Speaking Easily About Winter Cocktails at Atlanta Restaurants

Cocktails at No. 246

Ice has its place in the winter, preferably sparkling in a glass ready to host a mixologist’s potion at one of Atlanta’s warm and amiable restaurants. While we won’t divulge recipes, we will share some of the ingredients and tip you toward places to find the alluring elixirs.

At Fifth Group Restaurants, mixologists generate cocktails with vision. Picture where you’ll be as you sip The Shores of Paris made with Breckenridge Vodka, Lillet Rouge and Combier and Kümmel liqueurs; Fireside with smoky hints of Fidencio Mezcal Joven, The Irishman Irish Whiskey, Flor de Cana 7-year Rum, Grand Marnier and bitters; Brickwalker with baked apple and black walnut bitters muddled with Dolin Rouge Vermouth dressed with Bulleit Rye, a sugar cube and a brandied cherry; and the forceful Renegade of Redemption Rye, Cynar, amaretto and bitters.

For a cocktail as lovely to look at as to imbibe, try the elegant Haute Holiday at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. Each champagne flute bubbles with Mionetto Prosecco, St. Germain and Quady Elysium. Spice girls and guys may crave the Merry Mint Spice where Gentleman Jack, Domaine De Canton Ginger Liqueur, POM juice, simple syrup and fresh mint leaves meet over ice in a bucket glass.

Atlanta’s Westside is home to JCT. Kitchen & Bar where guests are going gaga over winter mixers such as the Poinsettia with poached cranberries, Ruby Liqueur and prosecco; Stocking Full of Coal with Gosling’s Black Rum, Nux Alpina Walnut Liqueur, Black Strap Molasses and Smuttynose Porter; Figgy Pudding rich with brown sugar syrup, aromatic bitters and fig-infused Jim Beam; Reindeer Games  playfully blending Averell Damson Gin, Knickerbocker Gin, Leopold’s Cranberry Liqueur, lemon and cranberry bitters; Feliz Navidad’s heady blend of Lunazul-infused cinnamon, Domain de Canton Ginger Liqueur, chocolate and orange; a Little Rummer Boy that snares vanilla-infused 10 Cane Rum, falernum, Tuaca Liqueur, lemon juice and Whiskey Barrel Bitters; a heartwarming Mistle Toddy mug of spiced Redemption Rye, Cherry Heering, honey and chai tea; and Mull it Over served hot, cold, sparkling or still with mulled wine, wassail and spiced cider.

This winter, The Optimist promises smooth sailing with a cocktail glass or mug for every taste. Coconut eggnog twists a tropical classic of eggs, cream, Brinley Gold Shipwreck Spiced Rum, coconut milk and nutmeg while Shandy Claus wraps a woodsy blend of Tanqueray, Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur of the Alps, IPA, lemon, sugar and grapefruit bitters. Cold noses will thaw over Mexican hot chocolate spiked with Hangar One Chipotle Vodka, Kahlua, cinnamon and sea salt or a hot buttered rum with The Kraken Black Spiced Rum, cinnamon-clove butter and brown sugar. Ticklers include Christmas on Cape Cod, which tops citrus vodka and cranberry juice with a prosecco floater and spice-poached New England cranberries or the Sparkle Motion of cava, true-pomegranate grenadine and pomegranate seeds.

Come in from the cold to cheery No. 246 in downtown Decatur where gem-hewed glasses include Pimm’s Cup, Red Ryder, Poinsettia, Royal Tannenbaum and a fragrant spiked cider with a cinnamon bark swizzle stick.

Ten nostalgically named winter signature cocktails top the cocktail menu at The Pinewood in Decatur. Roots Radicals mixes Bulleit Bourbon, Angostura Bitters, sugar beet, Maraschino and lime; El Wormhole shakes up Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, Fidencio Mezcal, amaretto, caramelized apple gastrique and bitters; Golden Fiddle strums Bacardi Solera, Cardamaro, Georgia sweet potato, white balsamic, house ginger soda and Grains of Paradise spice. More options include Day that I Die with Riverboat Rye, buckwheat honey and Georgia pecan tincture; the PWTR Draft Old Fashioned of small batch bourbon, bitters and oleo saccharum; PWTR Draft Sazerac with rye, bitters, gomme syrup and absinthe rinse; Pinewood Porch Punch of spiced tea-infused vodka, fresh citrus, orange flower water, bitters and sugar or a star-struck list including B. Bardot, Violet Beauregarde and Jackie O. 

Roots Radicals at The Pinewood

Who's Thirsty? "Eater Atlanta Cocktail Week" Is Here

Tarocco Spice at Ammazza

Put down the fork and pick up the glass... Eater Atlanta started filling up virtual glasses with cocktail posts this week! Twist open your internet device and see which restaurants are shaking up special cocktails for the week. We're tapping into several ourselves. Ormsby's on Atlanta's Westside, The Pinewood in Decatur, Ammazza on Edgewood, Lure in Midtown and Alma Cocina in downtown's 191 Tower all have some potent mixers in mind. 

The Pinewood Makes Supper Easy on Sundays

Go ahead and tie a napkin around your neck right now. For $27 per couple on Sundays, The Pinewood serves an irresistible family style dinner featuring comfort food entrées of cornmeal fried catfish, Pinewood turkey meatloaf and crunchy buttermilk chicken and sides of pesto mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy and Georgia green beans. The Pinewood's scratch-made angel biscuits and bread pudding round out this square meal deal. While you're there, take advantage of their Sunday half-price special on bottles of wine.

'Tis the Season for Fall Cocktails & Promotions at The Pinewood

Autumn Rivulets (Left) & Padre Thyme (Right)

New fall promotions and a signature cocktail menu at The Pinewood in Decatur are full on must-see, must do. First the promos: half-price wine on Sundays; Laundry Night Monday specials of $5 NOLA cocktails (Sazerac and Hurricane) and a NOLA trio of gumbo, red beans and rice and jambalaya for $8; Tuesday deals BOGO on all entrées; Wednesdays slash whiskey cocktails to half price; and Thursdays cap weeknights with BOGO on all small plates. 

 

Honor Fridays, Saturdays and any night with one of the nine autumnal cocktails ($7.50-$11) or one of the 15-strong roster of $7.50 classics. Newbies include Autumn Rivulets featuring Redston Hopped honey wine, Rothman & Winter orchard pear, Yellow Chartreuse and basil granita. Remember Ichabod's headless horseman? The pumpkin joins Bacardi Solera Rum in The Pinewood's Brom Bones Fizz. Oooh. Scary good. For a full list, check out the cocktail menu online.

Calling All Party Animals to Jazzoo, Zoo Atlanta's Wildest Night of the Year

More fun than a barrel of monkeys, Jazzoo Atlanta on Saturday, October 13 is the party habitat for Atlanta's young professionals. This jungle jam runs amok from 6:30 -11 p.m. at Zoo Atlanta. All-inclusive tickets cover grrrrreat food from more than 30 restaurants -- The Pinewood, RA Sushi and Uncle Julio's Fine Mexican Food included -- full bar watering holes and four stages of live music and entertainment. Proceeds support Zoo Atlanta's gorilla and orangutan programs such as the Great Ape Heart Project. Creative cocktail attire is a must! Unleash those leopard prints and sequined zebra stripes and perk up your mane with some animal ears. YouTube videos from last year's event show how crazy those human animals can be. Tickets are priced as regular or VIP, and there are group discounts for human herds of 10 or more. More information:  jknox@zooatlanta.org.

Fancy a Nightcap? The Pinewood's Got You Covered

The large, neat writing on a chalkboard menu spells out the new Nightcap specials each evening at The Pinewood. Homespun food specials change nightly, satiating the salivating late-night crowd beginning at 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends. Nightcappers at the downtown Decatur bar and restaurant recently filled up on the “Hatch + Cheddar” burger ($12), gumbo and grits ($8), “Trout Sammy” ($10), fried okra ($6), chicken and waffle ($10) and loaded hash browns with or without a farm egg ($9/$7). Cocktails, PWTR porch punch, wines by the glass or bottle, draft beer and non-alcoholic beverages slake that thirst. No question, it’s worth making The Pinewood the last stop of the evening for Nightcap grub and a tippling cup or two.

The Pinewood Tippling Room in Decatur has Lunchtime Covered for Everyone

 

  

Before you settle for that dreaded energy bar or can of soup tomorrow, The Pinewood Tippling Room in Decatur will serve you a lunch whether you're on a deadline at work or have time to sit down and mellow out on your break. Call in your lunch order or place it at the counter, then grab it and go or eat it there. Menu items range in price from $6 to $9.50 and include options such as the "Beaucoup Country Chicken Sandwich" made bánh mì style with buttermilk fried chicken, pickled vegetables, cilantro, soy mayonnaise on a buttered French roll, and "The Caveman" salad with mixed baby greens, local apples, Pinewood pecans, Belgian endive and smart dressing. Eat in or, well, you did put a "reserved" sign on the courthouse square bench, didn't you?