Cheers to an amazing start to 2024 from your favorite destination in paradise!
Toasting feels natural: lift your arm in cheerful affirmation and take a sip to honor an occasion or a loved one. It’s what millions will do as they greet the New Year, but why? Like shaking hands or saluting, toasting is a custom with hard-to-trace beginnings because history and folklore so often merge into one.
But toasting during celebrations surely goes back to the ancient world when it was a practice devoted to saluting emperors. Some had literal toast (bread) in their drinks, recited poems or prayers, or only toasted after the meal, while others introduced the practice of clinking glasses that we still have today.*
Regardless of origins or traditions, at Vidanta we are ready to receive you and your loved ones, lift our glasses together with hope and excitement, and welcome 2024. For that reason, here’s a comprehensive guide to our signature cocktails and mocktails—including a special surprise. This one’s for you!
SIGNATURE ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
Keiko at Gong
Keiko is a feminine name of Japanese origin often translated as happy, blessed, and joyful.
Ingredients: Tequila Flecha Azul, Grand Manier, lychee purée, and lime juice.
Presentation: rimmed with hibiscus salt and garnished with a lychee brochette and a dehydrated lime slice.
Catrina at La Cantina
La Catrina (the elegant skull), the festive icon of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), was created in 1910 by Mexican illustrator José Guadalupe Posada.
Ingredients: Pox Siglo Cero (a spirit from Chiapas), Licor Xilá (a fruity mezcal liquor), passion fruit pulp, lime juice, and agave syrup.
Presentation: served in a folkloric Mexican ceramic mug with pineapple leaves and dehydrated citrus slices.
Wild Stone at Quinto
A cocktail of the “sour” family, it’s named after its ingredients: wild red berries and Ginstone, a unique, 100% Mexican gin that blends the traditional flavors and botanicals of the ancestral caramelized Genevé with Latin American flavors.
Ingredients: Ginstone gin, lime juice, simple syrup, raspberries, blackberries, and albumin.
Presentation: served in an old-fashioned glass with a raspberry and blackberry brochette.
Yavi at Saúde Mixology Bar
Yavi means agave in the Oaxaca Mixtec language. This cocktail’s name celebrates mezcal (a time-honored Mexican agave spirit) and agave syrup extracted from the plant’s fibers.
Ingredients: Mezcal Unión Joven, celery, cucumber, lime juice, and Señor Maguey agave syrup.
Presentation: rimmed with worm salt and garnished with dehydrated lime and thin cucumber slices.
Ik Habanero Drink at Nektar
Inspired by Riviera Maya’s ingredients, our Yucatecan version of a spicy margarita has been featured in newspapers and culinary magazines. Its color reflects our jungle landscape and features five flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and slightly spicy.
Ingredients: Siete Machos Blanco tequila, green bell peppers, chaya leaves, seedless habanero chili, Señor Maguey agave syrup, and lime juice.
Presentation: rimmed with worm salt and garnished with chaya leaves.
MOCKTAILS
Bramble: non-alcoholic Sabroso Brebaje spirit, blackberry purée, lime juice, and simple syrup.
Maggie Blue: non-alcoholic Sabroso Brebaje spirit, lime juice, pineapple juice, and Blue Curaçao syrup.
Lychee Mojito: non-alcoholic Sabroso Brebaje spirit, peppermint, lychee purée, lime juice, and lychee syrup.
SURPRISE!
Recently, each destination held a contest among Vidanta’s mixologists to select their feature signature cocktail for our 50th anniversary festivities. Here’s a sneak peek at the winning drink and mixologist at Vidanta Riviera Maya:
IN LAK’ECH
Created by: Mixologist Clara García Durán
Her inspiration:
“In Lak’ech is a traditional Maya greeting that means ‘I am another you.’ My inspiration stems from the Vidanta values: Respect for our people, customers, and planet and the cocktail showcases them:
• Pineapples: an ancient symbol of friendship and hospitality, as we strive to bring happiness to all generations by creating the extraordinary.
• Colors: black represents elegance, sophistication, and innovation, while white conveys purity and honesty.
• Respect for the environment: I recycled the pineapple leaves to decorate the drink.
• The dehydrated orange represents the sun in our beach resorts and the Cirque du Soleil JOYÀ.
• Finally, the star anise stands for Vidanta’s logo as it gets ready to celebrate this amazing milestone.”
Ingredients: Don Julio Reposado tequila, Narano sour orange liquor, pineapple juice, lime juice, simple syrup, a dash of activated charcoal, and topped with coconut foam.
Presentation: an old-fashioned glass half-rimmed with activated charcoal and decorated with pineapple leaves, a dehydrated orange slice, and star anise.
To a fabulous 2024 brimming with happiness, new adventures, love, and peace. Salud!
*Dickson, P. (2019). Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces. Chartwell Books.
