’90s cocktails are making a big comeback

Take one look at the young people in bars and listen to what’s playing on the radio (or rather, streaming platforms—let’s get with the times!), and it’s plain to see that the 1990s are back. And what we’re drinking is also on-trend: vibrant concoctions with provocative names that were hot in bars and at kitchen parties back then are also in vogue again, but with a modern twist.

To dive into the subject, we’re talking to Kate Boushel, Director of Beverage & Education for Groupe Barroco (Atwater Cocktail Club, Milky Way and Bon Délire) and Étienne Gratton Bourret, Co-Owner of La Florida in Laval, who each revisited the iconic cocktails of that decade in their own way.

The World Wide Web made its debut in the ’90s. It was the era of boy bands and girl groups, dance music, as well as grunge and punk rock. In Sex and the City, Carrie downed cosmos as often as she changed outfits. In Quebec, Jean Leloup had a smash hit with “1990,” while our eyes were riveted to the small screen to catch everything on Chambres en ville, Les filles de Caleb, Lance et compte and La Petite Vie. 

“It was the heyday of Foufs and The Loft, of Sex on the Beach and sour mix. We tasted peach schnapps and grenadine more than alcohol,” said Kate Boushel, who was just starting to go to bars. 

At the time, the term “mixology” wasn’t well known. It wasn’t until a few years later that we saw a shift towards speakeasies, and mustachioed bartenders in white shirts and aprons dusted off their old cocktail recipe books dating from the Prohibition—and with them the Sazerac, Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Mint Julep.

Kate noted that after several years of a strict, serious approach to mixology, we’re seeing a return to cocktails that are more accessible and easier to drink, like those that were popular before the year 2000. 

Opened in March, the Bon Délire bar is a veritable ode to the 1980s and 1990s, with its pawnshop facade and eclectic, kitschy decor. Neon lights, a backlit bar, a leopard-skin pool table—it’s all about nostalgia here. On the menu, you’ll recognize many classics from the end of the millennium that have been updated, like the Long Island Iced Tea and Midori Sour.