📍 Jingle Jangle @ The Dead Rabbit, New York City

Every year around this time, bars create holiday popups with wintery and seasonal cocktails. This and day-long NBA basketball is how I celebrate Christmas and the holidays. The Dead Rabbit is regularly on the best bars in the world lists. They also do one of the more complete holiday bar takeovers. They print gorgeous new menus, put up signage, and copious decorations. It’s a really special thing to them.

The first drink I had was the Gingerbread Man. It’s got Bourbon and Irish Whiskey, spices, and golden syrup. Think of this as a spiced, sweeter, Old Fashioned. Spirit forward in taste but the spice punches you. The typical bite from Bushmills was masked with the sweetness of Bourbon and golden syrup. The little citrus gingerbread person was such a great touch.

The next drink is the Figgy Pudding. This had more complexity than the Gingerbread Man. This mixed Whiskey, Guinness, Fig, Blackcurrant (Crème de cassis I assume), Honey, Baking Spices, and Lemon. This was so smooth and almost creamy in texture. Some of this comes from the beer. In some cocktails, you can pick out the individual flavors, but this was a singular complex flavor. For my taste, I could easily have drank this without realizing there was alcohol in it. The fig and blackcurrant just pulled it all together for me as a singular sip.

My last drink here was the Naughty List. This one also had Whiskey (notice my theme?), Blended Scotch, Chocolate, Oats (I assume oat milk), and Salted Caramel Cream. This was a boozy hot chocolate, served warm. As I drank this, I noticed three distinct flavors that would sometimes combine depending on how big a sip I took: Whiskey + Scotch, Hot Chocolate, and Salted Caramel Cream. It’s the dessert of the three. If you’ve had the Irish Coffee at The Dead Rabbit, you know they know how to make a great cream. This one is no exception as the hint of salted caramel was a wonderful offset to the bite of the Whiskey and Scotch.

📍Jingle Jangle @ The Dead Rabbit
30 Water St, New York, NY 10004

If you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy sharing them, please consider buying me a coffee. I might just write about it. ☕ Buy me a coffee.tastes