Bartenders aren’t waiting for spring to properly arrive, freshening up their cocktail menus with flowers, fruits and other bright, fresh ingredients. Check out some of the creative new sips for the season.
Rose Gold
SoHo’s new Asian comfort food spot Pinch Chinese (with dumplings by a Din Tai Fung vet) has a wine-inspired menu of cocktails, because sommelier Miguel de Leon knows there’s no more spring and summer, there’s only rosé season. Its fabulous Rose Gold cocktail starts with sparkling rosé, then adds elderflower and rose water, Peychaud’s bitters and a few glittering gold flakes — for the ‘gram, of course. 177 Prince St., pinchchinese.com
Paris Meets Seoul
The East Village’s modern Korean-French restaurant Soogil — chef/owner Soogil Lim is an alum of Daniel — finally got its liquor license and has launched a menu of playful twists on classic cocktails incorporating Korean spirits. Perhaps the best example of the restaurant’s fun fusion ethos is the vibrant blue Paris Meets Seoul, made with Hpnotiq and a Korean spirit called makgeolli, a lightly sparkling unfiltered rice wine, served in an Eiffel Tower-stemmed glass. 108 E. Fourth St., soogil.com
The Swedish Thing
They’re always experimenting inside Greenwich Village’s old school cocktail den Analogue, and their spring menu is designed to remedy your seasonal woes with ingredients to cleanse and energize your body. For The Swedish Thing, head bartender Tre Stillwagon combines invigorating lemon and ginger with vodka, curacao, aquavit and egg white, garnished with rich cardamom powder to soothe the palate. 19 W. Eighth St., analoguenyc.com
The Secret Garden
The West Villages classic New York bistro Left Bank has stuffed an entire bouquet into their new spring cocktails. We’re loving the Secret Garden made with a gin base emphasized by muddled juniper berries, plus fresh mint, elderflower and a homemade hibiscus syrup, topped with prosecco. 117 Perry St., leftbanknewyork.com
Rumination
Looking for inspiration? Try the Rumination at casual modern American restaurant Boulton & Watt in Alphabet City, which uses a base of classic London Dry gin and boosts the flower power with lavender syrup and adds the fruit of the season with peach bitters, rounding out the flavors with Benedictine, lemon and Angostura bitters. 5 Ave. A, boultonandwattnyc.com
