A Christmas Miracle pop-up from 2017 | Miracle Pop-up/Official Photo
The international Miracle Christmas pop-up will take over Longway Tavern and Barrel Proof starting next week
Dust off your Santa hats and ugliest Christmas sweater, because the internationally sought-out Christmas Miracle pop-up is coming to New Orleans for the first time, taking over craft cocktail institutions Barrel Proof and Longway Tavern.
Featuring punnily-named cocktails and over-the-top Christmas decorations, the pop-up started in New York’s East Village in 2014, when Greg Boehm transformed his newly acquired unfinished bar space into a winter wonderland. The idea came from his mother, who during a trip to Tibet had an epiphany and called the entrepreneur to share her vision; “don’t do construction in December, open up a Christmas bar.”
With the help of Joann Spiegel, Miracle has made appearances all over the world including pop-ups in Greece, Montreal, Paris, and Hong Kong. In its fifth year, Spiegel and Boehm will continue spreading holiday cheer throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Central America.
Boehm is considered one of the most influential figures in the craft cocktail world. His fascination with cocktails began after acquiring a copy of Salvatore Calabrese’s 1997 Classic Cocktails, eventually amassing a curated compilation of over 3,000 cocktail book titles dating back to the 17th century. His obsession led him to research and source tools and barware from all over the world (he’s credited for the revival of the Moscow Mule copper mug), which is how his company, Cocktail Kingdom, became the go-to outlet for any serious bartender’s purchases.
Boehm is Jewish, but he would celebrate Christmas in his grandparents’ basement, whose collection of ornaments would become the inspiration for Miracle’s over-the-top retro decor. In addition to garland, twinkle lights, bows, and Christmas stockings, the Instagram-famous Santa mugs and festive glassware will be at the center of the cocktail creations, including the “Koala-La La La, La La La La” with gin, pine liqueur, and vermouth, garnished with a tiny koala wearing a Santa hat, and the Yippie Ki Yay Mother F****r! made with two kinds of rum, cachaça, and marshmallow orgeat.
“Even though the drinks have a lot of components, they are all super approachable and coincidentally have the same laid back and informal likeness that we pride ourselves on at Barrel Proof,” says bar manager Jason Sorbae. Both bars will offer the holiday-inspired cocktail menu full time; Longway will continue to serve its full food menu and Barrel Proof will still honor it’s usual half-priced happy hour.
In 2015, Miracle spawned a tiki-themed sister beach-style bar, Sippin’ Santa. In 2018, New Orleans own tikiphile and influential cocktail personality Jeff “Beachbum” Berry partnered with the company to curate a program that’s popping up in 27 locations nationwide, including his acclaimed local watering hole Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29.
Miracle will take over Longway and Barrel Proof from Monday, November 25 to December 31, and Sippin’ Santa returns to Latitude 29 on Monday, November 25.
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Source: Eater New Orleans - All
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