Traveling includes much more than walking through the mysterious and exotic streets of our destinations. Mixing with its inhabitants, eating the typical dishes and drinking like the locals is also part of the experience. And, so that yours is complete, we talk to you about some cocktails from around the world that you cannot miss when you travel to their country of origin.
United States: the cradle of the most famous cocktails in the world
Gimlet: gin and lemon juice
There are many places in the world where gin and lemon mixes are drunk. In Menorca, for example, there is the famous Menorcan ointment, which is obtained by mixing lemonade with a local gin. But the Gimlet became world famous through literature and film: Raymond Chandler wrote it for his detective Philip Marlowe, and Humphrey Bogart popularized it in films like The Big Sleep . Drink it if you travel to Los Angeles, Marlowe’s hometown.
Dry Martini: gin, sauternes wine and olive
Originally from Martinez, the Dry Martinez is the closest neighbor to the Gimlet, as its hometown is on the San Francisco Bay. The mixture was made for the first time back in the 18th century, although other sources claim that its author has his own name; specifically, Jerry Thomas, the first master mixologist in history.
The Dry Martini is undoubtedly one of the most iconic drinks in cinema.
Gin Fizz: gin, lemon juice, sugar and soda
We are still in the United States, a country that takes the cake in the preparation of cocktails in the world. There the gin is the star. In the case of the Gin Fizz, the name is due to the noise of the bubbles of the soda when it comes out of the siphon.
France, the birthplace of the Bloody Mary
We jumped to the other side of the Atlantic and arrived in Paris, France, and to the year 1921. In the well-known Henry’s bar in the French capital, the waiter Fernand Petiot created this mixture of vodka, tomato juice, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, ice chopped and pepper and thus increased the list of cocktails in the world.
There is no agreement about the origin of his name. Some people relate it to Mary Tudor, the English queen who murdered a multitude of Protestants. On the other side of the ring are those who prefer the anecdote that two clients from Chicago, upon seeing the cocktail, said that she looked like a waitress from their city. The poor woman, named Maria, had red cheeks all the time and was nicknamed Buckett of blood. Be that as it may, the Bloody Mary is recommended for hangovers. Although we do not recommend it.
Cuba Libre, a cry for freedom, rum and CoCa-Cola
Until the end of the 19th century, Cuba had been a Spanish colony, something that Cubans did not like at all. In fact, they had already tried to become independent several times when, in 1898, in the port of Havana, the battleship Maine exploded. The attack was attributed to the Spanish, which caused the US army to enter the fight on the Cuban side.
At that time, Coca-Cola was marketed in Cuba. The pairing with the national drink, rum, was not long in coming. The result? One of the best known and most consumed cocktails in the world: Cuba Libre. Travel to Cuba to taste it with the best rum.
Puerto Rico: Rich Pina Colada
In Puerto Rico, not only does pina colada drink, but this cocktail even has a national day: July 10. How could we leave it off the world’s cocktail list?
The mixture of white rum, coconut cream and pineapple juice was born in 1954 at the Caribe Hilton hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ramon Marrero, known as Monchito, had orders from the hotel manager to create a unique drink that would leave guests speechless. And boy did he get it.
However, there are legends that speak of a pirate captain who invented a similar recipe in order to prevent his crew from giving up. Unfortunately, the ship would have sunk taking the recipe with it.
Brazil: Caiprinha
Cachaca is fermented cane liquor. If you add sugar, lemon and lots of ice, we have in our hands one of the richest cocktails in the world: the caipirinha, a Brazilian heritage since 1918. In 2003 it became the national drink of Brazil, but its origin goes back much earlier. It was born in Sao Paulo, in 1918 as a remedy to fight against the Spanish flu. For some time its sale was prohibited since it was so successful that it stopped Portuguese wines from being sold in Brazil.
Some of its varieties are the caipiroshka, which is made with vodka instead of cachaca, or the caipirissina, in which the alcohol is provided by white rum.
