Yusho's Two Tribes

Bar manager Alex Bachman's delicious, spirit-forward rendition of an Old Fashioned features a house-made barrel-aged stone fruit bitters. Bachman emphasizes the importance of aging the bitters in a used American oak barrel, which can be difficult to source. He either uses seasoned casks from Willett or the distillery's smaller 20-liter new oak barrels, which he then seasons with grain neutral spirit to remove primary wood tannin. Do not use new oak, he notes, as the wood tannins will overwhelm s...

Cinnamon-Tamarind Margarita

This margarita is super tart and fresh, with the slightly earthy notes of tamarind and cinnamon coming through. Use a good 100% agave tequila, blanco or reposado. The spice of the tequila echoes beautifully though this cocktail, and a little Cointreau adds a hint of orangey sweetness.

Bamboo

I love well-made vermouth, and this is a good drink to showcase its potential. The Bamboo dates to at least the early 20th century, and unlike most cocktails you come across, it has a more modest payload, being based on equal parts dry vermouth and dry sherry (I like the bone-dry crispness of manzanilla in mine, though you could explore the range of dry sherries with this drink; an oloroso or amontillado could have interesting results).

Tobacco Road

Pairing smoky mezcal with briny sherry and vegetal Cynar makes for one tasty drink with a great tobacco-laced scent. A pinch of salt and a grapefruit twist help bring out the flavors.

Southern Baptist

Sother Teague of Amor y Amargo in NYC shared this rye cocktail with us, and it's a winner, spicy with lots of fresh ginger and bright from a bunch of fresh lime.

Aviary's Bitter

The Bitter cocktail, from the Aviary in Chicago, is served in a glass that's been smoked over a piece of smoldering bourbon barrel stave, which is custom-cut by the cocktail lounge's industrial designer. Fear not—we love this cocktail with or without the touch of smokiness! But if you're feeling adventurous and want to truly re-create this drink at home, used small-format, seasoned barrels are available for purchase online from New York's Tuthilltown Spirits, makers of Hudson whiskey.

Krangostura Bitters

These Krangostura Bitters, a loose play on the quintessential Angostura brand, are brimming with clove and cardamom and supported by a backbone of gentian root and cinchona bark. Try them in your next Manhattan or Old Fashioned and branch out from there.

The Trident

The Negroni is a classic cocktail composed of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari. The Trident takes the same formula, but swaps out each of the ingredients. In place of the herbaceous character of gin, the Trident uses the cumin-and-caraway flavors of aquavit ; sweet vermouth is replaced with the nuttiness of dry sherry; and for the bitter edge, Cynar takes the place of Campari.

Partly Cloudy

A riff on a Dark and Stormy; the resemblance comes in the pairing of ginger and rum (and, well, the name). At the Spotted Pig, bar manager Ryan Gannon makes his own falernum: a sweet syrup that uses allspice and ginger and clove and lime zest steeped in over-proof rum "until it gets nice and happy," when it's combined with simple syrup with almond extract; in the drink, it commingles with lime and grapefruit juice along with Mount Gay rum, Aperol, and ginger beer.

Darkside

This smooth sipper from Adam Bernbach of Proof in Washington, DC has undertones of cherry and anise.