At Poka Lola Social Club, sunny days are here, and they taste like popcorn-washed tequila, pink peppercorns and sugar snap peas. Poka Lola’s menu isn’t just a seasonal refresh—it’s a full-on sensory experience rooted in vibrant produce, layered infusions and creative techniques that blur the line between cocktail and cuisine. From ube and lychee to snap peas and turmeric, every drink is a warm-weather experiment in what’s fresh, fun and just a little bit wild.
“I shifted our menu to focus more on fresh produce moving into spring, since this is the highly anticipated farmers market season, filled with lots of fruits and veggies,” said Lexi Parker, Beverage Manager at Poka Lola. “I included carrots in the Bunny Is a Rider as I always associate carrots with spring and Easter. Snap peas and peas in general are so popular in restaurants during the spring, so I played off that in our Oh Snap!”
Though the inspiration may have sparked in spring, the execution screams summer—bright, bold, refreshing and made for sipping on long afternoons. Standouts include Pink Pony Club, which blends pink peppercorn-infused Don Julio with guava, lychee and rose; and Oh Snap!, a mezcal-based cocktail shaken with mint and sugar snap peas.
Parker’s playful creativity shines brightest in Bad News Bears, a frozen mix of buttered popcorn-washed tequila, chocolate, ube and coconut.
“I came up with the buttered popcorn-washed tequila when I was trying to brainstorm a way to add a little more body and complexity to the existing drink, while also tying in elements of baseball season,” she said. “There’s also chocolate in the Bad News Bears, and I’ve always been a big fan of a chocolate and popcorn combo.”
Other drinks lean into more floral and herbaceous territory, like Daffodil—made with chamomile-infused mezcal, blanc vermouth, cacao and honey.
“The chamomile-infused mezcal was something I’d been wanting to play around with for a while, and chamomile and honey are another set of flavors that scream springtime to me,” Parker said.
To build such intricate cocktails, Parker and her team rely heavily on house infusions—often customized for flavor, color and technique.
“The infusion process can vary depending on what exactly you’re infusing,” she said. “I try to do cold infusions, if possible, for any kind of herbs so that the color stays intact as much as possible. Heat infusions tend to change the color. I’m able to let most infusions sit in the cooler overnight and strain them out the next day. Sometimes, especially if I’m short on time or trying to further extract flavor, I’ll use a sous vide machine to infuse the spirit.”
It’s the same approach used for the bar’s cult-favorite Beach Don’t Kill My Vibe, a toasted coconut rum cocktail that returns every summer. “I find that heating up the infusion tends to better extract the flavor of the coconut,” she said.
With the new lineup, Parker said Pink Pony Club and Oh Snap! are her go-to pours right now.
“Oh Snap! is a breath of fresh spring air that’s super refreshing with a touch of vegetal notes from the snap peas, whereas Pink Pony Club is very delicate, fruity and floral—a total crowd pleaser,” she said.
But beyond the individual ingredients and flavor combos, the menu is about capturing a mood—something distinctly seasonal, joyful and crafted with intention.
“Our seasonal menus reflect whatever fresh produce is in season as well as seasonal flavors,” Parker said. “For example, our winter menu this year had the Good Grief with brown butter-washed Dickel 8-Year Bourbon, Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, thyme-infused demerara syrup, house winter bitters blend as well as Cabin Fever with pecan-washed Union Mezcal, Averna Amaro, cherry, barrel-aged bitters. I also make it a point to do some research on flavors that go well with each other and complement different aspects of each cocktail.”
She hopes that each drink leaves a lasting impression.
“I wanted every sip that a guest takes of one of our drinks to be one of the best sips of a cocktail they’ve ever had,” she said. “We put so much creative energy into our menus at Poka, and we only ever put something on the menu that we all stand behind wholeheartedly and believe is as delicious as it can be.”
This summer, expect drinks that go beyond the expected—where popcorn meets tequila, mezcal mingles with peas and every pour is a little moment of magic.
Poka Lola Social Club is located at 1850 Wazee St., Denver. Its hours are Sunday 2 p.m. – 9 p.m., Monday 3 p.m. – 9 p.m., Tuesday 3 p.m. – 10 p.m., Wednesday 3 p.m. – 10 p.m., Thursday 3 p.m. – 11 p.m., Friday 3 p.m. – 12 a.m., Saturday 2 p.m. – 12 a.m.
All photography courtesy of Poka Lola Social Club.