May 12, 2026
Provided image/Visit Philadelphia
The 'cocktail trail' drinks available at the Marriott in Old City include the Red, White & Blue mocktail (left) and Bluecoat Betsy (right).
Hotels across the city will offer cocktails drawn from history and tinted red, white and blue for the nation's upcoming 250th birthday.
Visit Philadelphia has organized a "cocktail trail" featuring 31 locations in Center City, Fishtown, South Philly, Wynnefield Heights and Eastwick. Inspired by the Epcot "drinking around the world" challenge — which industrious city residents have already replicated — the initiative seeks to boost business to hotel bars during the busiest stretch of the semiquincentennial. Each participant came up with a cocktail and a mocktail inspired by local history, ingredients or landmarks that will be available from Wednesday through Sept. 30.
Anyone participating in the challenge can check into a stop on the trail by scanning a QR code at the bar or logging the visit online. Visit Philadelphia will donate $2.50 to PHL Cares, an initiative to combat homelessness, for each check-in until it reaches $5,000. Check-ins are limited to one per person per day.
So what are the bartenders serving up? Several mixed up their version of the Fish House Punch, a rum cocktail invented at a Philly fishing club in 1732. A play on that drink is available at Caletta (Hotel Anna & Bel), Vernick Fish (Four Seasons) and First Daughter Oyster & Co. (Renaissance Downtown) — while THIRTEEN (Marriott Downtown) is offering a classic version and mocktail.
The First Daughter Oyster Co. at Renaissance Downtown is serving the Schuylkill Punch, a play on the Fish House Punch, and Cos-No mocktail.
Others revamped the Clover Club, the egg white gin cocktail named for the men's social club of the same name that met in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in the late 1800s. Local spirits like Bluecoat Gin and Jacquin's creme de cacao also make appearances. Benjamin Franklin's various achievements and personal punch recipe inspired multiple cocktails, too, while some are just really blue — or red, white and blue.
The whole trail is laid out on an interactive map, which details each stop's custom beverages. Interested imbibers can sign up for a digital passport on the same page.
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