Festive cocktails for the season

Two restaurants. One jolly good time! Christmas Day is fast approaching, and bars across the Corporate Area are already shaking and stirring things up, bringing one festive ‘cheers’ after the other. The Food team was happy to meet and greet master mixologists from TRIO Grill Wine Bar and Ribbiz Ultra Lounge.

Shaniqua Reece has been an active member of the TRIO family for five years, three spent behind the bar. With a love for flavour and creativity, she fuses the two, pouring out the passionate results in every glass. For the season, Reece shared three of her newly crowned Christmas cocktails.

“I made three festive mixes: Mrs Claus, blue wonderland and [the] white Christmas margarita. The first drink is similar to a mudslide, made with vanilla ice cream, simple syrup, rum cream and coffee liqueur,” she explained, as she served the creamy beauty with a candy cane on top.

For her second selection in the mix, the blue wonderland dazzled eyes under the bar’s iconic blue light. “This one came out surprisingly good because I made it up on the spot. I love the blue water effect, and the Blue Curaçao worked wonders in the mix,” she said.

Then, on the margarita side of life, Reece revealed that passion and lime margaritas are already popular cocktails. So why not add a bit of merriment in the mix? This white Christmas margarita is a beautiful blend of Yuletide luxury and features tequila and cranberry juice, which are among the ‘merry’ flavours to delightfully dance on your taste buds.

For Ribbiz, Shanae Williams stepped up to the bar this season with three festive drinks as well: the snow globe, frost bite and Santa’s side sip. Williams, who has been a mixologist for seven years and has worked at this establishment for three years, shared how honoured she was to create these sipping sensations.

“For the first drink, I was going for the effect of a Christmas tree inside of a glass, giving the look of a snow globe. The rosemary stood proudly as the tree. I brought in some colour with cherries. Vodka was the spirit of choice. But instead of using soda water, I chose Sprite,” she highlighted.

In the midst of mixing, she shared her journey of how her dreams of becoming a professional footballer didn’t materialise. But one day, she decided to try something new. Now, she has entered a new sport of sorts, calculating ingredients and making the right plays that would get her customers in the festive spirit, in and out of the Christmas season.

For the second drink, the frost bite, Williams ran with innovation and creativity, putting vodka and Blue Curaçao in the spotlight. And for the last but certainly not least, Santa’s side sip, as the name suggests, is a mix expected to be popular with women. Made with vodka, it is creamy, with notes of cinnamon and chocolate and is a truly refreshing sip from start to finish.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com