10 warm rum cocktails to sip this winter in NYC

We named the gorgeous Queens destination, Dutch Kills, the best bar in NY, so naturally, they’ve got exactly what you’re looking for: cocktails as innovative as they are delicious. Exhibit A: combining Jamaican rum, orgeat, banana liquor, and coffee, the Hot n’ Dirty Banana is served in a stout mug and topped with hand-shaken sweet cream. 

Down a flight of stairs, The Honeywell is serving up deliciously inventive cocktails, thoughtful bar bites, and funky 70s vibes. Their take on a classic, The Hot Buttered One, puts Ten To One Spiced Caribbean Rum front and center, with a luxurious beurre monté of warm spices in orange-infused water.

The Barlow’s corner location in Prospect Heights, retro aesthetic, and excellent beer selection make it a low-key neighborhood favorite. Their grown-up hot chocolate, The Alpine Rescue, is spiced rum, hot chocolate, and whipped cream. Mixology? Maybe not. The perfect way to warm up a casual hang with friends? Absolutely.

Fulfilling its promise as a farm-to-bar establishment, Festivál Cafe’s saucily-titled offering belies its wholesome derivation: grass-fed butter sourced from the establishment’s own dairy farm is browned and combined with miso and caramel, lending this Jamaican spiced rum drink a sweet/salty umami note. 

The Bar at 47, Bar 47, 47 Bruckner–whichever moniker one uses to refer to this boogie-down bastion, visitors will be charmed by the collegial, welcoming, neighborhood atmosphere. On offer is a pool table and well-rounded menu including their seasonal warmer, Rumble in the Bronx–a spiced, velvety vin chaud fortified with dark rum and plum brandy. 

Prospect Heights’ Olmsted has ably set up shop at the intersection of neighborhood casual and fine dining, with thoughtful food and cocktails that celebrate quality ingredients. Head Bartender Andrew Zerrip proffers the ur-hot buttered rum: emulsifying a quenelle of whipped/spiced batter into a blend of Smith & Cross and Goslings rums, and finishing with grated nutmeg.

Supplying their neighborhood with precisely what it needs is the name of the lovely little restaurant’s game, so true-to-form, when your soul cries out for a fuzzy sweater in a glass, order their version of the HBR: Goslings black rum, sugar, vanilla extract, and a medallion of rich, spice-infused butter.

Drinking at Sugar Monk is an experience marked by intimacy and careful design. This creative attention to detail goes right down to the cocktails, including the Fall Milk Grog–an apple-forward blend of aged rum, botanicals, citrus, apple cider, maple, and bitters with a rolled edge of demerara sugar. It’s autumn in a cup.

If you’re on Staten Island and in the market for a date night spot or a late-night cocktail odyssey, hit The Coupe. Here, visitors will find a romantic ambiance, excellent bar snacks, and a menu of well-priced, expertly crafted cocktails including El Choco loco: Mexican rum, spicy Abuelita hot chocolate, ginger, cinnamon, and honey finished with chocolate powder and marshmallows … a ferry ride might just be in your future.

Duck down in the 50th Street Downtown 1 subway station and warm up quick with this ultra-cool, ultra-vibey hidden gem of a cocktail bar. The hot rum cocktail evokes a Caribbean beach, harmonizing the sweet, gingery notes of Jamaican Hibiscus with vanilla liquor and spiced rum.