While most think of Nepali culture as sober, one visit to Everest Cuisine will reveal a nuanced culinary heritage that extends to delightfully innovative craft cocktails. Beverage Director Geeta Lamichhane delights imbibers with libations, bridging treasured traditions with unexpected twists, utilizing meticulously sourced local spirits, herbs, and liqueurs, imparting cultural enrichment with every sip.
Start with a Chhyang, Tibet’s national beverage tracing back centuries as an offering among monks. Complex brew blends barley grain fermented according to lunar phases with aromatic juniper captured in Himalayan foothills, balanced with medicinal herbs calming body and soul. At Everest, techniques elevated Chhyang into a smooth elixir sipped around the fire on frigid evenings.
For herbal refreshment, the Gurung Gimlet highlights foraged mountain botanicals like pine and wild grapes in an effervescent spritz. Subtleties shine through avoiding obscurity under exoticism, imparting humility in nature’s resilience against adversity, often paralleling human spirits. Another highlight illuminates rice liquors distinct to Newari artisans, steeping grains according to harvest time, imbuing nutritional spirituality into each craft pour.
For sippers seeking adventure, innovative riffs emerge through playful infusions. Plum wine graduates into a frothy libation alongside tart rosehip, maintaining harvest traditions, or jaad blended with cardamom simple syrup enlivens an afternoon pick me up. Blended concoctions shift perceptions of regional identifiers as “rough” alongside complex flavor profiles defying limitations.
Classics receive Himalayan twists as well. Gin elevates with buckwheat or amaranth distillate married with smoked chilies aging through winter. Aged rums emerge velvety smooth yet unexpectedly vibrant with additions like finger lime or turmeric bitters from the soil.
Through Geeta’s creations, each sip at Everest Cuisine tells a nuanced cultural story, imparting an appreciation for traditions elevated through innovation and respect. It is a crafted journey quenching the thirsts of both body and expanded perspectives on a treasured mountain homeland.