The County’s Coolest Hot Drinks

We’re not denying that cold cocktails have their charms (like heavy highballs full of clinking cubes), but when the weather gets frosty, nothing soothes like warm libations. Cold? Chapped? Chilly? Curl up around one of these steamy sips, and all you’ll feel is flushing cheeks, warming toes, and a slightly accelerated alcoholic buzz.
We’ve taken a spin around the County in search of our coolest warm drinks. Here’s what we’ve found.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns
630 Bedford Rd, Pocantico Hills
(914) 366-9600; bluehillfarm.com
Blue Hill at Stone Barns’ resident cocktail genius, GM Philippe Gouze, is offering a new trio of thermal blasts this year that he’s calling herbal grogs. They’re composed of strong, homegrown herbal tisanes reinforced with dried spices and liquor. Look for soothing brews of spearmint/cardamom pod/and Tuthilltown “white lightning” corn whiskey; chamomile/lavender/Stone Barns honey/and Tuthilltown Heart of the Hudson vodka; and lemon verbena/pink peppercorn/ginger/ and BHSB-infused verbena vodka. Mmmmm—but then they already had us at white lightning.

Brasserie Swiss
118 Croton Ave, Ossining
(914) 941-0319; brasserieswiss.com
It’s no surprise that the snowbound Swiss favor warm cocktails, and at Brasserie Swiss, you’ll find two. Look for gluehwein— warmed red wine, made nose-ticklingly spicy with a fragrant reduction of water, sugar, cloves, and cinnamon. Or, if your tastes run sweeter and richer, opt for nuessler—gently heated Frangelico liqueur, topped with a loose, melting dollop of schlag (whipped cream).

- Advertisement -

Crabtree’s Kittle House
11 Kittle Rd, Chappaqua
(914) 666-8044; kittlehouse.com
This Revolutionary War-era landmark can do no wrong when it takes locally pressed Wilkens Fruit Farm apple cider and steeps it in oranges and aromatic spices, including cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and star anise. Of course, this fragrant brew only gets better when it morphs into the Kittle House’s mulled cider cocktail; that’s when it gets spiked with Domaine Dupont’s four-year-old Fine Reserve Calvados.

Ritz-Carlton Lobby Lounge
One Renaissance Sq, White Plains
(914) 946-5500; ritzcarlton.com
Snuggle down in the plush Ritz-Carlton Lobby Lounge club chairs and enjoy the flicker of its peninsular fireplace. What could be better on a blustery winter evening? We’ll tell you what—a hand-warming mug of the Lobby Lounge’s hot fruit punch, a Dickensian brew of pears, apples, and oranges made tropical with guava and the heady notes of rum.

Tarry Lodge
18 Mill St, Port Chester
(914) 939-3111; tarrylodge.com
Caffè corretto, a short espresso “corrected” by a shot of liquor, packs a double whammy: its buzz is boosted by caffeine. And while you could always opt for Tarry Lodge’s standard slug of Sambuca, insiders choose a corrective dose of Calabrone grappa. This is the Bastianich Vineyards distillation drawn from the skins and lees of its Calabrone Rosso, an Amarone-style wine made from painstakingly dried Refosco, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot grapes. Once the caffè corretto’s done its job, you’ll be primed for one of Tarry Lodge’s grappa flights: wooden-boxed samplers showcasing a seasonal spectrum of house-infused firewaters. Recent hits include sour cherry, apple, pear/ginger, and ruta—the bitter evergreen called rue in English.

Our Best of Westchester Readers' Ballot is open through January 15!

Our Women in Business Awards event is November 21!

Our Best of Business event is October 30!

Our CEOs & Business Leaders Golf Outing is August 5!

Our Best of Westchester Party is July 24!

Our Westchester Home Design Awards event is June 26!

Our Wine & Food Festival returns June 4-9!

Our Wunderkinds event takes place on May 23!

Our Best of Business Ballot is open through May 15!

Our Healthcare Heroes Awards event takes place on May 9!

Our Westchester Home Builders Awards take place on April 4!

Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Forum is March 14!

Unveiled: A Boutique Bridal Brunch is February 25!

Holiday flash sale ... subscribe and save 50%

Limited time offer. New subscribers only.