:: fred's picks for the top cocktails of 2024 ::

At the end of 2010, someone asked what my favorite drink of the year was, and I lacked an answer at first for there were so many good options to chose from. My choices were influenced by two factors – tastiness and uniqueness; it had to be both memorable and worth repeating. In past years, I did one post for drinks that I had out at bars and one post for drinks that I had at home; however, as I found myself going out less due to my work schedule and other factors, I cut it down to one post a few years ago. Each month here was selected for when the drink post appeared and not when it was enjoyed (unlike my real time Instagram account, I have a two week delay here before it goes live to give myself an ample window to write). Without further ado, here is the fifteenth annual installment of my best drinks for the year with a pair of runner ups.

January: The winner for the month was an easy pick with the Solomon Grundy by Los Angeles bartender Dan Long – it reminded me of Backbar's Scarecrow with a touch of Fernet shaping a gentle amaro, and it made my chef at Josephine rather happy when I made it for him as his nightcap. For runners up, one old and one new. The old is the New Victoria from the Café Royal Cocktail Book with a rye-apple brandy mix accented with passion fruit and banana that seemed like it would be more like 2017 than 1937. And the new is Lobo Saldado from Lion's Share in San Diego as another split-spirit drink of tequila-Cognac with maple and Benedictine; the tequila-maple combination fondly reminded me of drinks like Debbie Don't.

February: For top honors in February was the On the Avenue at Equal Measures as a Boulevardier of sorts with the rye and Campari split with Cognac and Cynar, respectively. Getting a nod were two elegant recipes: an Old Fashioned Besitos de Abuelita by Raised by Wolves with Pedro Ximenez and Sfumato as accents and Pouring Ribbon's Flip Little Gem Diner. March: I rather enjoyed the De La Louisiane-Remember the Maine mashup Louisiane and Maine by Todd Yard of Concocktails. For secondary mention with a great name was Plausible Deniability that reads like a Rusty Nail meets a Campari Sour; also, Teardrop Lounge's Hell or High Water that reminded me of a Clover Club in structure but with Irish Whiskey, peach, honey, and Benedictine.

April: Top pick for April was the Burrows in Disguise as a weird Scotch Boulevardier with a Drambuie in the mix at Blyth & Burrows in Portland, Maine. Two mezcal recipes also caught my attention that month – namely, Gasoline Boots at the Patterson House with Punt e Mes, Cynar, and Bendictine, and Castaneda's Companions with dry vermouth, Cynar, and Yellow Chartreuse. May: A 2016-era Eastern Standard recipe called After Midnight that reminded me of their Coup d'Etat crossed with Chuck Taggart's Hoskins (that appeared on one of their early menus) had a comforting familiarity. Two falernum drinks deserve some mention for May with Pyre of Minerva as a Laphroaig Toronto of sorts by Jacob Mentel while at Wormwood in San Diego, and Apropos Barbados as the Dorrance's rum egg white Sour with apricot.

June: Thieves in the Night as a mezcal-gin Julep sweetened by Braulio and maple from Death & Co.'s Welcome Home book was a delight. Two other drinks in June worthy of merit were the walnut banana bread Old Fashioned, The Man in the Yellow Hat, from Devon in NYC, and bitter fruity stirred drink, Ghosts of Graceland, fromPolite Provisions in San Diego. July: One of the most enjoyable drinks of the month was the Famous on Paper at The Violet Hour that read like a Naked and Famous made friends with a Paper Plane. July also offered up Ivy Mix's mashup of sorts of a Red Hook and Green Point with the Perfect BQE and Trick Dog's Baby Turtle as a delightful Tequila Sour from their Pantone menu.

August: I purchased Amaro Pasubio this past year, and Palomar's El Presidente riff used the blueberry wine-based amaro rather well. Two drinks that made my bottle of Ancho Reyes shine got seconds for August: Smith & Cross, honey, and Cynar in the No Woman, No Crime from Shameful Tiki in Toronto and mezcal, Punt e Mes, and bitter things in the Comanche Club from Raines Law Room. September: September had me appreciating both the name and ingredients of the Clever Visual Metaphor by Winnipeg bartender Nicole Cote that had a similar feel to January's Solomon Grundy. For honorable mention, Bourbon & Branch's Laphroaig Project still holds up, and Beckaly Frank's spicy Negroni, My Name Is Nobody, that she offered up to the A Quick Drink: The Speed Rack Guide to Winning Cocktails for Any Mood book (there are other variations out there that I did not make though) got my attention.

October: This was a tough month with more heavier hitters throughout. My pick is Daiquiris & Daisy's Chili Southside that displayed how Ancho Reyes at 80° proof could hold its own as a base spirit. Dutch Kill's Becherovka-containing Velvet Revolution and their quirky Hitman with Batavia Arrack were tasty. November: Liz Pittari's Halloween menu tribute to Hellraiser at Backbar called Pin(heads) and Needles was quirky yet delicious with mezcal, Braulio, and Zirbenz. For silver and bronze for the month in no particular order was the agave bitter stirred drink with a great tip of the hat to history of the Mina Loy from the now closed Park in Harvard Square; also, the cuteness of the name matched the flavor punch of the Stregasaurus from Smith in Seattle.

December: My pick of the month was Alcove's Negroni's transformative adventure to the Czech Republic called the Bullfinch Trio. For December's nod of approval, two good uses of Lustau's East India Solera Shery – namely, Baldwin & Son's Trading Co.'s Bluecollar/Brooklyn riff, Good Luck Grin, and Clover Club's rum Old Fashioned spiced with falernum and cinnamon, Lei'd to Rest.

Some of my favorite creations not mentioned in yesterday's year end round-up: I mentioned yesterday 7 of the drinks that I created that were hits on Instagram and KindredCocktails, so here are a few that I was proud of that might have gotten overlooked. The Devil's Kitchen was one that I crafted after looking over all of the Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur pairings on the blog that turned out rather well. The agave-based This Is Not Berlin complemented the spirits with Cynar, grapefruit, and cinnamon flavors. The Opera Comique was essentially a Trident meets the Drink of Laughter and Forgetting, and the orange liqueur-Cynar duo from one drink inspired the Papa Was a Rodeo using the 1910's Cognac-mezcal base. Finally, the Cutty Sark crime tour of Boston that I helped organize led to the Jolly Jane named after one of the creepiest serial killers in our city. Overall, 2024 was a great year of recipes although I wish that time and finances made going out for drinks something that I could do more often. Regardless of the creeping prices, drinks out on the town are frequently too complicated to put into a blog post with all of the acidification, clarification, fat washing, batching, and other advanced techniques not to mention fewer off-the-shelf or commonly made ingredients. I understand that it is a trend prompted by awards and making places more unique (drinks only available there or when the bar does pop-ups elsewhere), but it does not translate well to a blog like this one. Luckily, there are still some places keeping it old school. Here, I was able to narrow down the 330+ recipes from others down to the top 12 and the top 36, so think of the above as the best 3% or 10% that I had this year. Indeed, I look forward to what 2025 brings to my home bar and bars across town. Cheers!