What’s your number? Alpen Rose keeps customized cocktails for regulars on file

The vest pocket bar tucked into a cozy corner at Alpen Rose serves some fine modern riffs on the cocktail classics, each identified not by a name but a number. Beverage director Jefferson Oatts swaps out the usual suave brandy of Cognac in a Sidecar for the more rustic edges of Armagnac and rye in the No. 24. The French 75 turns into No. 76 with a romantic blush of rosé Cava, Cocchi Rosa, and a tiny rose that floats across the sparkling elixir that brims in the cut-crystal glass. The Manhattan gets a red-wine reduction for No. 8, while Alpen’s twist on an Old Fashioned, No. 21, draws its sweetness from Pedro Ximenez sherry and a puff of smoke from lapsang souchong tea.

But sometimes, the standard playlist just won’t do for the VIPs, especially in a boutique steak house that wants to foster bespoke service for its regulars. Enter the Alpen Rose catalog. The bar will customize drinks for patrons and note their favorites on a numbered entry in the index card library behind its bar. My wife, the tiki drink lover, now has a rummy concoction with crushed ice, charred lime and orgeat syrup filed under No. 18. My lawyer friend Dave, meanwhile, wanted something punchier and more brooding than the Sidecar-ish No. 24 of his first round. “Would you say something … more aggressive?" asked our smart server, Christina Celleri, intuitively coaching my friend toward a choice with vocabulary to which a trial lawyer would relate: “Yes!!”

What Oatts then concocted was an improvised dealer’s choice that delivered the requisite muscle — the spice of E.H. Taylor rye — but also plenty of unifying finesse, with Luxardo maraschino liqueur, Dolin white vermouth, and a surprise touch of grated coffee beans dusted over top. As those java shavings spiraled down and dissolved with each swirl of an orange twist, the drink found some roasty dark notes to give each sip some bass.

“What’s your favorite number?" Celleri asked Dave, who immediately replied with the number Chase Utley wore for the Phillies: “No. 26.”

Just like that, a new cocktail entry into the card catalog was born, and so, I believe, was another Alpen Rose regular.

— Craig LaBan

The No. 26 cocktail, $15, Alpen Rose, 116 S. 13th St., 215-600-0709; alpenrosephl.com