Cocktail Culture: Classic Cocktails Get a New Spin at the Mirage

Limoncello gets an adult twist. Batidas take on a refreshing kick. Martinis get sexier with a high-roller spin. All are part of the 30 new cocktails recently unveiled at the Mirage, each more interesting than the next. Some of the garnishes use dehydrated fruits made especially for the Mirage that plump back up when dipped in the cocktails.

At Samba, discover a new twist on the Batidas prepared by combining tropical fruits with cachaça, a potent sugarcane liquor from Brazil. This version features cucumber and comes with a slender cucumber dill fruit chip creating the perfect accompaniment to Samba’s robust cuisine. The Brazilian-style steakhouse is also mixing up caipirinhas, the Brazilian fave, pisco passion and pineapple mojitos.

For an Italian twist on cocktails, Onda Ristorante is offering house-made limoncello, a popular Italian lemon liqueur, mixed with Grey Goose La Poire Vodka and orange juice then topped with a pear ginger fruit chip.

Chinese cocktails get dressed up at Fin with the zen mojito, which uses the flavor of the exotic dragon fruit by combining Bacardi Dragon Berry Rum and fresh seasonal berries and garnished with a dehydrated dragon fruit chip for an unexpected textural crunch. Go for the golden lotus with a Shanghai white vodka, Soho lychee liqueur and a mix of cranberry and lime juices.

Kokomo’s pairs its steaks, chops and seafood with a watermelon margarita and the dressed up Tom Collins made with a dash of agave nectar and Canton ginger liqueur making it the Gin-ger Collins.

Feeling like dropping some cash? Head over to the High Limit Lounge and The Villas at the Mirage for a bevy of drinks such as the High Roller Cosmo made with Absolut Wild Tea Vodka with Cointreau, cranberry and lime juice and is served in a martini glass rimmed with a hibiscus and lavender. Or hit the Sports Bar with its Brooklyn Iced Tea made with vodka, rum, gin, blood orange liqueur, sour, simple syrup and Coke and garnished with an orange clove fruit chip.

If you feel like wandering the resort to get your drink on, you can find the Strawberry Fields, a refreshing take on the mojito named for the popular Beatles song, the 1944 Mai Tai garnished with a spicy peach fruit chip or the Stone side car with orange Curacao and orange marmalade.

Click on the photos below to enlarge.

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