As competition intensifies, bar owners are pursuing novel touches to distinguish their wares, including offering liquor smoothies and garnishes that become small plates.

A loose archipelago of restaurants and bars faces the glistening bay, most from the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, attracting locals and boaters alike.

A slightly bitter, go-down-easy Italian aperitif has found its way into bartenders’ flutes and highball glasses from Los Angeles to London.

The city has become a magnet for bartenders and their fans from around the country, particularly New York.

The soon-to-open Tradition Bar has created its own version of a forgotten elixir.

Milk & Honey, a Lower East Side bar that was known to be precious and haughty, has found a roomier space, but its roots will remain in its original home.

A new bar and restaurant below street level in the financial district offers above-the-usual fare.

The Experimental Cocktail Club Lower East Side, part of a chain that began in France, offers American-style cocktails.

The chef Sawako Okochi at the cocktail lounge brings a genuine Hawaiian flavor to the island of Manhattan.

A new cocktail Web site devotes itself to the old-fashioned.