Nine cozy bars to warm you up: Our favorite winter picks

The Rose Bar, a velvet-heavy lounge filled with celebs and beautiful people, is still one of the coolest scenes in town -- a testament to the staying power of this super-trendy Ian Schrager-Julian Schnabel project. When our reporter stopped in for a drink, he ran into Sting. While we can't guarantee you'll bump into one of The Police while sipping a martini from the extensive menu, we can guarantee that with candle lighting, a laid-back atmosphere, roaring fire, and Warhols strewn about, it is the perfect setting for a long fun winter night.

Even if you can't afford to stay at the St. Regis, it's worth stopping in the King Cole Bar for a nip. According to legend, it was the first place in the country to serve a Bloody Mary, here called the Red Snapper. The signature cocktail can be had for a mere $18, while other cocktail prices inch into the $20 range. The bar also serves small plates like a half-dozen oysters ($20) and a sliced steak sandwich ($34). This intimate space with wood-paneled walls make it a snug winter pick.

The Redwood Room bar, originally opened in 1933 as a classic Art Deco lounge, has been reincarnated as one of the trendiest places to drink around Union Square. Paneled in warm redwood (legend holds that it's all from a single, 2,000-year-old tree), the bar has velvety red sofas and chairs, digital artwork, and warm, sexy lighting. Visit the Macy's Christmas tree in Union Square before plopping down here for a fun night.

While many high-end bars are for a more "refined crowd," the young people need a winter meet-up place too, right? The Ace Hotel's lobby and lobby bar have become the place for New York's young, MacBook-toting tech set, and the organic comfort food, specialty cocktails, and high-end coffee the hip kids demand are on all available here. With animal skin throws, plaid chairs, squishy leather button couches, bookshelves, a wolf's head, and bar snacks like spiced almonds and caramel popcorn, it's an inviting pick during the cold months. Grab a communal table, order an excellent lamb burger from the on-site restaurant, The Breslin, and strike up a conversation about Twitter with your table mates. You might just leave with a new round of venture capital funding.

The dark-wood-paneled Oak Bar is evocative of a Bristish Officer's Club in East Asia -- coffered ceilings, mirrors, marble. It feels like the kind of place where dashing men in suits casually make deals over martinis and oysters while eyeing a blonde in the corner. But the venue knows who it's catering to -- a more mature crowd who can splurge on a drink from one of the most extensive martini menus in the city. It's the ideal spot for you and a partner after a long day of holiday shopping on Newbury St.

Overlooking Grand Army Plaza on the southeast corner of Central Park, the Oak Room is almost as iconic as its parent hotel and is a great place to watch the bustle of the holiday season on New York's Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. Stick to the classics, and sip slow: that sidecar cocktail will cost you $19.

Appropriately named Off the Record -- "Washington's Place to be Seen and Not Heard" -- this cozy, high-class basement bar exemplifies everything we think of when we say "winter hideaway." Decorated with warm red walls and dark wood paneling, much of it left over from the hotel's initial construction in 1927, it's a good place to down few glasses of scotch to warm the body.

Stop in to get out of the cold and hob knob with some of Washington's elite. Allegedly, Kentucky Senator Henry Clay established the official recipe for the mint julep on the site of the Willard in the early 1800s, and the stately Round Robin Bar still proudly serves it today -- Maker's Mark bourbon, mint, sugar, and branch water for $15. Upstairs, the Scotch bar serves from the menu of over 130 Scotches -- one of the most extensive selections in the city.

What better place for a winter drink than the place where Charles Dickens read A Christmas Carol for the first time on American soil? The Last Hurrah delivers a taste of historical Boston -- literally and figuratively. Located inside one of the country's oldest hotels, the bar has a classy, old-time atmosphere -- leather-cushioned chairs; wood paneling; men in sports coats. You can sample Boston cream pie, invented at the hotel in the mid-19th century -- or better yet, you can order the Boston cream pie martini from the bar's extensive martini menu. Other drinks, like the Dickens Punch, also relate to the hotel's history, and the whiskey menu is one of the most impressive in Boston.