By Nanette Wiser
HOLIDAY COCKTAIL It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas, especially at downtown St. Pete’s best craft cocktail lounges such as Parkshore, Urban Stillhouse, Social Roost, Intermezzo (with the holiday pop-up bar), Cassis, Ceviche, Mandarin Hide, The Saint Speakeasy, Flute & Dram, The Scott, Birch & Vine, and Rococo Steak. At the beach, make merry at The Club at Treasure Island, 82 Degrees, Don CeSar, RumFish, Chill’s, Middlegrounds, Sea Dog, Island Grill, Red, White & Booze, Vista at the Top, and Dewey’s.
Three of our favorites? Intermezzo’s with mulled wine reduction, London Dry Gin, grapefruit shrub, and prosecco or their holiday rum cocktail (Barbados rum, rhum agricole, Trinidad overproof rum, ube & coconut orgeat, acid-adjusted pineapple juice topped with snow). Bavaro’s Limoncello Spritz (Prosecco, club soda, Limoncello simple syrup), Rococo Steak’s Smoke Cocktail mixes 2.5 oz Old Forester Bourbon, 0.5 oz Maple Simple Syrup, 3 dashes Orange Bitters, 3 dashes Apple Bitters, 1 Maple Bacon Cube topped with Applewood Smoked Bacon. Position maple bacon cube in bottom of glass. Pour ingredients over. Shop for bitters at Total Wine, ABC Liquors and Leukens, or online; maple bacon cubes at www.herbandlous.com.
Savor St. Pete introduced tipplers to dozens of trendy boozes, perfect for your bar cart or gift. Best of show was California’s Gray Whale Gin, a botanical delight best served with fresh lime and lemon juice and agave syrup, shaken with ice and served with a lemon peel over ice. We liked the butterscotch and dark stone fruit notes of St. Pete’s Horse Soldier’s reserve Barrel Strength Bourbon Whiskey. Espresso martinis get a dash of sparkle with walnut bitters while you can wrap gifts more efficiently when sipping coffee with creamy bourbons (salted caramel, mocha). Get comfortable with Southern Comfort’s limited-edition black unisex “drinking pants” that have a pocket designed to carry a shot glass and can be turned inside out to instantly become “fancy pants.”
If you’re entertaining guests, get thee to a tiki hut for a frozen concoction, like this one at Sirata Beach Resort. While our favorite is a banana daiquiri, you’ll have to research on a beach trolley pub crawl to Sloppy Joe’s, Caddy’s, Crabby’s, Bongo’s, Tiki Docks Skyway Bar, Jimmy B’s, Undertow, BRGR and The Wharf.