & Redbreast 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey 

The Return of The Dead Rabbits rabbit loin, braised cabbage, mustard sauce

Challenge Accepted

blueberry and bourbon pie, guinness ice cream

Harry The Soldier Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength Irish Whiskey, lemon & orange sherbet, Suze Gentiane, eucalyptus tincture, Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters, tamarind nectar, Assam tea

Food & Cocktail Menu is subject to change.

**My Friend’s Mustard (beer mustard born in Brooklyn, raised in Detroit) locally made by friend-of-Nitehawk, Nick Dodge

Follow on twitter, #SpiritsDinner:

@NitehawkCinema

@deadrabbitnyc

Where to get a decent cocktail in NYC during Tales of the Cocktail week

The crew behind the stick at Attaboy this week

Once a year, the world's best craft bartenders, taste makers, brand ambassadors, drinks writers, liquor sponsors, and cocktail aficionados plus a legion of media and public relations people descend on the New Orleans for a week of booze filled seminars, "spirited dinners", tough talking competitions, liquor tastings, and brand sponsored parties. Yes, it is time for Tales of the Cocktail again, the culinary and booze festival that is a bonafide  CocktailCon for the industry.

In past years, many of New York’s cocktail imbibers took the week off and substituted their daiquiris for a shot and beer. Their favorite drink slingers were partying it up in the Big Easy so why even bother? Fear not friends, times have changed as new generations of craft bartenders have expanded the city’s already deep bench of bartending talent. There will be no cocktail drought this year. In addition to a slew of young and up and coming bartenders, many veterans and legends will be in town this year.

The following is a list of 10 top shelf watering holes and the talent behind the stick this Wednesday through Saturday July 17 – 20:

• Attaboy (134 Eldridge Street) – Award winning barmen Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy are staying in town this year with their whole crew including bright boys Brandon Bramhall, Andrew Rice, and Dan Greenbaum. Expect lots of citrus forward seasonal cocktails and aperitifs.
• Clover Club (210 Smith Street) – Travis St. Germain, Ryan Lilila, and Pedro Rojas will be keeping Brooklyners wet with their delicious array of cocktails and small plates.
• Employees Only (510 Hudson Street) – The party never stops at EO, where Bratislav Glisic and Ulysses Vidal keep high volume cocktails flowing till the chicken soup is served.
• Macao Trading Company (311 Church Street) – Good guys Gabe Lerner and Vincent Vitek will be serving up libations Drunken Dragon style.
•  Ward III (111 Reade Street) – Consummate hosts Kenneth McCoy and Abdul Tabini with young guns Mikey Diehl and Dustin Olson will be making bespoke cocktails for your pleasure.
• Rum House (228 West 47^th Street) – Old pros Nino Cirabisi and Abel Rodriquez joined by young buck Eric Job will be cranking out libations for the Times Square crowd. Stop by for a drink and the live piano.
• Death & Company (433 East 6^th Street) –Jason Littrell will be back from Tales and working Saturday July 20^th with Natasha David while new boys Scott Teague and Tyson Buhler cover the rest of the week
• Mayahuel (304 East 6^th Street) – Phil Ward’s cantina and agave mecca is fully operational with Jeremy Oertel and Jordan Brower holding the fort on Saturday July 20^th with Jordan Bower and Natasha David covering tags the rest of the week.
• The Dead Rabbit (30 Water Street) – Jack McGarry & Sean Muldoon assure us that they have a deep bench and it will be business as usual at the Financial District cocktail destination. Expect signature punches, toddies, slings, and a encyclopedia of clever cocktails.
• Amor y Amargo (443 East 6th Street) – Barman Sother Teague is flying up a ringer from Atlanta, Mr. Ari Form makes his triumphant return to NYC. Get your bitters and amaro fix on!

So get out there and support your local NYC cocktail bar! The show must go on!