Rye Whiskey

There's probably no one perfect hotel bar cocktail, but this one comes pretty damn close. (No wonder: The New York hotel is co-owned by Daniel Humm and Will Guidara of the restaurant Eleven Madison Park; EMP's Leo Robitschek oversees the drinks.)

This wine-spiked whiskey sour is our pick for comeback cocktail of the year.

On a steamy New Orleans street called Rue Royal, in the early 19th century, a descendant of escaped slaves assembled a surprising mix of ingredients to make a cocktail that would outlast fads, floods, and whatever else his town could dish out. Antoine Peychaud's original elixir was a combination of Cognac, from Sazerac de Forge et Fils in France, and bitters made by Peychaud himself. Today the cocktail has evolved into a sublime mixture of rye whiskey, absinthe, bitters, lemon peel, and a hint o
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