Boutiq Bar + Budapest, Hungary
Deep red colored walls, dim lighting, and a range of well-made cocktails… it is what dreams are made of. Off on a side street near the city center, you will find Boutiq Bar. A bar full of well-skilled bartenders who mix up short-term specialty drinks as well as long-running bar-specific drinks and classics.
To start, Boutiq Bar has a rotating menu of bartender-made specialty drinks that are built around one particular booze. During this visit, the drinks were based on Absolut Elyx vodka. Elyx is Absolut’s luxury vodka that is marketed based on the sourcing of single-estate wheat and bringing back into service a vintage copper column still from 1921. The night started with two drinks off the specialty menu: Queen Elyx + Swedish Lullaby.
Queen Elyx
Swedish Lullaby
The Queen Elyx was a mash-up of Elyx Vodka, mint, strawberry, + Rhubarb. The presentation was just beautiful with the vodka crystal clear in the bottom of a long glass and the strawberry and rhubarb foamed up as a float on top. Quiet sweet and strawberry-forward, so a bit off my normal pallet, but very glad to give it a go.
The Swedish Lullaby was a little drink with a great big taste. A well-balanced drink of Elyx vodka, spicy tea syrup, almond milk, and coffee liquor. It felt like having a breakfast drink where one can’t decide between coffee or tea and is hoping to be smashed before the first bite of the day… and I mean that in a positive lifestyle choice way.
The evening continued on with an appreciation of the 90s jams that were playing, the relaxing atmosphere, attentive and knowledgeable bartenders, and a few twists on classics to keep the night going. A mezcal Last Word was had, plus a tequila twist on a mule. Couldn’t leave Boutiq Bar without wrapping up the evening with a low-ABV spritz using the Hungarian digestive, Unicum, and more ice than one knows what to do with.
Boutiq Bar is worth the visit and the time. Just be sure to get there early to grab a quality bar spot and watch the show as all the drinks are made.
“Did you notice how eloquently I just expressed myself? Maybe it’s the effect of this fine Sangiovese wine.”
