Now that the days are a little longer and spring is in the air, it’s time to switch your bar cart essentials to reflect the change in the season: New growth, farmers markets, and nuanced floral flavours that make your drinks feel light and refreshed!

This process shouldn’t be a pain! Here are 6 ways you can make your bar cart spring-ready:

Sweet

It’s a small switch, but it makes a world of difference: swapping dense and rich cold-weather sugars like maple syrup, sorghum, and molasses (which we use in gingerbread making), for more delicate and floral honey is a welcome change. Opt for raw honey from the farmers market for a product that has a more distinct flavour and supports local farmers!

Easy recipes for every syrup imaginable here!

Sour

As rhubarb and strawberries start to come in season and flood the farmers market, it’s time to make shrubs, which are tart, fruity, and sweet.

Made with vinegar, and can keep for up to a month in your fridge, shrubs, In addition to being gorgeous, are non-alcoholic, and can be drank alone, with a splash of soda water, or in a cocktail. You can find an easy Strawberry Shrub recipe here, as well as a Shrub Cocktail recipe!

HERBACEOUS

Time to seek out fresh herbs that papalo, lemon basil, mint, and pineapple sage. You can even play with edible flowers like butterfly pea to change the colour of your cocktails (see below!). For easy access, place potted herbs on your bar cart so you can cut them fresh for muddling and garnishing. Bonus points for using barware as cute planters!

Booze + Low-Proof Liquors

Spring means dry gins and vodkas for a clean, crisp palate that plays well with in-season fruit, but for Low-Proof options, you cannot go wrong with making cocktails from Apologue Distillery’s Liqueurs, and their recipe for the Saffron Cooler (pictured below) is a twist on an Arnold Palmer that looks so refreshing!

For more punch ideas, join us on 6 May at World of Whirlpool, where we’re partnering together to teach a Spring Punch class (only $25).

Glassware

Thick, heavy glassware was perfect when the weather outside was frightful, but spring calls for lighter, more fanciful glassware. Our recommendations are the Neat Barware set from CB2, which is micro-thin and tapered. And those short tasting glasses? So cool. Even better that they come plain glass and in smoke.

Tinctures

Ditch classic bitters in favour of tinctures, the single-note flavouring agents steeped in neutral grain alcohol that add aromatics and flavour in your cocktails. Our suggestions? Lavender Tinctures to boost floral notes and Ginger Tinctures to increase pungency. Paired together, they are an unexpected dream!

Learn more about the how to use bitters + tinctures by checking out our collaboration with CB2 in this article.

And of course, some inspiration to start you out: HOLLOW LEG’s Lizzie’s Lavender French 75 Slush:

• 2oz Beefeater Gin infused with butterfly pea flowers (which makes the gin blue/purple)

• 3/4 of a fresh lemon, squeezed

• 3/4oz. simple syrup

• 2 capfuls HOLLOW LEG Lavender Tincture

• Prosecco

Blend the first four ingredients with ice to form a slush, then pour into a fancy glass, top with Prosecco! Cheers!