Philly’s Most Legendary Signature Cocktails
All of the best Philly-defining cocktails, from Fish House Punch to Skookil Wooder.
Fishtown Iced Tea at Interstate Drafthouse / Photograph by Patterson Watkins
Classic boozy combinations, newfangled riffs, teas that aren’t really teas, drinks with cotton candy toppers, drinks with wooder ice, and even drinks served in bags. Philly is good at a lot of things, but one thing we’re really good at is expressing our history and our character through the medium of alcoholic alchemy. So here it is, our updated (and thirst-inducing) collection of Philadelphia’s best signature cocktails.
Fishtown Iced Tea at Interstate Drafthouse, Fishtown
Although the format has changed (it’s no longer served in an Arctic Splash carton), the essence remains the same: a vodka, rum, tequila, and triple sec spiked drink with those oh-so-nostalgic natural tea and lemon flavors. Leave it to Philly to snatch the ‘Long Island’ right out of your mouth with a tea-ish cocktail like this. I love the Fishtown Iced Tea for all that it is (and the lemonade version ain’t bad either). Consider the cans a new era of bringing it to the Philly masses with a get-off-my-stoop Twisted Tea energy. 1235 East Palmer Street.
Clover Club at Four Humours Distilling, Fishtown
There is no cocktail that is more classically Philadelphian than the Clover Club. Invented back in the 1800s for the gentleman swells propping up the private bar at the Bellevue-Stratford hotel right here in Philly (where Mr. Edison now calls home), it is a smooth and sour mix of gin, lemon juice, and raspberry frothed up with egg white and served neat. Right now, the crew working under the arched, whiskey-barrel ceiling at Four Humours are making the best version — an unadulterated, sweet/sour classic with a silky white head untouched by time or fads. It’s like a taste of Philly history in a coupe glass. 1712 North Hancock Street.
Money Talks at Izzy’s, Ardmore
This cocktail, invented by former bar manager James Cleland, takes the iconic Last Word and flips it on its head. Made with Tanqueray Rangpur gin, Midori, Green Chartreuse, and lime juice, it is a neat inversion of the standard, and I love it for two reasons: First, the powerfully herbal gin, electric-green Midori and sharp bite of lime give it a surprising depth and a sour sweetness that’s like drinking liquified Sour Patch Kids. Second, I spent a couple unpleasant years in Seattle in my youth and hated it, so seeing a Philly bar take the third-best thing to ever come from that city and make a better version all its own? That’s exactly the kind of petty victory I live for. 35 East Lancaster Avenue.
The Money Talks cocktail at Izzy’s / Photography courtesy of Izzy’s
Drinks-to-go from any corner store in Philly that sells ABV bevies
Friends, I remember a time — you remember a time — when we lived in this alcoholic beverage sort of desert. If you weren’t going to a bar to get a bevie, your only options were either the distributor or PLCB shop, where you had to buy in quantity, or the corner store, where all your drinkable needs were met in single-serve perfection (sometimes with a hoagie). In today’s world, we can pick up qualifying ABV bottles and cans at Acme. Heck, there are even some Wawas offering them up nowadays. But we shouldn’t neglect the establishments that served us through those darker times. Visit your old friends down at the corner store, grab a bottle or can, and revel in the fact that they are still bagged in paper. (Those paper bags weren’t fooling anybody then, and they aren’t fooling now.)
Tejuichela at La Jefa, Rittenhouse
Say what you will about the Clover Clubs and Fish House Punches of Philly’s past, but the one drink that I believe says more about this city than any other is the Citywide. And the most iconic Citywide currently being offered is the one pushed across the bar at Dan Suro’s Guadaladelphia cocktail spot, La Jefa. It is as simple as any other Citywide special: just a beer and a shot. But in this room, the beer is actually a dark Mexican lager mixed with tejuino (a sweet, fermented corn beverage) and a generous dose of lime juice, making it a street-style pachecada. And the shot is a Paranubes Añejo rum from Oaxaca. The result is undeniably Mexican, but with a pure Philly heart — exactly the balance La Jefa aims for. 1605 Latimer Street.
Skookil Wooder at Pentridge Station, Southwest Philly
The fantastic crew behind Dahlak, along with some good-hearted folks in West Philly transformed a derelict lot into a pop-up beer garden oasis. In addition to the family- and dog-friendly atmosphere, you’ll find a refreshing and diverse mix of beer, wine, and cocktails. Most notably, (and I have been patiently waiting for someone to do this) a boozy water-ice cocktail. Skookil Wooder combines bourbon, lemonade, lime, frozen berries, and water ice together in thirst-quenching, beat-the-heat harmony. Single-serve or bucket-sized, you know, for sharing *wink, wink*. 5110-5120 Pentridge Street.
Fun Bag at Garage
Fun Bags at Garage, Fishtown and East Passyunk
What is it about drinking out of a pouch? Is it some nostalgic, Capri-Sun, Pavlovian mental response? Possibly, yes. You might need to sip on another Fun Bag to suss this out further. When I bellied up to Passyunk’s Garage outpost and procured a Fun Bag, I was pleasantly greeted with two options: red or blue. As someone who vehemently would like to escape the Matrix, I chose red. The sweet, tart, surprisingly bubbly drink-in-a-bag made me feel like I was at some South Philly Tupperware party (and having the time of my life). There are cases on cases on cases of beer options at the Garage. For me, even as a beer aficionado, I’m going to treat myself to a Fun Bag. 100 East Girard Avenue and 1231 East Passyunk Avenue.
Cosmo Cloud at Tattooed Mom, Queen Village
Tattooed Mom is a good time pretty much all the time. And the cotton candy cosmo concoction, the Cosmo Cloud, that the bar crew mixes up is a carnival sideshow in its own right. It is a saccharine-sweet joy ride of vodka, fresh lime juice, and cranberry, with a pink strawberry cotton-candy topper. It might not be as explosive as the Pop Rocket (with its pop rocks and raspberry Stoli), but it’s a showstopper of a drink, catching the glances of everyone in the vicinity. Making grown adults stop playing with their bucket of bar toys and take notice — that’s no small feat for a cocktail. 530 South Street.
HitchBot’s Demise at R&D, Fishtown
Wanna talk about displaying your Philly pride alcoholically? It does not get any more homegrown than the magazine-style cocktail menu that R&D put out for this 250th birthday season. With drinks dedicated (and shaped around) such inspirations as the World Cup, pretzels, the Phillies, legendary local choke artists and a handful of neighborhoods (plus an entire menu of Citywides), the one that speaks loudest about both our current moment and our past is HitchBot’s Demise. It’s a blue sour, made with Dutch gin, a German liqueur, Canadian maple syrup — all countries the hitchhiking robot visited safely before being decapitated in Philly. Grim? Sure. Funny? Absolutely. And when the robots finally come for us all, a warning to them that Philly is ready. And we know exactly what to do. 1206 Frankford Avenue.
HitchBot’s Demise at R&D / Photograph by Stephen Recchia
Tomoe at Almanac, Old City
Way back in the day, we got it in our heads that we wanted to pick a single signature cocktail for the entire city. Not one of the classics, but something new. Something different. Something that would allow us to expense our drinking for a couple months and then throw a really big, really boozy party and invite the entire city. The drink that came out of all that research was the Philly Flyer, a sour, gin-based riff on the classic Aviation that was actually invented by a complete amateur named Rick Fitzgerald. And it was perfect for its time. The Flyer was “A bittersweet cocktail in honor of everything that is bitter and sweet about this tremendous town,” according to Fitzgerald, but now Philly is in a different place and needs a new cocktail. My vote? The Tomoe — loosely based on the Vesper, but made with a blend of American and Japanese gins, yuzu vodka, a sake/shochu apertif called Bermutto in place of vermouth, a dash of woody Mizunara liqueur, and umami oil. It is complicated, international, sharp, blended, strong and punchy. It feels at once both rootless and absolutely sure where it belongs. It nods to the past while imagining a different future. And it has a weird kind of grimy, rough-edged class that feels very much like the city itself right now: harsh, but approachable; weighted with history, but moving forward. And also likely to put you on your ass if you’re not careful. 310 Market Street.
Spaghett at Kelliann’s Bar & Grill, Spring Garden
Transcended! I had this drink two months ago, and I still can’t stop talking about it. I know to some, the combination of Miller High Life, Aperol, and fresh lime might be a known cocktail. To me, having the Spaghett (that’s correct, Spaghett sans the ‘i’) for the first time was absolute magic. That tart-bittering element of the Aperol, poured into the malty-sweet MHL, with just that little squeeze of lime … I’m thirsty for it all over again. The vivaciously raucous environs of Kelliann’s just enhanced the whole Spaghett experience. Let me know when you go; I’ll for sure join. 1549 Spring Garden Street.
