Sampling holiday cocktails at Galatoire’s Bistro

Behind the bar at Galatoire’s Bistro, liquor isn’t the only finely aged resource kept in stock. The bartenders and kitchen staff collect decades-old books of cocktail recipes, their pages delicately yellowed and their spines embossed with faded gold lettering, for inspiration in crafting their own cocktail menus.

For a restaurant built on more than a century of history, pulling ideas from the past feels like a fitting family tradition.

It’s one of these books, a 1939 compilation of classic English cocktails called The Gentleman’s Companion, that inspired the first drink on Galatoire’s special holiday cocktail menu: the Cloverdale. A take on an Oxford University hot rum punch recipe, the Cloverdale is warm to the touch and the palate with organic hot apple cider, St. Elizabeth allspice dram, Rougaroux rum, aged cognac, lemon juice and a cinnamon and brown sugar simple syrup. Garnished with a clove-studded lemon peel, the drink is as flavorful as it is comforting.

“All credit for the flavor goes to the allspice [dram],” bar manager Ben Phillips says. “We were searching and searching for it last year and finally found it at Bin-Q liquor. It’s got all your holiday spices—clove, nutmeg; it’s got all of it. A little dash of that brings Christmas to mind.”

The result is somewhere between freshly baked gingerbread and the warm lemon juice mixture you might remember from flu seasons of your childhood.

“It’ll definitely clear your sinuses,” Phillips jokes.

While plush booths and gourmet comfort food make Galatoire’s a first choice for holiday celebrations, its bar isn’t as widely known for seasonal craft cocktails—yet.

“We have an incredible wine selection, but we want people to know we’re not just about wine,” bar manager Blake Hernandez says. “We know spirits, and we’re trying to do something different with craft cocktails. If I have an idea for a drink but then I see it on a menu at another bar, it’s out. We don’t want to be like anyone else.” galatoiresbistro.com

Galatoire’s Bistro’s holiday cocktail highlights

The Cloverdale: Cognac, St. Elizabeth allspice dram, hot apple cider, Rougaroux rum, lemon juice, cinnamon and brown sugar simple syrup

Turnrow Wassail: Fuji apples roasted in Tin Roof Turnrow, cinnamon, brown sugar, clove, nutmeg and ginger

The Gingerbread Man: Spiced rum, Grand Marnier, lime juice, ginger syrup, clove syrup, orange juice, Angostura bitters and gingersnap garnish