Christmas Pop-Up Bar Miracle Is Back, Courtesy of the Cocktail Crew at Coldroom

Festive pop-up cocktail bar Miracle returns to Montreal this week, with seasonal cocktails, and plenty of Christmas kitsch and ugly sweaters.

The bar concept was devised in New York in 2014, first by East Village bar Mace, and has rapidly made it big: typically taking over existing watering holes, it has now spread to over 90 cities, with multiple locations in some places.

This is year number three for the pop-up in Montreal — last year it happened at both Teddy Bar and the William Gray Hotel rooftop. This year, it’s a different crew: Old Montreal cocktail hot spot Coldroom will play host — the main event won’t happen at that bar, but just along the street at Scarlet Exclusive on St-Paul (the bar will pre-empt the restaurant).

“We’re completely revamping it — we have the month to do what we want,” says Coldroom owner Kevin Demers.

With bar guys like Daniel Boulianne and Demers running the show, expect extremely seasonal drinks like the “Jingle Bells Nog” with cognac, sherry, brown butter, cinnamon, cherry, almond milk, cream, sugar, egg, and nutmeg. Then there’s the Snowball Old Fashioned, with butterscotch rye, spiced brown sugar, wormwood bitters, and orange zest (the full list is online).

They’ll also put together their own creative specials on the “Grinch List”. As a bonus, proceeds from the bar will be partly directed to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation.

The St-Paul location isn’t the only mistletoe-decked bar coming to town — back down the street, the tiny El Pequeño (Coldroom’s little sibling) will play host to another more refined take on the pop-up — but it’ll only have room for nine people at a time.

STATUS — Miracle is open at 139 St-Paul W starting Friday, November 30 and running through December 30, from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

• Miracle Montreal [Official]
• A Pop-Up Rooftop Christmas Bar Arrives in Old Montreal This Weekend [EMTL]