For World Cocktail Day, the Perfect Bar Crawl

On Wednesday, pay homage to that most delicious and enduring of inventions -- the cocktail -- all over town.

Round up co-celebrants and set out on a crawl to the following locales to raise a highball, coupe, cordial or rocks glass to the Cocktail, easily one the greatest inventions known to mankind. (Also, mark your calendar: Thursday is World Hangover Day.)

1. At the Hotel Carlyle (76th/Madison) the Bemelmans is the place to order one of the best (and the largest!) martinis in the city. Served with a carafe on ice so there's no rush to drink up.

2. Work your way downtown to Pranna (Madison/28th), where a host of Gotham's favorite mixologists-about-town (including drink historian David Wondrich) gather to stir and shake the night away in celebration of the 203rd birthday of the American cocktail.

3. Weave southeast to Death & Co. (East 6th/Avenue A) -- there are about a thousand so-called speakeasies in New York City these days, but possibly no-one does it better than Philip Ward, the man behind the 'tails at this understated cocktail mecca. May we suggest a Myla Breckenridge?

4. You're sober enough to cross a bridge, right? The Clover Club (Smith Street, Boerum Hill) will be waiting for you on the other side, with its obsessive drinks menu (which has chapters, people). Do sit at the bar, the better to watch the barkeep's almost scientific ministrations. A quartet playing straight-outta-Prohibition tunes completes the vibe.

5. Last stop (at least on our list: by all means, sally forth if you have legs) is Weather Up, a wildly refined, old-fashioned nook completely out of place on this relatively barren stretch of Prospect Heights' Vanderbilt Avenue. Order the bar's namesake drink and let the heady orange-peel Sazerac envelop your senses. There's a backyard if you're feeling the need for fresh air.

Previously in World Cocktail Week: The Bloody Mary, The Martini

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