Snow claimed the headline last weekend and showers are in the forecast for Sunday, which means patio-lovers in The Lou have just a couple days to get their outdoor fix. Make the most of it and head to Eclipse’s rooftop terrace bar atop The Moonrise Hotel, which opens today at 4 p.m., and you can spend tonight and tomorrow afternoon sipping your way through the restaurant’s newest cocktail menu.
The menu, a collaboration between Eclipse’s bar manager Lucas Ramsey and lead bartender Seth Wahlman, includes familiar drinks such as a Hemingway Daiquiri and lesser-known recipes like the Plantation, a combo of dry gin, mouth-puckering white grapefruit, lime, orange-y Cointreau and muddled basil.
Among the original creations, our favorite is the optimistic Golden Summer (pictured). It’s a cheery mix of gin, Galliano liqueur, lemon juice and simple syrup, but that quarter ounce of allspice dram – full of winter pantry spices like clove, cinnamon and nutmeg – is enough to remind you that the heat-filled days of spring haven’t arrived just yet.
Bourbon-lovers can rejoice as well. Eclipse is offering five well-rounded cocktails on its new menu that include this poteen: Andrew Jackson, Americano 43, Black Magic, Kentucky Mix-up and a gangster play on the vintage ‘tail Ward 8, designated as District 7 per Eclipse’s location in this precinct of the city.
Note: Eclipse offers a limited specialty cocktail menu on the patio. However, all of the above-stated cocktails are available at the first floor bar and can be brought to the rooftop.
This article appears in April 2011.