The Rum House

Image: Rum House
EVERY DAY: 11 A.M. - 4 A.M.
646-490-6924 | WEBSITE

In one of New York City’s unlikeliest partnerships, the owners of the down-at-the-heel Edison Hotel (a perennial favorite for penny-pinching school groups) paired up with Tribeca’s Ward III team to transform the lobby bar from a pre-Giuliani-era Times Square dive into a cocktail mecca. Nightly jazz from a rotating roster of artists and copper-and-wood paneling keep the hotel’s 80-some year history front-of-mind, while original cocktails update classic flavor profiles to bring drinkers gently into the 21st century.

Known For
  • historic
  • hotel bar
  • live music
  • lots of rum
  • day drinking
What to drink
The Barrymore, a brightly smoky take on the Manhattan that tops single-malt scotch, Aperol and vermouth with a flamed orange twist; an excellent selection of rums with an impressive reserve section that includes $150 pours of authentic British Royal Navy rum, produced in the 1940s and cellared since 1970, when it ceased being shipped out as part of the sailors’ rations.
Neighborhood
Times Square
ProTip
Like most hotel bars, The Rum House opens early and serves a selection of Bloody Marys, perfect for a pre-matinee pick-me-up.