Specs

Things move slowly in Vermont—especially when it comes to food and drink trends. (We’re still waiting for Aperol spritzes to be the “drink of the summer.”) At Specs, which turned from daytime coffee shop to full café-bar in late 2025, the cocktail list is both ahead of the curve and trapped in the amber of a Vieux Carré. The vibe is relaxed and DIY: wooden spindle bar stools are straight out of a ’90s New England kitchen, and there’s likely a zine launch or a vermouth workshop happening while local DJs spin or a sax player improvises. But the drinks are serious, and regulars skip the single-sheet menu for “the binder,” which lists finely tuned recipe specs of all 100-plus drinks. Most are $12 and under, which is honestly more of a throwback than an 1830s sherry cobbler.