Cocktails make Valentine's day a heady affair

Chennai, Feb 14 (UNI) Valentine's day here is not just about roses, mushy cards and lovely gifts: free flowing cocktails and mocktails provide a heady mix to young couples in the city's leading hotels.

A multitude of couples were seen glued to hotels and bars to taste the new cocktails and mocktails brewed by the city's top-notch bartenders.

Roping in many top distilleries to stimulate their customers, leading hotels in the city offered the choicest liquors to connoisseurs, especially young couples celebrating Valentine's day.

Unmindful of the raging debate over the relevance of the day in the Indian society and the ''cultural degradation'' it brought about, young couples seem to advocate that love knows no barrier of culture or religion or even 'cocktail'.

The 'heady' blend in various hotels was a mixture of a variety of fruits and liquors, with the bartenders putting to use their creativity and innovation.

A smooth blend of fresh bananas, strawberries and pineapple, along with spiced rum was the cocktail invention of bartender Ashok Kumar of Distil at Taj Connemara.

''It has a heady mix of Captain Morgan, banana, fresh strawberries, pineapple, lime juice and Gomme,'' he adds.

To add spice to the season of love, Sasthan of Leather bar has come up with an yummy mocktail with pineapple juice, litchee juice and granedine syrup.

Keeping with the flavour of the season, bartender Verra's concoction has been aptly named 'Love Potion'. This cocktail, available at Courtyard by Marriott, was a mix of Vodka, Triplesec, cranberry juice, orange juice, blood orange and cranberry syrup.

Strawberry Martini, a refreshing cocktail whipped up by Sebastian Galvez Bunge of Zara, was a combination of fresh strawberry infused Vodka with Cointreau, a touch of sugar syrup and a splash of cranberry juice.

GRT has come up with a unique cocktail - a blend of soya milk, strawberries, coconut syrup and strawberry syrup.

Bartender Mukhil of Dublin has created a heady cocktail with ingredients like belvedere, grandmarnier, cointreau, drambuie and cranberry juice with a dash of lime.

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