Skip to main content

Welcome the Lunar New Year with the Year of the Snake cocktail

It's almost lunar new year, so here's a cocktail to celebrate

Casa Chi by Chef Richard Sandoval
Casa Chi by Chef Richard Sandoval

This week sees Lunar New Year, the celebration of the new year throughout much of East Asia and beyond. And to welcome to upcoming Year of the Snake, the Chicago lounge Casa Chi by Chef Richard Sandoval has come up with a new cocktail featuring ingredients like edamame, lychee, and kumquat.

Year of the Snake Cocktail

from Casa Chi by Chef Richard Sandoval

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz Roku Gin
  • 2 oz lychee soda
  • .25 oz kumquat juice
  • 1 oz Midori
  • .5 oz Coconut Liqueur
  • Edamame foam (see recipe below)
  • Garnish: edamame foam & dehydrated lime
Recommended Videos

Technique: Shake
Type ice: regular ice
Glassware: highball

Method:

  1. Add all ingredients in the shaker with ice and shake for 10 seconds.
  2. Strain over fresh ice.
  3. Add edamame foam on top.
  4. Garnish slice lime dehydrated & foam

Edamame foam

Yield: 23 oz (cream siphon 700 ml)

Shelf-life: 1 week

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup shelled edamame (cooked)
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup regular milk
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 gelatin sheets
  • 1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Blend the ingredients: In a blender or food processor, combine the cooked edamame, heavy cream,water, and lemon juice. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
2. Strain the mixture: Pour the blended mixture through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a bowl to remove any solids. This ensures that the foam is smooth and does not clog the siphon.
3. Siphon: Pour the strained mixture into the cream siphon, making sure not to overfill it (usually filling it about 2/3 full is ideal). Seal the siphon according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
4. Load the siphon: Load the siphon with a cream charger (N2O) and 2 sheets of gelatin to stabilize. Shake the siphon well to mix the gas with the edamame mixture.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet is a cocktail enthusiast based in Berlin, with an ever-growing gin collection and a love for trying out new…
An expert’s tips for the sweet and spicy drink of the summer
Mango cut open on plates

If you've been following food and drink trends, you'll certainly have come across the term "swicy." The combination of sweet and spicy is everywhere this year, including in cocktails, where drinks like the spicy mango margarita have been taking the internet by storm.

Cocktail expert Patrick Pistolesi of NIO Cocktails is here to guide you through this trend, sharing his tips on adding mango and Mexican sauce chamoy to a classic Margarita to create a Mangonada.

Read more
Celebrate the Campari Spritz at this NYC event
Campari Spritz

New York is getting a spritz-themed takeover, as aperitivo brand Campari is setting up a Campari Spritz Square in downtown NYC. The weekend of June 14 and 15, the 171 E. Broadway hub within Chinatown and the Lower East Side will host a weekend dedicated to all things Campari Spritz, including art and jewelry displays, a live DJ, and of course food and music.

The idea of the event is not just to highlight the drink -- which is a bitter, more bracing alternative to the ever-popular Aperol Spritz, that you'll see enjoyed all over Italy -- but also to promote the Italian aperitivo culture which involves small snacks and light cocktails for the early evenings before a meal.

Read more
I’m going to be drinking this refreshing spritz all summer long
Lillet

The spritz is an iconic summer drink, but my very favorite type of spritz isn't made with Aperol -- instead, it uses Lillet. If you haven't tried Lillet before, it's a little like vermouth, but with a hefty bitter edge from quinine that I love. If you enjoy the bitter and refreshing edge of tonic water, then I reckon you'd love Lillet Blanc too.

My usual go-to Lillet spritz recipe is equal parts of Lillet and sparkling water, plus an absolute ton of cucumber slices, all served in a big copa glass over a large ice cube. I find that the cucumber gives a crisp, juicy addition to the drink and makes for a lovely low-ABV sipper.

Read more