The Merry Hour

est. 2026 · The Holiday Issue

TheMerryHour

The exclusive holiday drink menu you won't find anywhere else — served this week at a select few bars across America.

12 bars serving it

24 drinks, 8 weeks

Nov — Jan

A holiday cocktail in a gold-rimmed coupe glass garnished with a rosemary sprig shaped like a tree, sugared cranberries and star anise
This week's pour: The Sleigh Ride — nowhere else

From the editors

The Merry Hour is not a hunt for the most decorated room in town. It is one exclusive three-drink menu, written by us, dropped every week for eight weeks, and poured only at the limited number of bars and restaurants we partner with. If a drink is on the card, this is where you order it — and only until Sunday.

Week 01 of 8 · opens November 2

This Week'sNational Menu

One menu. Three drinks. Every participating bar and restaurant in the country pours the same three this week — same names, same recipes, coast to coast. Next Monday we drop the next one, eight weeks straight.

Order the The First Frost in Denver on Tuesday and you can order it in Atlanta on Friday. That is the whole idea — come back weekly and drink the same card as the rest of the country.

Serve this menu at your venue

The 2026 selection

This Year's Nice List

One winner per city — best execution of this season's menu

Merry Hour Pick
No. 01Bar

The Gilded Fir

Inman Park · Atlanta, GA

This week's Merry Hour cocktail as poured at The Gilded Fir in Atlanta, stirred and served up with a rosemary garnish

The sharpest execution of this season's menu in Atlanta — stirred cold, measured to the quarter-ounce, garnished exactly to spec every single time.

Serving This Week's Menu

Also on the house list

The Sleigh Ride$18

bourbon, spiced pear, brown butter

Read the write-up

Merry Hour Pick
No. 02Bar

The Alpenglow Room

LoHi · Denver, CO

This week's Merry Hour cocktail poured at The Alpenglow Room in Denver, served over clear ice with a pine tip

Denver's best read on this season's menu — every drink on the card built to spec, with a Nordic spirits shelf that gives it a spine.

Serving This Week's Menu

Also on the house list

Alpenglow$17

aquavit, buttered rum, birch

Read the write-up

Merry Hour Pick
No. 03Bar

The Tinsel Parlor

West Village · New York, NY

This week's Merry Hour cocktail built to spec at The Tinsel Parlor in New York, served up with an expressed twist

Eight hundred square feet, eight seats at the stick, and the most exacting pour of this season's menu in Manhattan.

Serving This Week's Menu

Also on the house list

Silver Rain$22

gin, dry vermouth, silver birch

Read the write-up

Or browse by hand

Choose Your City

Know exactly where you're headed? Skip the zip code and pick up an edition directly.

Edition No. 01

AtlantaGA

Four rooms pouring this season's menu, and nowhere else in Georgia.

4 rooms →

Edition No. 02

DenverCO

A short list of bars with the exclusive card behind the stick.

4 rooms →

Edition No. 03

New YorkNY

Five boroughs, a handful of rooms, one menu you can't order elsewhere.

4 rooms →

Know a room we missed?

Tell us where to go next December.

Nominate a spotThe Merry Hour Partnership