The Dead Rabbit has been named the world's best bar by the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards twice. That sentence alone should settle the argument, but if you need more: it occupies a 19th-century building at the southern tip of Manhattan, it serves a cocktail menu that reads like a work of editorial art, and it has two entirely different floors for two entirely different moods.
The Taproom is the ground floor — an Irish pub with craft beers, punches, and a menu that celebrates immigrant New York with serious historical research behind every drink and dish. The Parlour upstairs is where the cocktail programme lives: a curated seasonal menu with 70-plus drinks organised by flavour profile rather than spirit category. Our editors have worked through most of it and the hits outnumber the misses by a considerable margin.
Jack McGarry and Sean Muldoon built the concept around the story of Old Rabbit, an Irish American gang leader from the Five Points neighbourhood, and the Irish immigrant experience more broadly. That research shows in everything from the drink names to the illustrations in the menu. For serious cocktail tourists visiting New York, The Dead Rabbit belongs in the same sentence as Death & Company as a non-negotiable stop. See the New York cocktail bar guide and the editorial on the city's best bars overall for further context.
The house punch, served in a copper cup. Seasonal and different every time, always excellent.
The Financial District location and Irish heritage make this the correct place to order one properly made.
A precise gin cocktail from the Parlour menu. Ask the bartender which version is current.
The printed seasonal menu changes four times a year. Go with whatever the bartender is most excited about.
Weekday lunch for the Taproom at its most relaxed. Thursday evenings for the Parlour at full pace. Saturday afternoon if you want both floors without the full Friday rush.
