Bar openings and events in NYC

Forget Ray's—this season, it's all about Tay's. Following that successful Taylor Swift-inspired takeover last May, the Lower East Side hangout will now make Swiftie programming a more ongoing occurrence. Yes, it’s gonna be a “Cruel Sumer” over on Chrystie Street: those looking to relive their Eras Tour highs can come to “Tay’s” every Thursday night at 7pm to enjoy surprise drink specials, limited-edition “Tay’s at Ray’s” merchandise and their favorite T. Swift tracks (are you more “Fortnight” or “Florida!!!”?) curated by a lineup of guest DJs. 

Back by popular demand for one night only, two NYC icons Great Jones Distillery and Murray’s Cheese are coming together for a joint tasting of bold New York whiskeys and fine hand-selected cheeses. On November 8, the 90-minute event will include a tour of the distillery and a guided tasting with the teams from both Great Jones and Murray’s Cheese, through four different cheese selections and four whiskey varieties, including the Distillery Exclusive Peated Scotch Cask Bourbon.

We admit—we have a crush on orange wine. And we aren't the only ones. Take Lower East wine shop, Orange Glou. This neon orange wine shop is dedicated to the stuff, curating a lineup of natural wines from across the world. As a way to celebrate all things orange comes the return of the wine shop's yearly festival: Orange Glou Fair.  On November 3, sip more than 100 wines from around the world, including rare bottlings and hard-to-find vintages at the Orange Glou Fair. Held at Union Square, this year's annual fest is focusing on three countries that are producing some of the world’s best—Austria, Italy and Slovenia. Meet the winemakers, schmooze with fellow oenophiles and drink to your heart's desire.

There are a lot of cocktail-making classes in New York, but Manhattan’s first legal distillery to open since Prohibition, Great Jones, does it just right. Set within its underground speakeasy, its two-hour class, The Shake Up, taught me how to make two actually-delicious cocktails with its smooth whiskey—but that’s not all. To start the class, we were whisked into the distillery where we had a quick tour and learned about the distilling process and the different kinds of whisky that are made on site—helping set the scene for the imbibing we were about to do below.  Once downstairs, we were immediately greeted with a Great Jones Straight Bourbon Smoked Old Fashioned (a welcome cocktail) and a solid charcuterie board (smoked almonds, marinated olives, dark chocolate coins, Jasper Hills Farm Alpha Tolman cheese, Jasper Hills Farms Moses, American Prosciutto and housemade sourdough crackers) at each table. To my surprise, we did a tasting of a few of the Great Jones Straight Bourbons, which already had me wondering how I’d get through making two cocktails. Our mixologist Ren took us step-by-step on how to make a Boulevardier and a Paper Plane, giving us tips and tricks along the way, including how to use (and open) a cocktail shaker and how to smoke one. The welcoming and cozy atmosphere helped me to relax and just learn, too, rather than being anxious about not being the best mixologist. I definitely made a few spills along the way, but I learned so much about why whiskey pulls