Chilled Drink of the Week: Siberian Heart

By Paula Lukas

The Spirit of Adventurous Mixing with Mamont Vodka.

The inspiration for my cocktail “Siberian Heart” came from an icicle that formed in the shape of a heart on the ice of Siberia’s Lake Baikal which is the deepest lake and is also thought to be the oldest in the world. It’s incredibly beautiful.

I wanted to enhance the smooth, clear flavor of Mamont Vodka with the local flavors of Siberia. Many people just think of ice, snow and cold when they think of Siberia but actually there is quite a bit of agriculture! Siberia is one of the places where rhubarb originated from and apricots are grown there, too.  Nectar honey plants bloom in the alpine meadows of the Altai Mountains.

To round out the drink, Campari and lemon are added along with a sprinkle of some pink Himalayan sea salt. I half rimmed a chilled coupe with dried rose petals and more sea salt and garnished with a sprig of rosemary which also grows wild in Siberia.

I hope you’ll enjoy some of Siberia’s bounty in a glass!

Siberian Heart

Siberian Heart

Photo by Paula Lukas

Siberian Heart

By Paula Lukas

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 oz. Mamont Vodka
  • 1 oz. Giffard Rhubarb Liqueur
  • 1/2 oz. Giffard Abricot Liqueur
  • 1/4 oz. Campari
  • 1/2 oz. Local Honey
  • 1/4 oz. Lemon Juice
  • 2 pinches of Himalayan Sea Salt
  • 1 tsp. Dried Rose Petals (for garnish)
  • 1 Sprig of Rosemary (for garnish)

Preparation: Combine all ingredients (except for one pinch of sea salt, the rose petals and rosemary) in a shaker tin. Fill with ice, shake and strain into a chilled coupe glass that’s been half rimmed with Himalayan sea salt and dried rose petals. Sprinkle the pinch of sea salt on top and garnish with a slapped sprig of rosemary.


Meet Paula Lukas

CHILLED 100 Member, New York

Paula is a native New Yorker who began performing in musical theatre when she was a young girl and believes her love of performing and creativity are her biggest assets. The bar is her stage!

Her lengthy tenure in the New York hospitality business has taken her from mixing up Sex on the Beach and Woo Woos at nightclubs to concocting hand-crafted Martinis at Lily’s at the Roger Smith Hotel, where she honed her skills meeting people from all over the world. At Upper East Side restaurants 92 and Spigolo she was promoted to head bartender and bar manager and was able to curate several successful cocktail menus.

On the competition stage, Paula was chosen as a national finalist in the Rhuby Liqueur “Pink Your Drink” competition, competed in the Queen Bee Cocktail Classic and was a Northeast Regional semi-finalist in The Copper and Kings “Mixed Tape Competition”. She was a judge at The Rhuby Liqueur global finals in Sweden and judged The Marie Brizard Masters in New York.

Paula’s cocktails have been featured in the New York Post, Huffington Post, Food and Wine, and Gotham Magazine and she has also been featured on The Bartending Masters.com. Currently she can be found behind the bar at Nur, a modern Middle Eastern Restaurant which has received much critical acclaim. She’s been able to use her creative flair as well as access the restaurant’s array of spices and herbs to create a variety of specialty cocktails.

She loves the hospitality industry and feels very lucky to be a part of it.

Chilled 100 Member Paula Lukas - New York, skyline and waterfront in background

Chilled 100 Member Paula Lukas – New York

Photo by Gary Patrick Lukas

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