Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place

Food
Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place
Intro
Having to stay put a while longer seems to have only increased our thirst for travel. Try quenching it by recreating these iconic cocktails at home. They were invented in locales that speak to the imagination, often in bars and restaurants frequented by movie stars and artists. Sipping these will hopefully add a bit of stardust to your everyday life, until you can actually take a seat on that barstool again.

By Irene de Vette

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Food
Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Bellini
Movie stars, authors and royalty have been hanging at Harry’s Bar in Venice since 1931 – Charlie Chaplin, Peggy Guggenheim and George Clooney to name just a few. It was where founder Giuseppe Cipriani poured the first Bellini, a refreshing libation with three parts Prosecco and one part fresh white peach purée. Quite simple to make, and it won’t set you back 30 bucks. Then again, there won’t be a Venetian setting either, but now that life’s not a peach, we’ll take it.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Negroni
The Caffè Giacosa on Via de’ Tornabuoni shut its doors in 2017 after having been in business for over 200 years, but the legendary Florentine bar will be remembered as the birthplace of a famous Italian drink: the Negroni. The story goes that around 1920, regular patron Count Camillo Negroni asked barman Fosco Scarselli for his usual Campari and vermouth to be topped up with something stronger than soda – and gin it was. Throw yourself and your housemates an Italian aperitivo hour, and picture yourself as a true Renaissance (wo)man.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Pimm's Cup
If you want to feel particularly British, make yourself a Pimm’s Cup, aka the signature drink of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. James Pimm, owner of a London oyster bar, invented a digestive in 1840 named Pimm’s No.1. It contained gin infused with herbal botanicals, caramelised orange and spices – the exact mixture a secret still today. The drink is traditionally served with fizzy lemonade or ginger ale and fresh mint, as well as fresh fruit and cucumber garnishes. In the UK, it’s considered a summer cocktail, which means you can enjoy it come rain or shine, really.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Kir Royal
Many cocktails are claimed to have their origins in France, such as the Mimosa or Bloody Mary, but here we’re shining a light on a regal drink from the country: a Kir. The simple, delicious aperitif is made with white wine and crème de cassis (a sweet, low-ABV liqueur made from blackcurrants). The cocktail was originally called blanc-cassis and made only with Burgundy white wine from the Aligoté grape, but later renamed after Félix Kir (1876–1968), mayor of the city of Dijon who served it to wow his international guests. Delicious variation: Make it with Champagne, and you’ve got yourself a Kir Royal.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Singapore Sling
Ordering a Singapore Sling at the restored Long Bar in Singapore’s colonial-style Raffles Hotel is undoubtedly an experience worth the price tag. Bartenders have been hand-shaking this iconic gin-based cocktail since it was invented here around 1915. Thankfully, they’re generous enough to reveal their secrets on camera. Bursting with refreshing tropical flavours, the long drink will put you in a Garden City mood at home.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Pina Colada
If you like piña coladas… you like your cocktails nice and sweet. Pineapple (ideally frozen), rum, coconut milk or cream – easy does it. The invention of the official drink of Puerto Rico is claimed by the Caribe Hilton Hotel, where bartender Ramón “Monchito” Marrero tried in 1954 to capture the true nature and essence of the island. On the other hand, the Barrachina restaurant in San Juan says it was bartender Don Ramon Portas Mingot who in 1963 created one of the world’s most famous drinks. Either way, make yourself one and escape.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
mojito
Havana, Cuba is where we go to find the origins of the Mojito, and La Bodeguita del Medio in the Old Havana district lays claim to its invention. It was the regular haunt of bohemians, from poets to musicians and journalists, starting in the late 1940s, but it’s well-trodden by tourists today. Thankfully you can get excellent Mojitos all over the country. And at your own home. In this video, Amex Essentials Tastemaker Steve The Bartender demonstrates how to make them, Bodeguita del Medio-style.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Rum Punch
Been missing the sun much? Yep, so have we. So we’re sticking to tropical island cocktails with a Jamaican Rum Punch. The presence of lime juice and the generous use of strawberry syrup (or grenadine, in a pinch) distinguishes it from the punch recipes of other Carribean islands. This tutorial is quite simple, and it was taught to the presenter as: “one a sour, two a sweet, three a strong and four a weak,” referring to the four ingredients – lime, (strawberry) syrup, rum and pineapple juice – and their proportions. Prepare a glass or two (or a pitcher) and relax, mon.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Pisco sour
Sour times call for… wait, no, let’s not go there. A Pisco Sour is a refreshing cocktail no matter what life is throwing at us. For a historic cocktail, there’s little dispute on the origins of this one. In the 1920s, American bartender Victor Vaughen Morris owned the Morris Bar in Lima, where foreigners and the Peruvian elite mingled. Here, he blended pisco (a distillate of wine from a specific blend of grape varieties) with lime juice and sugar and called it ‘pisco sour’. The drink was further perfected in 1924: bartender Mario Bruiget added a dash of Angostura bitters and an egg white, which lends the drink its silky texture.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Sazerac
New Orleans is a boozy place, and there are many cocktails that call the Big Easy home, such as the Grasshopper, the Ramos Gin Fizz and the Hurricane. The Sazerac, however, is the real OG here. There’s a bit of fuzzy history around the drink, which, when it comes to cocktails, is not unusual. One story recounts that apothecary Antoine Amedée Peychaud mixed his family’s recipe for bitters (yep, those Peychaud’s bitters) with French cognac and sugar to make people feel better. Another just mentions the Peychaud bitters as an indispensable ingredient of the Sazerac drink at the popular Sazerac Coffee House, named after cognac Sazerac de Forge et Fils. Because the phylloxera plague wiped out the grapes needed to make cognac, the ingredient was replaced with American rye whiskey from around 1870. Whatever is true, it’ll definitely make you feel better.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Martini
Whether a Manhattan, an Old Fashioned or a Rusty Nail, the mere act of having a classic cocktail puts us in a New York state of mind. But the Martini tops the list, whether you like them classic or dirty. The latter originated in New York in 1901 at the hands of bartender John O’Connor. He added a muddled olive to the drink, and later threw in a splash of olive brine. It was a hate-it-or-love-it kind of drink back then, and it still is today.

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Food
Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place.
Paloma
Had enough of Margaritas? Try your hand at making a Paloma, which is arguably even more popular in Mexico itself. It translates as ‘dove’, and pretty much nothing is known about its origins. Make the highball with tequila, fresh lime juice, grapefruit soda (Squirt and Fresca are popular brands) and a pinch of salt for a well-balanced thirst-quencher.

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Travel Tonic: 12 Cocktails With A Sense Of Place

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