A bunch of capital's well known bloggers sat at the Hyatt Regency Gurgaon's beautiful Long Bar and Lounge on a balmy Sunday afternoon, listening raptly to the sounds of shaking and mixing, taking copious notes and indulging in beautiful finger snacks. It was time to sip on what has now become globally accepted as a day drink - the cocktails! There couldn't be a better way of spending a Sunday afternoon than twirling those pretty cocktail glasses and sipping on it, while being regaled about the interesting stories behind the origin of these classic and modern cocktails. Many tried their hand at the mixing egged on by the friendly head mixologist Prasoon and came up with their own version of the cocktail.

The Hyatt Regency Gurgaon is just about 30 minutes drive from Saket and is a nice place to spend the weekend with your family just swimming in their large beautiful pool, indulging in the activities they have in their menu, or just spending the evening chitchatting with the family members. 

So what did we get to enjoy at the beautiful Long Bar and Lounge located just next to the very spacious all day dining restaurant Kitchen District which serves the most delicious and gorgeous array of desserts? Among the five cocktails that we tasted were the classic Margarita, Negroni which we happen to like the most, Manhattan, the Legacy and the Firefly.

One of the most interesting aspect of the cocktail making was the introduction of the Japanese ice ball maker- it’s a special Japanese vessel that turns ice into smooth iceballs. The solidity of the iceball allows it to melt much slower than a normal cube of ice besides making for a beautiful presentation. This technique was used in the Negroni cocktail, take a look at the picture below to see how gorgeous the while is highlighted as a contrast to the amber golden brown liquid.

Shared by the expert bartending team of the hotel Luxepointindia.com is happy to give you the recipes just in case you would like to try and perk up your Sunday afternoon.

Margarita

Glassware: Margarita Glass

Standard Recipe: 

• 40 ml Camino Real Silver
• 25 ml Cointreau
• 20 ml Lime Juice& Sugar syrup

Method of Preparation: 

• Rim the glass with lime juice & Salt and keep it aside.
• Take Ice, tequila, Cointreau, lime juice & sugar syrup in a shaker.
• Shake all the ingredients hard and strain it in the rimmed margarita glass

Garnished with: Lemon Wheel

Negroni

Glassware: Old fashioned glass

Standard Recipe: 

• 20 ml Martini Rosso
• 20 ml Campari
• 20 ml Beefeater

Method of Preparation: Pour all the ingredients over the ice into a glass and stir well

Garnished with: Orange slice

Manhattan

Glassware: Cocktail glass

Standard Recipe: 

• 15 ml Martini Rosso
• 50 ml Jim Beam
• 2 Dashes Angostura bitter

Method of Preparation: 

• Take all the ingredients in a shaker with ice.
• Shake them vigorously.
• Strain it into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnished with: Maraschino cherry

The legacy

Glassware: Cocktail glass

Standard Recipe: 

• 60 ml Bacardi
• 4-5 Pineapple Chunks
• Coriander Leaves
• 15 Lime Juice
• 10 ml Passion Fruit puree

Method of Preparation: 

• Take Pineapple chunks, coriander leaves and lime juice in a shaker and muddle well
• Add ice, Bacardi &passion fruit puree to it & shake gently.
• Strain into a cocktail glass.

Garnished with: Pineapple slice and coriander leaves

 Fire fly

Glassware: Collins glass

Standard Recipe: 

• 50ml Skyy Vodka
• 15ml Grenadine Syrup
• Top up with Orange Juice or Grapefruit Juice

Method of Preparation: 

• Fill the glass with ice.
• Add Grenadine syrup to the glass and top up with Orange juice or grapefruit juice.
• Pour vodka on top

Garnished with: Orange half moon