Upstairs, The Dead Rabbit

Recently, The Dead Rabbit won Best American Bar. Fortunately the bar was near where they held the Manhattan Cocktail Classic Industry Invitational this year. After MCC seminars and tasting rooms, many in the industry met up at Dead Rabbit. We first invaded the rowdy and friendly taproom and kept an eye on when they opened the upstairs parlor bar.

I’m really happy we made it in and sat at the bar with what seemed like hundreds of tinctures. Sitting pretty at the bar, it was all very impressive.

the menu

We were given a welcome drink in delicate tea cups while we perused the exciting menu. The illustrated menu has several categories. Are you fresh, fiery, sharp, strong, bitter, ambitious, cultivated or low-spirited (or as I like to say, low-proof)? You can view it online. 

The Dead Rabbit cocktail

In the end, I decided on the eponymous Dead Rabbit. It seemed right to go with a low-proof drink after tasting spirits and drinks all day. Plus we were getting food and low-proof generally works better with food. The apertif wine and sherry cocktail supported the calming flavors of peach, orange and chamomile. Bittermens is also one of my favorite bitters companies and I liked this drink quite a bit with their Boston Bittahs (not a typo).

Dead Rabbit – Quinine-infused aperitif wine, manzanilla sherry, peach, orange, chamomile, Bittermens Boston Bittahs

mini lobster rolls

The food menu is more extensive in the pub so try eating there first but there are some food options available upstairs. We opted for some solid mini lobster rolls. I loved that we were able to add a fourth mini so my friend and I each had two.

We also had Scotch eggs because I can never resist the sausage-encrusted morsels.

Tap Room, The Dead Rabbit

The Tap Room was definitely rowdy and appeared to be a Jameson bar. Tons of the Irish whiskey lined the back bar. I looked over the menu and decided to get a simple highball, the Hell Cat Maggie which is a horse’s neck.

Hell Cat Maggie

But what a horse’s neck! The cognac and ginger ale drink was topped with house Dead Rabbit orinoco bitters and had a touch of expressed lemon oil.

Hell Cat Maggie – Rémy VS Cognac, Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters, lemon essence and Canada Dry Ginger Ale

If a shot, a beer or a highball doesn’t do you, head back upstairs to the genteel Parlor.

The Dead Rabbit

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