Cocktail Ideas

From Nantucket restaurant American Seasons, the "Bartender's Handshake" combines Italian liqueur Fernet Branca with house-made ginger simple syrup and a splash of lemon. According to general manager and beverage director Orla Murphy LaScola, swapping out the drink's traditional ginger beer for ginger syrup offers a warmer note.

Now available in the U.S., VNC Cocktails are low-calorie and ready-to-serve.

Hotel Sofitel's Le Bar served a Pink Fog martini made with vodka, lemon, cherry puree, egg whites, and a dash of ginger beer. Chandon-sponsored bars served a signature cocktail of rosé poured over a dollop of lemon sorbet and garnished with a lemon wedge.

Boqueria paired a cherry-lime sangria with bowls of pickled cauliflower, endive, cherry, Valdeón cheese, and walnut salad.

Edgar Bar and Kitchen served small cups of white chocolate cherry panna cotta topped with dark cherries.

The evening’s specialty cocktail will be the Red Carpet, a mix of pear-infused vodka, St. Germain, and champagne, complete with a paper Oscar statuette frozen inside an ice cube. "It's Oscar on the rocks," Boulud quipped.

At the 2012 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, presenting sponsor Belvedere offered refreshing beverages made with their Lemon Tea vodka, including the Lemon Tea Classic Punch, a drink that featured sherbet, black tea, and a mint sprig garnish.

At Stella McCartney's Resort 2013 collection preview, waitstaff passed citrus-infused cocktails in Mason jars.

Loopy Doopy, the rooftop bar at Conrad New York, has created a boozy Popsicle. The frozen fruit puree treat from executive chef Anthony Zamora is dipped in prosecco and served in a prosecco-filled wine goblet. The summery flavors include white peach, blood orange, mango, strawberry, and mojito.

In July at Travel & Leisure’s annual World’s Best Awards in New York, sponsor Patrón displayed a sleek wall that housed five tanks of Patrón-based cocktails from which guests could pour their own drinks.

Pumpkin Pie mocktail

The "Kuro Smash," served at Chicago's Union Sushi & Barbecue Bar, blends bourbon and cognac with lemon juice, simple syrup, blackberries, and tarragon seeped in Everclear.

Chicago's Sepia will feature the "Cocoa Old Fashioned" on its menu this fall. Created by head bartender Josh Pearson, the drink combines cocoa-nib-infused rye whiskey with sherry-vanilla bitters, muddled oranges, and brandied cherries.

Another of Pearson's whiskey-based cocktails created for Sepia's fall menu is the "Boston Martha," made with magnolia-and-oolong-tea-infused Irish whiskey, yellow chartreuse, honey, lemon, egg white, and orange bitters.

According to Jeremiah Krickhahn, head bartender at Chicago's Red Door, his "La Turista" is a pisco-based cocktail that uses fruit-forward brandy. "This fall, reinventions of this 'new' spirit will do away with the overused Pisco Sour," says Krickhahn, who also used an Olroso sherry to add a creamy texture and subtle nuttiness to the pisco, bitters, and locally farmed mint and lemon balm. The drink is topped off with sparkling Muscadet culled from a small biodynamic grower in France.

Sushi Samba Rio corporate beverage director Drew Peterson also says that pisco is trending for fall cocktails. The restaurant will be serving the "Chica Sour," which blends the ingredient with egg whites, cinnamon simple syrup, fresh lime juice, and other flavors.

Jordan Bushell, Hennessy's Toronto-based mixologist, created "The End Game" for fall. Using vinegar (a popular ingredient this season), Bushell also added Hennessy V.S., Zubrowka Bison Grass vodka, apple cider gastrique, Angostura bitters, and fresh-grated cinnamon.

Vikram Hegde, head bartender at Boston's Island Creek Oyster Bar, says that adding sherry to cocktails will be a fall trend. This drink, called "The Equinoccio," also contains tequila, spicy Czech bitters, house-made cinnamon syrup, Tiki bitters, and shaved nutmeg.

At Back Deck in Boston, general manager Brian Corcoran developed a brisk-weather version of classic summer cocktail the Arnold Palmer. This version, called the "Ginger Arnold Palmer," adds craft-distilled Berkshire bourbon and spicy ginger liqueur to iced tea and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

At Chicago's Barrelhouse Flat, bartender Jeff Donahue has created a red-wine-based cocktail called the "Refined Hobo." The drink combines red wine with fall-appropriate cinnamon syrup; other ingredients include absinthe, blended scotch, maraschino, lemon juice, and egg white.

Make-your-own citrus drink bar, by Design Cuisine in Arlington, Virginia

At Jake Melnick's Corner Tap in Chicago, beverage director Chris Jecha is serving bottled cocktails. The "Mexico" has a tequila base and ingredients like coffee liqueur and a red vermouth called carpano antica.

Other bottled cocktails from Jake Melnick's in Chicago include the "Diplomatic Immunity," made with Templeton Rye whiskey, smoked blood orange bitters, and the Italian vermouth punt e mas.

Tim Williams, a Chicago-based mixologist who creates cocktails for venues including Old Town Social and Nellcote, is serving "The Company" this fall. The drink melds hand-blended Woodford Reserve bourbon with carpano antica, Sicilian liqueur Averna, house-made bitters and brandied cherries.

Blue Plate Catering in Chicago will be serving Hennessy cocktails imbued with fresh lemon, lavender, and honey syrup.

Another fall cocktail from Blue Plate Catering is the exotic "Thai Firecracker." The drink combines gin and champagne with cucumber water, mango, and the Thai hot sauce sriracha.

Rob Macey, the bar director at Area Four in Cambridge, is also using sriracha in his fall drinks. "The Concubine" is made with the local Bully Boy vodka, fresh pineapple juice, mint, and the hot sauce.

At Sola in Chicago, chef and restaurant owner Carol Wallack is serving up margaritas with an Asian-inspired twist. Called "Senora Geisha," the drink blends tequila with blood orange juice and house-made syrup infused with hibiscus, ginger, and serrano pepper.

Chicago-based mixologist Revae Schneider of Femme du Coupe is also making use of Templeton Rye whiskey and lavender this fall. Her "La Tenue" cocktail blends Templeton Rye with lavender bitters, blueberry-lavender syrup, lemon juice, vanilla-citrus liqueur Tuaca, and Angostura bitters.

The Hilton Orlando's new cocktail menu includes three "Breakfast of Champions" cocktails, made with breakfast ingredients like Froot Loops and bacon. The particularly autumnal "Bacon Reserve" (pictured, far right) contains Woodford Reserve bourbon that has been sous vide with brown sugar, orange zest, and bacon. The drink is garnished with a piece of chocolate-covered bacon. The "Bottom of the Cereal Bowl," (pictured, far left) mixes different flavors of Bacardi rum with raspberry syrup and half-and-half, and comes topped with Froot Loops.

At Three Forks in Chicago, Clark Grant and Lance Gresak—the restaurant's executive chef and wine director, respectively—concocted the "Pocket Square." Also made with Templeton Rye whiskey, the cocktail also includes chai tea simple syrup, lemon juice, egg white, and Italian apertif Aperol.

Benjamin Newbie, vice president of nightlife for Menin Hotels, created a fall cocktail called "Smoke" to serve at Chicago's Drumbar. The cocktail's ingredients include scotch, Lapsang tea, grapefruit juice, pistachio nut liqueur, and Fee Brothers black walnut bitters.

Also popular this fall: beer-based cocktails. At Prost in Chicago, general manager and trained mixologist Vince Baratta created the "Bierhund." The drink, which is a twist on the classic Greyhound, contains German Pilsner, grapefruit juice, house-made simple syrup infused with thyme and other spices, and Fee Brothers black walnut bitters.

Sangria, watermelon, and mango Campari spheres served in spoons, from Windows Catering Company

Guests sipped on fresh juice-bar cocktails and wheatgrass shots while watching a bevy of hula dancers perform.