Spirited Conversations: Toast to good luck in 2020 with these 4 cocktails

All around the world next week, in festivals, soirees and homes, New Year’s celebrations will honor age-old traditions. Each culture has its own unique practices believed to bring luck and prosperity in the upcoming year. I thought it might be fun to use some of these traditions as inspiration for cocktails.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippines has many quirky, fun New Year’s traditions, like jumping as high as you can at midnight so that you will grow taller, or eating sticky rice to bind the family together. Anything round signifies prosperity, so wearing polka-dot dresses or having round fruits on the table is also good luck.

Why not take it a step further and use round fruits in a delicious libation? This cocktail is a sort of cobbler, a shaken drink adorned with fruit, incorporating some of the round fruits you may want to have on hand if you’re on visiting a Filipino home for the holiday.

MABUHAY!

By Chandra Lucariello

• 2 orange slices
• 2 lemon slices
• 2 calamansi limes, halved
• 1/2 ounce brown sugar syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water)
• 1 ounce rye whiskey
• 1 ounce amontillado sherry (like Gonzalez Byass)
• 1/2 ounce cognac-based orange liqueur
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Muddle (crush) citrus pieces with syrup. Add liquors and ice. Shake and strain over crushed ice. Garnish with a thin lemon wheel, thin orange wheel, mint sprig and seasonal berries.

SPAIN

Here it is a tradition to eat 12 “lucky” grapes at the stroke of midnight, one grape per chime, signifying luck for every month of the next year. Another ritual is dropping something gold into your Champagne glass to retrieve after you’ve enjoyed the bubbles. Using your wedding ring for this purpose is said to ensure fidelity.

Here’s a cocktail that puts all 12 grapes in your glass, so you don’t have to shove them in your mouth all at once. Add a little sparkling wine with some bling and you’ll have all bases covered!

HIGH FIDELITY

By Chandra Lucariello

• 12 grapes
• 1/2 ounce lemon
• 1 spoonful yuzu juice
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water)
• 1 ounce bitter bianco liqueur (like Luxardo or Saler Gentiane)
• 3 ounces sparkling wine
• Something gold

Muddle (crush) grapes with citrus and simple syrup. Add liqueur and ice. Shake and strain into Champagne flute over something gold. Top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a skewer of grapes.

BRAZIL

A Brazilian New Year’s celebration could well be the experience of a lifetime. You will want to wear all white with multicolored underwear (every color has a meaning, so choose wisely), and be prepared to jump head-on into seven waves with 2 million other Brazilians at Copacabana beach at the stroke of midnight.

The foods thought to bring good luck are lentils and pomegranates, to bring wealth. The national Brazilian spirit is cachaca, made from sugar cane, but this cocktail can also be enjoyed with tequila.

FELICIDADES!

By Chandra Lucariello

• 2 orange slices
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 3/4 ounce simple syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water)
• 1-1/2 ounces cachaca or blanco tequila
• 3/4 ounce pomegranate liqueur

Press orange slices with lime juice and simple syrup in mixing glass. Add liquors and ice. Shake and strain over ice into pre-rimmed bucket glass.

Garnish with a wheel of dehydrated orange, 7 pomegranate seeds and churro salt on rim. To make churro salt, combine 2 parts turbinado sugar with 1 part cinnamon and 1 part sea salt.

AT CHANDRA’S HOUSE

We have such a melting pot of cultures it is hard to pinpoint all the New Year’s traditions. In my family we enjoy the traditional Japanese foods for the first meal of the year, such as nishime (stew), sashimi and kuromame (black beans). Many of these items have significance, and some are just downright tasty.

The menu always includes ozoni, a clear soup served with a soft mochi ball at the bottom symbolizing longevity, mizuna (greens), kamaboko (fish cake), shiitake mushrooms, abalone and nori. My mom, who comes from a Japanese and Korean background, painstakingly makes this delicious, umami-packed broth over the course of two days.

Her recipe has evolved over the years to become her own. She uses clams, konbu and even dried scallops to develop the rich, complex flavors she seeks.

I thought something slightly savory and refreshing would be the best pairing for our New Year’s cuisine, utilizing Japanese nuances to complement.

GANBATTE!

By Chandra Lucariello

• 1 seedless ume (Japanese pickled plum) or 1 teaspoon ume-shiso paste (available at Japanese markets)
• 1 shiso leaf
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water)
• 1 -1/2 ounces shochu
• 3/4 ounce umeshu (ume liqueur)
• Club soda

Muddle (crush) ume and shiso leaf with lemon juice and simple syrup. Add liquors and ice. Shake and strain over ice into highball glass. Top with club soda, stir to combine. Garnish with a shiso leaf.

Chandra Lucariello is director of mixology for Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits of Hawaii. Ingredient note: The liquors and liqueurs used in these recipes are widely available from Oahu liquor stores and some supermarkets.