New York's Craft Cocktail Bars Enter a More Playful Era
After years of speakeasy seriousness, the city's bartenders are loosening up with whimsical drinks and welcoming rooms.
New York's cocktail scene is lightening up. After years of hushed speakeasies and reverent mixology, the city's bartenders are embracing a more playful era, with whimsical drinks, brighter rooms, and a lot less attitude.
The shift trades solemnity for fun without sacrificing craft. The fictional bar Comet in the East Village serves ambitious cocktails with a wink, its menu full of jokes and its room loud and welcoming. Its owners say drinkers were ready to enjoy themselves again.
The change reflects a broader loosening in hospitality, as bars compete on warmth as much as technique. The precision that defined the cocktail revival remains, but the mood has shifted from library to party.
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