As an industry worker zipping around on your feet all day, the best part of the day is enjoying a shift drink: a post-work alcoholic beverage to decompress, take a load off, and yes, enjoy a nice buzz before heading home to bed. In this series, we’ll be exploring the many fantastic bar programs of Philadelphia where you can treat yourself after a hard days work.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, located at the corner of 21st and Rittenhouse Street, has been a staple in the Rittenhouse community for quite some time. The neighborhood favorite recently closed and reopened with a fresh face and a new menu. The bar is fairly small, dimly lit, and well stocked with a variety of spirits to choose from.  After 10:30 on a weeknight, the bar transitions from a lively crowd to a more quiet setting.  This upscale cocktail bar seemed like a peaceful place to satisfy my post-work thirst.

While each cocktail sounded amazing, one cocktail immediately caught my eye: The Assassin’s Handbook. The cocktail is served over ice in a rocks glass and consists of Jamaican rum, cognac, mulled wine shrub, averna, and habanero. It’s has a great combination of sweetness from the rum and averna while the mulled wine shrub and the habanero give it a nice punch of spice.

I was lucky enough to be out with friends who offered up a taste of their drinks as well. First, I tried the Mood for a Day. This drink was served up and was composed of Plymouth gin, cardamaro, and letherbee fernet. This drink is definitely for gin lovers and is a great stiff drink to end a long day.

Secondly, I got to sample the Oxford Comma, served in a collins glass, made up of Nicaraguan Rum, lemon, coffee, red wine, and soda. While reading the list of ingredients, I was thrown off by what seemed to me to be an odd combo. However, when talking to our bartender and beverage manager, Paul MacDonald, he said this common reaction is strange to him because those ingredients so obviously make a great match in his mind: and they do! This drink is light, refreshing, and easy to drink.

Paul is aiming to bring a small cocktail menu that covers a lot of ground and provides a variety of flavor profiles to accommodate many different palates. While the cocktail menu may be small, Paul and his fellow colleagues enjoy creating drinks to meet every individual need in order to create a tailored experience which means off-menu ordering is not only accepted, it’s encouraged.

Aside from cocktails, there is a wonderful selection of wine, beer, and delicious food! Needless to say, this is definitely a worthwhile spot to check out whether it’s date night or you’re looking to decompress after your own bar shift.