Eight Nightcaps From America’s Best Bars

Upgrade your end-of-day drink with these cocktail concoctions.

Back row (from left): After-School Special, Grand Street Cocktail, Rum & Tonic, Off Broadway, Pineapple Rum Rickey. Front row: Corn ’n’ Oil, The White Walker, Play Crack the Sky.
Photographer: Caroline Tompkins for Bloomberg Businessweek; Photos: Alamy; Getty

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By Sierra Tishgart

November 23, 2016 at 4:00 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the November 28, 2016 issue of businessweek.

Grand Street Cocktail
Jessie Duré, bar manager at New York’s famed, newly reopened speakeasy Chumley’s, makes this soothing concoction with a dash of amaro. It’s great for settling your stomach before bed.

One bag of Sleepytime tea, steeped in 4 oz. of hot water for 3 minutes
½ oz. Amaro Montenegro
½ oz. sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters

Remove tea bag. Add amaro, vermouth, and bitters. Drop in a lemon wedge. Stir.

Rum & Tonic
“A nightcap for me usually revolves around really good tonic water,” says Tara Gallina, co-owner of Vicia in St. Louis. It’s easy to stock in the fridge and easy on the stomach, and it’ll gussy up whatever booze you have on hand.

2 oz. dark rum
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 bottle Fever-Tree tonic
1 lime wedge

Pour rum and bitters over ice. Stir and top with tonic and a squeeze of lime.