7 Spring Cocktail Recipes From New York's Best Bartenders

Marlton Hotel: Hunter Orahood

The Marlton Hotel has already become a mainstay for its cozy and charming lobby, the French-Mediterranean cuisine, and the always lively bar. That's thanks in part to Hunter Orahood, the bar manager who created a cocktail menu you'd expect to find at a dimly lit bar tucked away into an inconspicuous block on the east side. The stylish boutique hotel always draws in a fashionable crowd, and cocktails like the Caipirinha keep them coming back. From: Southern California Experience: Crow's Nest, All Reds (Telluride), Cafe Presidente (upcoming) Personal drink of choice: "I think the base cocktail that I've always gone back to at a nice bar is an Old Fashioned, because if you feel like drinking rum you can drink a rum old fashioned, if you want whiskey you can make a whiskey old fashioned. PDT a few years back had a tequila Old Fashioned. I think that base formula is balanced out." Spring cocktail: Caipirinha "This is basically a caipirinha variation that we did. One of my favorite drinks is an Aviation, which uses gin maraschino, and lemon. In this one, it's cachaca, maraschino, lemon, and we just throw in some fresh tarragon, muddle it up, shake, and dump it in the glass, no strain, and that's kind of the traditional style. I think that cachaca, pisco, rum agricole, and some of these alambic brandies are kind of starting to spike in the market, so we're trying to get approachable ways that are fresh and clean to get the spirit across. It's a very spirit forward cocktail, but the ice starts to melt and dilute very fast, and it's really refreshing." [Hunter Orahood] Caipirinha: 4 lemon slices 1/4 maraschino 1 sugar cube 2.25 avua cachaca 1 sprig tarragon Muddle all but cachaca; add cachaca and ice; quick shake; dump into double rocks glass. "Mini umbrella is key to the flavor profile."