Only in Beijing: Three Cocktails Unique to the Capital

With so many interesting and fresh ingredients at their disposal, Beijing's bartenders are able to come up with some amazing and unique recipes. The creative blends encompass the spectrum of flavors you are likely to encounter during a night out in Beijing. So if you are willing to explore and colonize a new zone of your palette, here's a list of some of the more avant-garde cocktails we were able to track down and venues where you can sample them.

Bei Bing Yang & Tequila
The mixer here is a classic Beijing soda that was very popular in the 1980s and then disappeared due to a never-ending lawsuit with Pepsi. Bei Bing Yang reemerged in 2011, and is now a go-to drink and occasional OJ substitute for many Beijingers. Ask anyone who was alive in the '80s about Bei Bing Yang, and it will bring back memories of summer sugar shock and chore bribing from their parents. 45ml of Olmeca Tequila
Blanco
Topped with Chengzi
Bei Bing Yang
Más

Hawthorn Martini
When the guys at Flamme were designing their latest drinks list, they wanted to include some refreshing Beijing flavors, with the obvious choice being the local hawthorn fruit. It is widely used in everything from dried tea to tanghulu. They infuse a bottle of Ketel One vodka with dried strips of hawthorn, before adding some fresher fruity flavors – shaking in crème de cassis and fresh lemon. The result is a classy, alcoholic version of a candied apple, without the risk of tearing out your two front teeth.
50ml hawthorn-infused Ketel One vodka
20ml crème de cassis
15ml fresh lemon juice
Flamme

Paloma Para Mis Otras
Apothecary is constantly coming up with fresh cocktails. This one, a variation on the classic Paloma adds local organic dried fruit tea to infuse the tequila blanco, before sweetening it with whole stevia leaves, is a favorite. Tea is a great addition to the mix, lending an earthy bitterness for the sweet and sour to rest upon.
45ml dried fruit tea Agavales Tequila Blanco
60ml fresh grapefruit juice
15ml fresh lime juice
15ml sugar syrup
A pinch of sea salt
Topped with soda water
Served in a tall glass, over hand-cut ice cubes.
Apothecary

Read the full article in the August issue of the Beijinger magazine here.

Photos: Mitchell Pe Masilun