If you’re looking to really get into the spirit of Christmas, you really need to make a date to go to Modernist in Downtown Fresno. Modernist is currently hosting the Miracle holiday pop-up bar in-house, and everything about it is just magical and joyful!
Though Modernist has attempted this Miracle previously, unfortunately, Covid-19 ended its joyful run abruptly last year. However, the Miracle is back and better than ever for the 2021 holiday season.
What is Miracle you may be wondering? Miracle is a pop-up cocktail experience featuring professionally created holiday-themed cocktails, served in special festive, drinkware and invoking spices and flavors traditionally tied to the Christmas season. The pop-up experience began in 2014 in New York, when a bar-owner had to halt construction on his new bar, and decided to host a pop-up holiday event in the unfinished location with “kitschy holiday décor, professionally-developed cocktails and the nostalgic energy of the best office party you’ve ever been to!” The pop-up was so well attended, that other bars began to ask the owner how he did it, and it turned into a phenomenon spanning cocktail bars across the US, Europe, Canada, and Asia!
Cinnamon, chocolate, mulled wines, rich spices, coffee liquor, cherry, and citrus flavors are featured prominently throughout the menu. For example, Santa Rex combines tequila, mezcal, melon, almond, lime, & bitters for a “Midori Sour meets Margarita while on a tropical vacation during the holidays” vibe, and its served in a ceramic T-Rex cup! (The T-Rex cup is available for purchase for $19.95 if you fall in love with it and want to take one home!)
Another popular drink on the Miracle menu is the Christmapolitan which features vodka, elderflower, dry vermouth, spiced cranberry, lime, rosemary, and absinthe mist. Modernist describes the flavor like this, “A very pleasant Christmas (holidays) in your mouth AND it’s made with vodka! It’s like that holiday vacation without in-laws or kids… Features cranberry and spices, accented by elderflower and vermouth. The absinthe amplifies everything on the nose, highlighting the rosemary. This cocktail is served in wintery snowflake printed stemware.
A group of friends and I visited Miracle at Modernist during last week’s Art Hop event and were absolutely in awe of the lengths the Modernist team has gone to to make the place festive. Our server told us, “It took us three days of decorating to get all of the lights up!” The display is Disney-level sparkly, and though we enjoyed our holiday beverages in the outdoor parklet, we’re planning a return trip to enjoy an indoor table to fully enjoy all of the décor. Not only is the bar decorated with thousands of colorful lights, but the bottles behind the bar are wearing tiny Santa hats!
If you love delicious cocktails, super-friendly servers, and getting into the Christmas spirit, you will not want to miss Miracle at Modernist this month! Modernist is open from 4pm to 11pm Tues-Thurs and Sundays, and 4pm-1am Fridays and Saturdays and its located Downtown at 719 Fulton Street. Though reservations aren’t accepted, you can join the live digital waitlist (if there is a waitlist) online here.
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