Sacrificial Dance cocktail at Farmers' Cabinet

While the eating may be suspect at the Farmers' Cabinet, the libations are solid gold. The beer geeks will be in heaven with 26 stellar taps of unusual Euro suds, including cask renditions of rare salty, wheaty Swiss La Douze from BFM, among many others. But with a ragtime band pumping away, I was really channeling the pre-Prohibition cocktail inspirations from mix-mistress Phoebe Esmon.

There are renditions of the classics (a tart whiskey sour amped up with egg whites and Yamazaki whisky), a Carpano-darkened Martinez, off-the-cuff inspirations like the Rum Smash, a snowball soaked julep-like with mint and El Dorado Guyanese rum. My favorites, though, inevitably involved a giant ball of ice hand-chunked off a 250-pound block. For summer, try the Sacrificial Dance, which blends rye, lemon, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, and a house ratafia cordial with strawberry and rhubarb. Poured over a lump of glacier in an Old Fashioned glass, every refreshing sip keeps the swelter at bay.

- Craig LaBan
Sacrificial Dance, $12, Farmers' Cabinet, 1113 Walnut St., 215-923-1113, www.thefarmerscabinet.com.