Spring is in the air, meaning new cocktails will be on your lips.
Mixologists are using the warmer weather (and the new ingredients that
come with it) to influence revamped bar menus across the city.
10 Downing mixologist Sparks Grassly stirs champagne, gin,
grapefruit juice, bitters and muddled basil for his new creation, the
Middleton Royale, in honor of the royal wedding. Those ingredients, he
says, “evoke the harmony of spring and warm New York nights.” Macao
Trading Co. bartender Dushan Zaric is serving two new cocktails that
he guarantees have “the taste of spring in one sip.” The Cicinho Sour
contains Leblon Cachaca shaken with lime juice, and their No Mames
features tequila shaken with honey liqueur and lime and grapefruit
juices.
But it’s Johnny Swet, owner of Hotel Griffou, who has the
craziest spring fever. Twelve of the 16 cocktails on their revamped
drink menu are new. Their Sweet Pea cocktail — gin, elderflower liquor,
lemon, champagne and a spring pea puree — tastes like spring. “I triple
strain the peas so it’s like water,” he says. “It’s amazing.”
Tequila everywhere!
Tequila is a popular ingredient on spring drink menus, and nowhere is
this more evident than at Paramount Bar in the lobby of Midtown’s
Paramount Hotel.
The drinks at this intimate Old Hollywood-style bar have some bite,
thanks in large part to entertainment director Senem Sozen’s
predilection for Tanteo Jalapeno tequila. The liquor makes three
appearances on the bar’s new cocktail list, most charmingly in the
coolly refreshing Pepino Diablo (with lime juice, agave nectar and
muddled cucumber). –Nate Jones/Metro
