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Night and Day

Cocktails that easily transition from a New Year's Eve toast to a New Year's Day brunch.


This could be you.   

Night: The Tao (Yang) (Recipe)
Day: The Tao (Yin) (Recipe)
Dave Danger, Kimoto Rooftop
Downtown Brooklyn's recently opened Kimoto Rooftop Beer Garden specializes in Asian-inspired cocktails. For New Year's, head bartender Dave Danger puts a citrus twist on the classic Champagne toast with the addition of curacao liqueur, yuzu, and persimmon. Using that base, amp it up at night by adding dark rum and Angostura bitters. "Persimmon and rosemary are right for the season and the distinct tartness of yuzu citrus really balances out the drink," says Danger. "Dark rum helps this cocktail transition seamlessly into the nighttime hours waiting to ring in the New Year.”


Lucy's Diamond  

Night: Lucy's Diamond (Recipe)
Day: Lucy’s Mimosa (Recipe)
Nico Szymanski, Mr. Purple
You don't want to head into 2016 totally incapacitated, so the Gerber Group's Nico Szymanski suggests keeping it light with a reverse-engineered classic Champagne cocktail combining Combier Pamplemousse, orange-blossom water, lemon bitters, and Champagne. To transition it to brunch the next day, just replace the bitters with grapefruit juice. "We wanted to make it fresher and more vibrant, hence the use of grapefruit cordial and orange blossom in lieu of Angostura and a sugar cube," says Szymanski. "The ice cube is the 'diamond.'"

Night: Rooftop Waltz (Recipe)
Day: The Jinx (Recipe)
Michael Neff, Holiday Cocktail Lounge
To toast the New Year, Michael Neff of the revamped Holiday Cocktail Lounge recommends the Rooftop Waltz, a heady combination of gin, two types of amaro, and Champagne. "It's garnished with a kiss for good luck, which never hurts to ring in a New Year," he says. And the next day, he has your stomach in mind with the Jinx, which uses the same gin-amaro base without the bubbly: "The Jinx combines bitter, sweet, and sour flavors with the citrus notes of the Brooklyn gin, and is meant to be a slow sipper after an abundant brunch," he adds.


The Wagon-Lit  

Night: Wagon-Lit (Recipe)
Day: Dining Car (Recipe)
Chaim Dauermann, Up & Up
At the Up & Up in Greenwich Village, head bartender Chaim Dauermann's inventive drinks have amassed a following among craft-cocktail enthusiasts. In the Wagon-Lit, Dauermann creates a variation on the Negroni, with cognac, chocolate bitters, amaro, and sherry. "Great for after dinner. And long after dinner," he says. For a daytime drink, he swaps out the cognac and bitters for soda water, resulting in the Americano-esque Dining Car. "This drink is refreshing on the palate, but still dark and rich enough to stand up to winter weather around the New Year. Perfect for daytime sipping, and ideal as an aperitif," he says.

Night: Noche Nueva (Recipe)
Day: Ring It True (Recipe)
Ivy Mix, Leyenda
For her drinks, Leyenda's Ivy Mix went for a Latin riff on a French 75, that seemingly innocuous but potent Champagne cocktail, adding pineapple juice and substituting Pisco for gin. "Everyone wants bubbles at night or in the morning," she says. "At night, a little Pisco gives the drink more oomph, and for the day, we take that away for easy drinking and hangover-curing."


The Isla Del Sol  

Night: Isla Del Sol (Recipe)
Day: Vineyard Sun (Recipe)
Meaghan Dorman, the Bennett
The Isla del Sol is on the menu of mixologist Meaghan Dorman's (Raines Law Room, Dear Irving) latest venture, the Bennett in Tribeca. In it, peach liqueur is added to verjus, hibiscus iced tea, and vodka. For the daytime variation, called the Vineyard Sun, swap out the vodka for white wine. "These cocktails are light and bright, so they are easy to drink in a social situation and they look beautiful to hold," says Dorman. "You can drink a few and still feel pretty good, and they aren't the kind of slow, sipping drinks that tend to cap off an evening. These are fun drinks to cheers with."

Night: Airmail (Recipe)
Day: Bee's Knees (Recipe)
Eben Freeman, Genuine Liquorette
Eben Freeman's drinks at AvroKO's newest drinking den, Genuine Liquorette, may veer into mad-scientist territory (he developed a machine to make cocktails in cans, for example), but for the at-home partier he suggests simple, tried-and-true libations. His variation on an Airmail cocktail (gin, lemon juice, honey syrup, and Champagne) transitions into the Prohibition-era Bee's Knees, with just the subtraction of the Champagne.


The Rooftop Sunset  

Night: The Walk Down (Recipe)
Day: Rooftop Sunset (Recipe)
Frank Caiafa, La Chine at the Waldorf Astoria
Frank Caiafa of the new Chinese restaurant and bar La Chine, in the Waldorf Astoria, begins his evening cocktail with the highly aromatic barley-based Kintaro Shochu. "In the Champagne-based cocktail, it adds a backbone with a dark note, offsetting the honey in a very (or too!) easy drinking way," says Caifa. It also mixes easily with dry vermouth, honey syrup, and Peychaud's bitters. For a special daytime drink, switch out the dry vermouth for sparkling wine and swap the cocktail glass for a Champagne flute. Add lemon peel, for garnish.


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