Happy New Year!

Doug Quinn, a bartender at the Manhattan fixture P.J. Clarke’s, isn’t fazed by much. During a busy happy hour this week, we brought him a bag full of traditional Rosh Hashanah food items—apples, pomegranates, honey, dates, black-eyed peas, and, of course, a fish head—and asked him to work them into cocktails. We also brought some variations on those ingredients—apple cider, pomegranate juice, and sardines—to make things easier, but we needn’t have worried. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with that fish head, so I’ll just make a classic gin martini and rather than put olives in it, I’ll garnish with a fish head,” Quinn said. “For the adventurous.”

Pomegranate Martini

3 oz. citron vodka

1 oz. pomegranate juice

Seeds of half a pomegranate

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 oz. simple syrup

Garnish with lemon twist

Serve chilled straight up in martini glass.

Apple Cart

2-1/2 oz. cognac

1 oz. Cointreau

Juice of 2 lemons

Juice of 1 orange

1 oz. fresh apple cider

Shake well with ice and serve chilled in cocktail glass. Garnish with apple slice.

Rosh Hashanah Sangria

1 bottle of red wine, Merlot recommended

4 oz. peach schnapps

2 apples, chopped

10 dates

Juice of 1 orange

Refrigerate overnight.

Pour in wine glass over ice, garnish with apple slice.

Fishy Mary

2 oz. vodka

4 oz. tomato juice

Dash of Tabasco sauce

Dash Worcestershire sauce

Dash of bitters

1 sardine

Shake well, pour into wine glass over ice. Add salt and pepper; garnish with wedge of lime and a lemon.