More booze for your buck

More booze for your buck
By Karen Tina Harrison
Special to amNewYork

These take-no-prisoners cocktails let you know halfway through the glass that you’re getting the most bang for your booze. And our choices are poured at joints you’ll actually like being seen in.

Murray Hill: Barbes
21 E. 36th St., between Madison and Fifth avenues
212-684-0215

Barbes crams tons of atmosphere and terrific Moroccan food into a little side-street storefront space. Silk pillows and cooing service make it comfy, and the intoxicating Barbes Special ($10) — the love child of a gimlet and a mojito — will take your bar experience to the next level.

Madison Square: Ilili
236 Fifth Ave., between 27th and 28th streets
212-683-2929

You wouldn’t expect such strong drinks from such a stylish place. But this spot serves a super- stiff cocktail. The marquee ingredient in “From Beirut with Passion” ($14) is vodka infused with basil, cilantro and mint.

Village: Elettaria
33 W. Eighth St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues
212-677-3833

Elettaria is a right-now hot spot with a past. In the ’60s, the space was the 8th Wonder, a club where Jimi Hendrix played. Elettaria’s notorious drink is the Zombie Punch ($14), created in 1934. It truly contains more than four ounces of hooch.

Chelsea: Trailer Park Lounge
271 W. 23rd St. near Eighth Avenue
212-463-8000

Trailer Park Lounge revels in its campy trashiness. If you don’t like its kitschy decor and high-test margarita, you’re a hopeless square. So get down and dirty with a feisty frozen marg, jammed with fresh mango or strawberry puree. They’re $7 to $8 during most hours, and $5 from 4 to 7 p.m.

Upper West Side: Madaleine Mae
461 Columbus Ave. at 82nd Street
212-496-3000

Madaleine Mae’s bar chef, Doug Quinn, studied voodoo remedies in Guadeloupe. His Rhum Cures ($10) are made of French West Indian rum infused with secret spices and fruits. The cures are said to lighten your load and attract riches and romance.

Midtown: Jour et Nuit
8 W. 58th St. at Fifth Avenue
212-752-6200

At this Euro-style bistro-bar, you can play it safe with wine, or you can live dangerously and splurge on a White Orchid ($19). It looks angelic, but it conceals two ounces of Ketel One vodka and more than an ounce of Domaine de Canton ginger cognac.

Midtown: The Volstead
125 E. 54th St., between Park and Lexington avenues
212-583-0411

If you work in a tense midtown office, you require an intense afterwork tipple. Meet your new drinking buddy, the mostly gin Eastsider ($13). This speakeasy-dark bar is playfully named for the congressman who pushed Prohibition. Show that dude the meaning of “spirits.”

East Harlem: Amor Cubano
2018 Third Ave. at 111th Street
212-996-1220

To get to Havana, you have to detour through Canada or the Bahamas. Or you could take the No. 6 to Amor Cubano, a sexy spot with a knockout house drink. The gingery Amor contains three ounces of Zacapa rum, a cult brand that’s hard to find.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn: Pete’s Candy Store
709 Lorimer St., between Frost and Richardson streets
718-302-3770

Quite a few hoodies consider Pete’s their communal living room. Check out the locals over a Dark & Stormy ($8) fierce with Jamaican ginger beer and a “five-count” pour of Gosling’s rum. As in one-two-three-four-five.

Forest Hills, Queens: Jade Eatery & Lounge
1 Station Sq. at Continental Avenue
718-793-2203

You could move into Jade Eatery; it’s got a dining room, a private club, an art gallery, a garden and a vintage bar where mixology is respected. The Tokyo Rose ($12) looks, smells and tastes divine. It also packs a punch, thanks to two ounces of Grey Goose and a dose of fortified sake.