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Cocktail Classic delivers zany, novel creations in new theme at NewBo City Market
Mixologists keep time with iconic albums
Jun. 2, 2025 5:30 am, Updated: Jun. 2, 2025 11:34 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — You can’t beat the classics, but how do you keep a cocktail classy?
How well can you make a drink based on an iconic album? And, more importantly, how much can you do with one brand of vodka?
Cedar Rapids, Marion and North Liberty mixologists this spring were tasked with pouring each of those elements into a cup. This year’s theme, “Signature Soundtrack,” had bartenders bumping everything from Billy Joel and Grateful Dead to Fleetwood Mac and the Shrek movie soundtrack.
A bevy of bartenders, blessed with a bounty of Cedar Ridge Bagger Vodka, showed us how it’s done in this year’s Spring Cocktail Classic at NewBo City Market.
Here are some thoughts from their May 27 performance to help you decide the next stop on your bar crawl.
1. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” by The Ideal Theater & Bar
Don’t tell Paula Deen, but apparently you can put butter on passion fruit.
A peppery whiff of florals is my first introduction to one of my favorite drinks of the night.
From first sip, it’s apparent that a wonderfully viscous texture is the glue that holds two bold individuals — buttered popcorn and passion fruit — together in marriage. It’s not thick like syrup, necessarily, but it is so sweet that you can imagine it being made with a thick, sugary base.
As the flavor steeps, the butter and passionfruit’s intensity creates almost a flash of caramelization.
Even if you abhor sweet drinks, you won’t be able to resist this one’s wiles. It’s a combination I never realized I needed.
Indeed, it was a “thriller.”
2. The White Stripes’ “Elephant” by Copper Boar American Pub
It’s “nothing but liquor,” the charismatic bartender opens in his lengthy pitch for what may have been the most conventionally classy cocktail of the evening.
Made with amaro, this drink’s obligatory vodka assumes the flavor and color profile of espresso thanks to Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee liqueur. Coffee introduces itself up front as the vodka shyly takes a backseat.
The integrity of the foam topping, impressively made without egg whites, adds a pleasant, buffering texture that holds up well.
The bartender closes his speech by saying the drink will be “as abrasive and in your face as punk (music) should be.” But I’m going to disagree. The flavor, while bold, was far from abrasive.
It’s a perfect balance of sweet, bitter, acidic and palatable. But what I love most is that this one wasn’t much of a gimmick — it was a master class in a mini alternative to the espresso martini.
This cocktail won the People’s Choice award.
3. Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” by The District CR
Decorated in an ethereal mix of tulle and candles, this bar’s stand was oozing Stevie Nicks’ aura, and the drink matched it.
This drink, while perhaps not as raspy as Nicks’ voice, offered a momentary escape from reality.
“Now there you go again. You say you want your freedom,” it says, as in the opening of “Dream.”
A bright, tart opening rides the effervescence of carbonated ginger to the sweet heights of a woman’s voice.
Vodka is disguised by a constant presence of lemon and ginger, with a hint of backup vocals from jasmine.
Lemon keeps the palate cleansed throughout each sip, making you return for more. Gradually, it builds with a honey finish on the back of the tongue.
4. Grateful Dead’s “Workingman’s Dead” by Field Day Brewing Company
This drink is actually bananas, and I don’t mean the classic, early 2000s Gwen Stefani song “Hollaback Girl.”
A buoyant banana flavor lures apprehensive drinkers into the mystery brown liquid. That first step took a lot of work — the mixologists soaked 10 pounds of banana peels in sugar overnight and stripped it for oils.
Cinnamon and nutmeg caress the nostrils ever so gently as the banana takes you down a road to Atlanta, the principal residents of the Coke simple syrup base.
With tropical accents of pineapple and lime, this is a side road — not the interstate. And you don’t mind the slower pace, because you realize that life is, sometimes, worth savoring at the most unexpected junctures.
They call this drink “Watch Your Speed.”
5. Tame Impala’s “Currents” by The hip-stir
This may be the only time you see a bartender make your drink with a comb, which is very on-brand for Marion’s intentionally lowercase-titled restaurant, The hip-stir. (It was used to give stripes to the drink’s foamy top, matching Tame Impala’s “Currents” album cover.)
A complex, spicy palate from Luxardo at the first sniff overwhelms my nose, like sticking your head into a spice cabinet. But all that abates on first sip, where pineapple and agave drown all my worries away with a healthy serving of coconut-infused vodka.
That’s quiet a duality — more dramatic than most cocktails.
While I feel that the notes of each flavor could use more distinction, it altogether left me enveloped in a lush array of fruits with no desire to leave.
6. Chappel Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” by Basix
Unlike others, Basix didn’t try to reinvent the wheel for a vodka-based cocktail.
From the apropos lavender simple syrup to the lime juice and cointreau, this one fulfills your unspoken needs, much like the “pink pony club” it is themed after.
It doesn’t pretend to be deep or complex — it delivers with simplicity in a delightful way, using all of four ingredients. A fancy Sprite, if you will.
7. The Shrek movie soundtrack by Crosby’s
A relative newcomer to the bar scene is capitalizing on a big trend among Millennials and Gen Z. If you haven’t seen, the 2001 DreamWorks animated film “Shrek” is experiencing a new renaissance of popularity. It’s all the rave — and has been inspiring literal raves in cities across the country.
A shade of turquoise blue is the first thing you notice, which doesn’t match the smell test. The first sniff delivers notes of caramel, coconut and chocolate.
That in itself was a bit off-putting.
Then, the first sip plunges you into a mix of what seems like Malibu rum, coconut and a tart lemonade.
As I look at the color, smell chocolate and taste citrus, I’m so confused. It feels like my generation’s way of facetiously asking “Is someone burning toast?”
And yet, out of morbid curiosity, I finished the drink, as creamy flavors buffering the tart peaks made it bearable.
In true Shrek fashion, it was really weird.
But, it won Cocktail Classic Champion this year.
8. Billy Joel’s “The Stranger” by Black Sheep Social Club
Allspice, orange and vermouth are used to “warm up” this vodka in an Old Fashioned imitation made without whiskey.
You may ask “Why try to make whiskey out of something that’s not whiskey?” And that is a valid question.
In this case, necessity is the mother of invention — and that mother is very fond of the event’s sponsor, Cedar Ridge Distillery, and their vodka.
But Black Sheep Social Club may be onto something more here: taking a liquor’s properties and making them transitive.
Warm hints of orange and unarticulated cherry mingle in a peppery ribbon that tickles the tongue without burning it. It goes down easy, with less heat than whiskey. But you’ll still breathe a bit of fire on the exhale.
It may not be your favorite drink, with one thing masquerading as another, but there’s something to be said here about the art of a good parody.
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
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