Jaywalker’s cocktail program was built by Jane Danger and Jamie Gordon, and it celebrates what he calls “New York City constants” — the bodegas, flower markets, and corner rituals that actually run this town. The headline: Martinis and Manhattans are $12, made with the distillery’s own spirits, twenty feet from where they were distilled.
What should you order first?
- The Rye Egg Cream — the signature. Jaywalk Bonded Rye, Ferrand Cognac, homemade chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer, finished with freshly grated nutmeg. A Brooklyn institution, corrupted responsibly.
- The Floral Arrangement Martini — Dorothy Parker New York Gin, sakura vermouth, jasmine-infused extra dry vermouth, and chamomile bitters. The flower market, in a glass.
- The Manhattan — house rye, $12, no further questions.
- For summer: the Vesper Frosé and the Vacation Mode Manhattan, both frozen, neither apologetic.
Why are the Martinis $12?
Because the bar doesn’t pay a middleman for its spirits — it makes them. Jaywalker pours the full New York Distilling portfolio at prices most new Manhattan cocktail bars stopped offering a decade ago. Accessible pricing isn’t a promotion; it’s the point.
This column — The Shift Drink — is usually about what hospitality people order when the work is done. We’re commissioning local bartenders to write it; the masthead is open.