Imagine the sunset and the beautiful winter line created by it and top that with the falling AQI of Delhi and a breathtaking view of the Lutyens. Does it get any better? Yes, it does, when you have delicious Delhi-inspired cocktails to go with it and to be able to gauge where the inspirations for these cocktails came from. If you think about it, then you will notice there’s inspiration all around us — one just has to tap on it.
Last week I found myself enjoying the most surreal sunset at one of Delhi’s most iconic luxury properties, The Oberoi. From their rooftop bar Cirrus 9, one can soak in the views of the Delhi Golf Club (DGC), Humayun’s Tomb, India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan on any given day.
Globally renowned bar and beverage consultant Giancarlo Mancino has joined hands with the mixologists at Cirrus 9 to create a Delhi skyline-inspired cocktail menu, but that’s not all! What catches one’s eye is the bespoke three-dimensional sustainable glassware — it offers a luxurious and elevated experience, redefining the art of indulgence.
Each cocktail in this new menu draws upon the city’s history, with many landmarks visible from the rooftop bar and every drink embodies the essence of these historic sites, offering a unique experience that connects the flavours of New Delhi to its cultural narrative. Some of the cocktails that one can savour here are The Quila Legacy, a tequila-based creation honouring the timeless grandeur of the Purana Qila, or the Lutyens’ Elegance — a refined highball that captures the sophisticated charm of Delhi’s Lutyens’ zone, amongst many such cocktails.
In a casual conversation, while he showcased his creations to me, Mancino said, “A beverage experience, for me, is more than creating a drink — it’s about telling a story with every ingredient, every pour, and every glass. At Cirrus 9, I am honoured to share my passion for craft cocktails, blending my global experiences with the vibrant culture of New Delhi. Every sip should transport you, not just in flavour but in the emotions it evokes.”
Interestingly, this is not the first time that a bar has thought of paying an ode to the capital. At one of the finest bars that the city boasts of today, Sidecar, there was a whole cocktail programme which paid homage to Delhi and was aptly named Dear Delhi. One of my personal favourite cocktails from this menu was the DU Special — a hark-back to my college days and our haunts. Imagine a shakarkandi chaat topped with mouth-puckering star fruit that has been re-imagined in the tequila-based cocktail with star fruit juice and sweet potato syrup.
This isn’t a one-off concept — today, India’s top bartenders are taking to niche flavours, and risking a targeted approach to create versions of popular cocktails that are highly attuned to Indian taste buds. In turn, this is giving birth to a new spate of bars with highly-curated cocktail programmes — showcasing maturity in mixology unlike what we’ve ever seen before.
“Bartenders are making cocktails more consciously today. It’s not just about knowing and pulling off cocktail recipes any longer — it is about originality in today’s time. Earlier, bartending used to be about replication, so making what exists already and then replicating that concept was the norm for bars across the world,” explained Yangdup Lama, one of India’s veteran mixologists and co-founder of Sidecar and the newly opened The Brook in Gurugram.
But how does the audience react to such specialised cocktail programmes? Pallavi Pasricha, a writer based out of Gurugram shared, “I enjoy regional cocktails because they not only tell me about the most popular areas in a particular city or region but also put together a story in which the ingredients of that place shine. This way innovative ingredients find their way into the cocktail and make it more interesting.”
Honestly, the push for native cocktails is a glorious one, and as Lama and Mancino say, is steeped with memories and nostalgia. It’s like tasting a cityscape in a glass, and we aren’t complaining!