Cocktail makers get mobile in New York and London
Is this the way we should be enjoying our mixed drinks during the pandemic? Or would a copy of our new book Spirited make things a little easier?
Bars and restaurants might be closed across the world, though that hasn’t prevented some enterprising mixologists from getting their drinks out to their customers.
The New York Post reports that one, anonymous, 32-year-old furloughed restaurant employee has taken to the great outdoors, offering his cocktails in 12-ounce plastic bottles bearing his new pseudonym, the Brooklyn Vagabond, to patrons in the city’s Prospect Park.
“His cocktails sell for $15 ($10 for his peach and mango sangria),” the paper reports, “which are packaged in 12-ounce plastic bottles bearing the logo of an anonymous face with a baseball cap and glasses.” Sangria aside, the Brooklyn Vagabond also offers Pina Colada, Strawberry Gin Tini and Soji Mandarin Lemonade.
Meanwhile, over in London, the British company Liberation Cocktails are bringing their drinks to thirsty drinkers across the capital, via its new Cocktail Cruiser van, which has been fitted out with five bar-style taps, dispensing Espresso Martini, Aperol Spritz, Mojito, and Strawberry Daiquiri, among other mixes.
Is this the future of mixed drinks in an age of social distancing? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Certainly the Brooklyn Vagabond finds his new role fairly taxing. “It’s very hard work,” he told the Post. “I spend the whole week preparing the alcohol, sourcing it, getting alcohol I like, getting ingredients, doing infusions. And then physically going to the park with the ice and the cocktails. It’s not easy, or glamorous.”
For a simpler, and more self-sufficient solution, smart drinkers should order Spirited, our new major global celebration of classic and cutting-edge cocktail recipes that define the way we drink, wherever we are. Find out more, and order your copy here.