Fashion Week’s Four Best Cocktails
Signature drinks designed for exceptional parties
Outfits aren’t the only luxury getting an overhaul during New York Fashion Week. What with all the brands, faces and hands circulating, party venues (be that restaurants, clubs or art spaces) also seek to make an impression. The following four cocktails are the best that we sipped on, while reflecting on the presentation we had just seen. Of course there’s champagne involved, but also vodka and tequila—and surprisingly, Cidre. Each drink developed for a specific event or designer and while we can’t really count the number we sampled, these stood out not only for their flavor, but also their resonance.
Harper’s Bazaar ICONS Cidre Cocktail
Perhaps a gala to define the week as a whole, the Harper’s Bazaar ICON celebration was awash with the most important faces in the industry. It also came complete with a private Kanye West performance—and an uncommon cider beer cocktail. Developed by Marc Stroobandt, known as the Master Beer Sommelier, and served at The Plaza Hotel from a dedicated lobby bar, the Stella Artois ICONS Cidre Cocktail tasted like a bundle of fresh fruit—the result of raspberry coulis and fresh apple.
1 Stella Artois Cidre
1 tsp raspberry coulis
1 fresh raspberry
Apple
Granulated sugar
Crushed ice
Place one to one-and-a-half teaspoons of raspberry coulis with a pinch of granulated sugar at the bottom of a chilled wine glass and fill with crushed ice. Pour Stella Artois Cidre over the ice to the top of the glass. Garnish with a fresh raspberry and a thin apple slice. Serve with cocktail stirrer and/or drinking straw.
Prabal Glam
During the Prabal Gurung Sport launch dinner in The Clocktower restaurant of The EDITION Hotel, the Prabal Glam made a noticeable impact. It was also be served in the hotel’s lobby bar, open to the public, throughout all of fashion week. Vodka and champagne have long gone hand-in-hand, but with honey and ginger, something greater takes hold.
.25 oz ginger syrup
.5 oz honey
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
.5 oz fresh pineapple juice
1.5 oz ELYX
2 oz Perrier Jouet champagne
Combine and shake all ingredients, except the champagne. Serve in a Moscow Mule copper mug, filled with ice. Top with champagne.
The Catwalk
Premiering during fashion publication Office Magazine‘s issue five launch event at Noho’s Madame X, The Catwalk takes its inspiration from a different stage: that of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour. It’s a well-documented fact that the Stones consumed a lot of tequila during the tour—all the while setting global fashion trends and influencing listeners the world over. Thus, the cocktail features Jose Cuervo’s Especial Silver Rolling Stones Edition (two ounces of it). The rest is a little sweet and a little bitter.
2 oz Jose Cuervo Especial Silver Rolling Stones Edition
.5 oz agave nectar
3 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters
Stir half of the tequila with two ice cubes in an old fashioned glass. Add agave syrup and Angostura and two more ice cubes.
Eckhaus Latta’s Weft
Fashion Week is supposed to be surprising. And that’s a frequent takeaway from the future-forward runway shows of Eckhaus Latta. Naturally, the cocktails served at their after party—at Red Bull Studios New York, where they curated the gift shop—surprised and delighted as well. Red Bull actually factored into the Weft, developed by Arley Marks, and for a party that started at 11PM, it did more than lend some zing to the flavor profile.
2 ounce Titos Vodka
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
.5 oz cinnamon and hibiscus syrup
.5 ounce aqua faba (protein rich liquid from can of chickpeas)
Shake very hard for at least 20 seconds, cocktail should be quite foamy. Pour over ice into two Collins glasses until about two-thirds of the way full. Top with Yellow Edition by Red Bull to bloom the aqua faba foam. Garnish with fresh bunch of mint and nutmeg zest.
Lead image and Cidre cocktail image courtesy of Stella Artois, Prabal Glam cocktail courtesy of The EDITION, The Catwalk image courtesy of Jose Cuervo, Eckhaus Latta cocktail image courtesy of Red Bull Studios New York
