Cheers the Season With a Winter Cocktail at These Los Angeles Bars

Fiona Chandra

As the seasons change, so do cocktail menus at Los Angeles bars. The holidays call for festive drinks and the cooler weather brings out the hot toddies and mulled wines around the city. With many great bars opening in L.A. along with some old standbys, here are the hottest bars you should drink at this winter.

Bibo Ergo Sum
With a name that translates to “I drink therefore I am”, Bibo Ergo Sum is an unexpectedly opulent craft cocktail bar that opened in Robertson Plaza. The cocktail menu is designed by Proprietors LLC and bound to draw cocktail enthusiasts this winter. There is something for everyone, from the aromatic Bonnie P Charles (scotch, Campari, sweet vermouth, aquavit, toasted pecan bitters) to some of the best mocktails in the city. The nonalcoholic Sleight of Hand is perfect for the winter with cold brewed black tea, seedlip spice, grape skin, and fresh wood smoke (it is also good with tequila).

Big Bar
Eastside favorite, Big Bar, has released a joyful menu for the winter season. Grimace’s Day Off is a colorful fizz made of ube, gin, vanilla liqueur, cream, egg white, and soda. A savory nod to Master of None comes in the form of Allora, a cocktail with Italian mushroom infused cocchi Torino, gin, Campari, and truffle salt. There is also a special holiday menu available until the end of December, with hot cider, spiked hot cocoa, and more.

EverBar
EverBar at the newly opened Everly Hotel is a new favorite in Hollywood. Headed by Chicago transplant Dan Rook, the bar offers a large selection of cocktails from approachable to adventurous, including one of the most interesting renditions of the Cosmopolitan. The current seasonal section includes I’ll Make Clove to You with bourbon, amaro, clove, lemon, butternut squash jam, and cinnamon. There’s also Nutty by Nature with mezcal, green chartreuse, pistachio orgeat, chai tea syrup, lemon, and dandelion.

Gesso
The new California-Italian restaurant on Fairfax is the new neighborhood spot for food and drinks. This winter, you can get a holiday feast in a glass with Fizzy Pumpkin, which combines tequila, Tawny port, lemon, all spice, and pumpkin soda. Another seasonal offering is Forbidden Lady, a stirred cocktail with apple brandy, bourbon, pink lady apple gomme, and drunken cranberries.

Redbird
Head to stunning Redbird at the Vibiana this season for some winter-appropriate spiced drinks from bartender Tobin Shea. Chai Milk Punch combines rum, bourbon, and vodka with clove, absinthe, chai tea, Batavia arrack, milk, and pineapple. Learn the Ancient Chinese Secret with this smoky cocktail made with bourbon, sherry, five spice syrup, orange essence, and lapsang souchong tea.

Sunset & Vinyl
Check out the new 70’s themed Sunset & Vinyl in Hollywood, with drinks designed by Devon Espinosa. On Repeat with rye, earl grey, green chartreuse, and bitters is an order you would want to repeat. Sip Bubba’s Way (rye, applejack, green chartreuse, Carpano Antica Formula) as they play music off of vinyl records at this bar hidden above 800 Degrees Pizzeria.

The FLATS
The Flats is a welcome addition to the relatively rare cocktail spots in Beverly Hills. For this cooler season, guests can sip a winter spiced hot toddy or try the seasonal flavors in Angel Face made with cranberry infused brandy. Perk up with the Carrot White Russian, a riff on the sweet classic made with vodka, espresso liqueur, and carrot cream.

The Raymond 1886
The best cocktail bar in Pasadena strikes again with their winter menu. Cozy up with the Hedgehog Toddy, which is apparently what happens when an egg nog meets hot toddy. Because it’s Los Angeles, you can still have a tiki drink in the winter. 1886 Bar has created a unique winter version of the Zombie with Zombie Apocalypse which combines three different scotches with lemongrass syrup and the usual tiki ingredients.

The Walker Inn
Hidden bar The Walker Inn in Koreatown welcomes the return of the Holiday Scoundrels menu this winter. The dark and intimate lounge hidden behind a secret door behind the Normandie Club turns into a festive gathering this season. Sip drinks such as the Bad Santa made with peppermint bark vodka or Sticky Bandits, made with bourbon and the nostalgic Terry’s Chocolate Orange.

Verlaine
In Los Angeles, you can spend winters sipping cocktails at the bar of this garden-like outdoor restaurant. Verlaine is serving up two warm cocktails for when the temperature dips this winter. Warm up with a mug of Hot Buttered Rum, made using Diplomatico Mantuano rum, butter, and spices or opt for a warm Sidra de Huerta (apple brandy, apple pear gastrique, mulling spices).