New York bartender details easy cocktail recipes for happy hour

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Friday is National Happy Hour Day, and award-winning New York City-based bartender Lynnette Marrero shared some easy cocktails you can make, right in your kitchen.

Marrero's "spirited" career began when she accepted a job at New York's Flatiron Lounge alongside cocktail savant Julie Reiner. Marrero quickly made the transition from cocktail waitress to bartender and knew that the spirits industry was her true calling.

After learning the ropes at Flatiron Lounge, Marrero became a senior bartender at Freemans NYC, known for its skilled bartenders whose innovative drinks were featured in a collaborative cocktail menu, complementing the restaurant's rustic cuisine. This led her to consulting and co-designing the bar program for Elettaria in Manhattan's West village. Here she worked closely with Chef Akhtar Nawab to create an award-winning cocktail menu.

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Marrero has over 10 years of experience in creating bar programs and cultivating a new generation of cocktail bartenders while elevating the bar at restaurants.

She co-created Speed Rack, an international cocktail competition for women bartenders that raises money for breast cancer charities.

Marrero was honored by the James Beard Awards as one of America's Leading Female Mixologists in 2009, was named Food & Wine/Fortune Magazine's Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink 2015, Wine Enthusiasts Mixologist of the year 2016 and placed Top 4 in Tales of the Cocktails' Spirited Awards Best Mentor 2017.

In July 2019 Marrero received the Tales of the Cocktails' Spirited Awards Best Mentor and the inaugural Philanthropy Award for her work with Speed Rack.