You’ve heard of nouvelle cuisine, right? But nouvelle cocktails may have a new ring to it. Have you tried one? Have you got within sipping distance of one?

Sandeep Verma is a mixologist, And proprietor of a bar institute in Delhi. He’s tremendously proud of his ability to move with the times and his nouvelle cocktails. “I grill, smoke and infuse food over cocktails. Everything I use is totally organic,” he says.

Verma also likes to alter his offerings according to the season. In summer, when the blazing sun is beating down he whips up fruity Martinis and frozen cocktails.

Sandy, as he is known in bartending circles, graduated from the Institute of Hotel Management in Goa and worked at La Rochelle at The Oberoi.

Later, he was also involved in the re-launch of Oasis, the Hyatt Regency’s nightclub in the early ’90s after which he tended to the bar at C.J.’s in Le Meridian and subsequently Fireball, a designer nightclub in Gurgaon. Then he emigrated and went off to Dubai to work at the city’s most happening hangout called Staying Alive.

In the late ’90s he returned to Delhi to kickstart the Institute of Bar Operation and Management that has several professional programmes. It even takes students to France for a 15-day recce of the vineyards. While taking care of the outfit, Sandy is also off on a busman’s holiday, completing a sommelier’s course in London and visiting single malt distilleries in Scotland.

Watermelon and rose Martini

Glass: Martini

Ingredients 60ml vodka 5ml rose water 5ml Monin watermelon syrup 80-100gm watermelon

Method Muddle the ingredients and add ice in a Boston Shaker. Shake well. Strain well and serve in a pre-chilled Martini glass. Garnish with a satay stick on which you slide three watermelon balls.

Pistachiotini

Glass: Martini

Ingredients 60ml Belvedere vodka 5ml Monin pineapple syrup 1 cardamom 80-100gm pineapple

Method Muddle the vodka, cardamom, freshly chopped pineapple chunks and pineapple syrup in a Boston Shaker. Sieve it and serve it in a Martini glass. Garnish with a pineapple flag.

Flights of Havana

Glass: Hurricane

Ingredients 30ml vodka 15ml Malibu (coconut liqueur) 15ml Midori (melon liqueur) 10ml sweet and sour mix (blend of lime and sugar syrup) 80-100gm honeydew melon 2 vanilla pods Dash of pineapple juice

Method Muddle the vodka, honeydew and a pod of vanilla along with the liqueurs and plenty of ice in a Boston Shaker. Sieve it and pour into a Hurricane glass filled with ice. Top it up with pineapple juice and a pod of vanilla. The cocktail is garnished with wings of honeydew.

As told to Arundhati Basu; Photographs by Rupinder Sharma