Cocktails Named After COVID-19 Vaccines

These creations are absolutely witty. Fancy getting a vaccine-inspired alcoholic beverage? If you’re near Penang, Malaysia, then you’re in for a treat! Backdoor Bodega came up with vaccine-themed drinks, or as Vice’s Heather Chen calls them: booze-ter shots, to sell as packaged cocktail orders. The ‘boredom boosters’ can combat and eliminate any “pandemic-induced lockdown boredom and sobriety,” according to the bar’s online drinks menu: 

There’s Sinosour (a play on China’s Sinovac vaccine), ExtraGineca (named after the AstraZeneca shot and combining a potent blend of gin and dry bitters) and the Pfizermeister, an obvious reference to the Pfizer vaccine.  

The drinks cost around $8 and are available by delivery—part of a successful business strategy that has helped the bar avoid closure at a crucial time when many businesses folded.

“We’re thankful that cocktail deliveries have been sufficient to sustain our overheads over the past year,” said owner and bartender Koh Yung Shen, who added that the lack of in-person interaction has taken away from the experience of running a bar.

Image credit: Mohd RASFAN / AFP