Poka Lola Social Club has launched an exciting new cocktail menu that perfectly encapsulates the flavors of spring and summer, bringing a fresh and vibrant take on drinking.
The innovative menu is a sensory journey filled with bright produce, layered flavors, and creative techniques that challenge the boundaries between cocktails and cuisine.
Beverage Manager Lexi Parker expressed her enthusiasm about the new offerings, noting the focus on fresh produce coinciding with the arrival of farmers market season, abundant with fruits and vegetables.
To illustrate this fresh approach, Parker crafted the Bunny Is a Rider cocktail, which incorporates carrots—a quintessential spring ingredient associated with Easter.
Her Oh Snap! cocktail features snap peas, embracing the popularity of peas in restaurant menus as spring unfolds.
While inspired by the freshness of spring, the execution of the drinks celebrates the essence of summer with bright, bold, and refreshing flavors meant for leisurely afternoons.
Standout cocktails include the Pink Pony Club, which combines pink peppercorn-infused Don Julio tequila with guava, lychee, and rose for a floral and fruity flavor profile.
Another highlight is Oh Snap!, a mezcal-based cocktail shaken with mint and sugar snap peas that offers a refreshing twist.
Perhaps the most playful creation comes in the form of Bad News Bears, a frozen concoction that uniquely blends buttered popcorn-washed tequila with chocolate, ube, and coconut.
Parker shared her inspiration behind the Bad News Bears, saying, “I came up with the buttered popcorn-washed tequila when I was trying to brainstorm a way to add a little more body and complexity to the existing drink.”
In her view, the combination of chocolate and popcorn, especially during baseball season, creates a delightful fusion of flavors.
Other cocktails delve into more floral and herbaceous territories, such as Daffodil, crafted with chamomile-infused mezcal, blanc vermouth, cacao, and honey.
Parker noted, “The chamomile-infused mezcal was something I’d been wanting to play around with for a while, and chamomile and honey are another set of flavors that scream springtime to me.”
Creating such intricate cocktails requires heavy reliance on house infusions tailored for specific flavors, colors, and techniques.
Parker described her infusion methods, stating, “The infusion process can vary depending on what exactly you’re infusing. I try to do cold infusions, if possible, for any kind of herbs so that the color stays intact as much as possible.”
She explained that cold infusions allow for the vibrant hues of herbs to remain unchanged, compared to heat infusions which can alter color.
Often, ingredients sit in the cooler overnight for optimal flavor extraction before being strained.
When time is short, Parker also employs a sous vide machine to enhance the infusion process.
This attention to detail is evident in the bar’s returning summer favorite, Beach Don’t Kill My Vibe, known for its richly toasted coconut rum.
Parker emphasized that heating the infusion can better extract the essence of coconut, resulting in a more flavorful cocktail.
As the summer season approaches, Parker currently favors Pink Pony Club and Oh Snap! as her go-to selections.
“Oh Snap! is a breath of fresh spring air that’s super refreshing with a touch of vegetal notes from the snap peas, whereas Pink Pony Club is very delicate, fruity, and floral—a total crowd pleaser,” she described.
Beyond the individual flavors, Poka Lola’s menu seeks to capture a celebratory mood, embodying the spirit of the seasons with joyful and intentional crafting.
Parker explained, “Our seasonal menus reflect whatever fresh produce is in season as well as seasonal flavors.”
She compared the current menu to their winter offerings, which featured winter-inspired elements such as Good Grief, made with brown butter-washed Dickel 8-Year Bourbon and thyme-infused demerara syrup, and Cabin Fever, featuring pecan-washed Union Mezcal.
Parker’s aim is for each drink to leave a lasting impression on guests, stating, “I wanted every sip that a guest takes of one of our drinks to be one of the best sips of a cocktail they’ve ever had.”
Her team collaborates closely to ensure that every item on the menu is not only delicious but also a result of shared creative energy and conviction.
As summer approaches, guests can expect Poka Lola to serve up cocktails that challenge the norm—where popcorn seamlessly meets tequila, mezcal creatively combines with peas, and each sip captures a little moment of magic.
Poka Lola Social Club is located at 1850 Wazee St., Denver. Its hours are Sunday 2 p.m. – 9 p.m., Monday 3 p.m. – 9 p.m., Tuesday 3 p.m. – 10 p.m., Wednesday 3 p.m. – 10 p.m., Thursday 3 p.m. – 11 p.m., Friday 3 p.m. – 12 a.m., Saturday 2 p.m. – 12 a.m.
This new seasonal menu at Poka Lola Social Club is set to transform how patrons experience cocktails this summer.
image source from：https://303magazine.com/2025/06/poka-lola-launches-produce-packed-cocktails-bringing-farmers-market-vibes-to-every-sip/
