Lunar New Year offers lots of opportunities for the bartender. Why not get creative and try out one of our Chinese-inspired cocktails?
Blogs & Inspiration
Lunar New Year Cocktails
How bartenders can celebrate Lunar New Year by integrating occasion-inspired cocktail offerings to delight their guests.
Author: Paul Mathew, Bar Owner of non-alcoholic drinks brand Everleaf
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival is widely embraced and celebrated globally. Bar owner and Everleaf founder Paul Mathew shares some inspiring cocktails that you can serve in your bar to mark the occasion.
INCORPORATING TRADITION INTO YOUR DRINKS
INCORPORATING TRADITION INTO YOUR DRINKS
Lunar New Year is the perfect opportunity to add a little creativity to your menu, wherever your bar is based in the world.
This could be as simple as using Chinese ingredients in your cocktails, for example, tea (try exploring some of the more unusual flower teas such as osmanthus, or fermented green teas) fruits (longan, jujube, pomelo, or kumquat all have their own New Year associations), or even using honey-scented rice wine as the base spirit.
Or you can incorporate the tradition via garnishes, for example serving cocktails in traditional gaiwan teacups, using the lid to trap scents or smoke to add a little theatre for customers, or serving infused wines from bamboo.
If you want to get even more creative, you can use traditional stamps to press designs on to rice paper with dark bitters providing the ‘ink’, or you could use ‘chops’ imprint clear ice blocks with the traditional New Year characters for prosperity on your cocktails.
The options are endless!
RECIPES FIT FOR CELEBRATION
Fortune Margarita
Spring Festival offers a wealth of ideas for the creative bartender, a few of which are incorporated in these Chinese-inspired cocktails.
Fairground Rye
Cotton candy is a common feature of Spring Festival temple fairs. This drink incorporates that into the serve, along with a traditional teacup, very fitting for a Chinese cocktail.
Hong Bao
Hong bao are the red envelopes used for gifts of money throughout the year, but are especially common at Spring Festival when they can be seen adorning the walls of temples. The red colour is said to ward off evil spirits and symbolise good luck.KEY TAKEAWAYS
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Lunar New Year is widely celebrated across the world.
It is a time to connect with family and prepare for the year ahead - bringing wishes of good fortune, health and happiness.
The celebration offers endless opportunities for bartenders to get creative with innovative cocktail offerings and ingredients.
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