1st Place: Haymarket’s Cucumber Martini
2nd Place: Grand Illusion’s Grand Delusion
3rd Place: Dewey’s Roadhouse Misdemeanor

A specialty drink can become a bar’s calling card. If it’s a great one, that singular beverage carries with it the power to potentially draw patrons by the bus full and etch the establishment into the annals of liquid history – like an inventor and his breakthrough invention. If you don’t believe me, ask Toby Cecchini, a Manhattan bartender with ties to the area who is widely agreed to be the inventor of the “cosmo.” Or you could ask Eli Whitney. Locals have discovered the deliciousness of Haymarket Grill’s Cucumber Martini, and those large versions of pickles may be the biggest vodka additive since olives. You’ve long known of The Grand Illusion’s colorful and fruity Grand Delusion, and the 10 blue cards that lead to T-shirt glory. Now the rest of the world just has to get a taste. The same goes for the Dewey’s Roadhouse Misdemeanor, and it’s a straight-up crime if you haven’t tried one. – Trevor Kupfer