An assortment of cocktails at a city hotel. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Dec. 16: Crush some ice, pour it on your favourite drink and squeeze in a dash of lime and get ready to a great evening with a tempting cocktail for company.

Cocktails, an imperative for those who wish to dine in style, has come a long way.

From the very common bloody Mary, screw driver and pinnacolada, the evening revs up with a headier mix and an even more wild taste.

Though the cocktail culture is nothing new to the steel city, so long it was confined to the creme de la creme of the society. But with changing times, more and more people are underlining their preferences for a tempting glass of cocktail to the conventional favourites of hard drinks.

At Hotel Regent, the rum-based cocktails have been a runaway hit.

From the common blue lagoon, which is a mix of rum, pineapple juice and blue curracoa, to the exotic Jamaican glow, which is a blend of dark rum, gin, red wine mixed with orange juice, or the golden glow served over a bed of ice with vodka, ginger ale and cointreau poured over it, each mix is an absolute delight to the drinker.

?Sale is definitely more in summer months in comparison to the winter ones,? said Swaroop Chakravarty, deputy general manager at Hotel Regent.

But Dinesh Sharma, general manager at Fortune Hotel Centre Point, disagreed. ?Winter months have seen a rise of 15-20 per cent in sales depending on cocktails and other beverages,? he said.

Out here the bartenders suggest Green Voodoo, which is a mix of vodka, mint and lemonade. ?This is a variety, which has been innovated by us on the customers? request and is today one of our most preferred varieties,? added Sharma.

And for the rough and tough macho tastes, one can go in for stronger varieties like Singapore Sling and Ol-King Cole.

Sharma however adds, ?Cocktails mostly accompany a full-course dinner at restaurants. People hardly drop in just to take a sip but thanks to the onslaught of metro culture, the concept is surely catching on. However, we must get good quality wine to ensure quality cocktails for the customers.?

Though the two city hotels dish out some exclusive varieties the other bigger player, Shaurya Inn, Sakchi, however, prefers to play it safe.

?Our customers are not too willing to experiment, so we only keep the common varieties,? said Saikat Chatterjee, the hotel manager.