10 Cities With (Unofficial) Cocktails
The birth of a particular cocktail is a lot more than following an impulse to mix liquor “X” with juice “Y” and garnish “Z.” The most revered libations grow out of a sense of place, where local ingredients, resources, current events, regional appetites, and bartenders native to the terra firma meld together to create something memorable. Of course, given the murky history of drinking, which is replete with the ghosts of Prohibition and less-than-complete documentation, some places have simply become synonymous with a particular drink—which is also part of the fun. The Sazerac is New Orleans. Ditto the Manhattan and New York City.
Here are 10 of the best cocktails associated with a particular city.
Input on this list was provided by bartenders and co-owners at Room 11 and Mockingbird Hill, two DC-area drinking establishments.
The Rickey / Washington, D.C.
Photo via Allcocktails.net
Though the more well-known and popular version of the Rickey is served with gin, the first Rickey, poured in the Washington, D.C., establishment the Shoemaker, was made in the 1880s with bourbon as the key spirit, along with ice, soda water, and the juice of half a lime. The Rickey went worldwide about a decade later when gin became the keynote alcohol, and more than a century later the drink has made a resurgence across the country. For that, you can thank a cadre of D.C.-area bartenders who dubbed July “Rickey Month,” a reason for everyone across the city to celebrate the drink’s heritage and attend events where variations on the classics are served as the perfect antidote to the infamous humidity of the nation’s capital.
Piña Colada / San Juan, Puerto Rico
Though Puerto Rico may qualify as mostly within the United States, its capital city deserves the honor of inclusion on this list because it created one of the quintessential tropical cocktails. Crafted in 1963 by Ramon Portas Mingot at Barrachina Restaurant in Old San Juan, the piña colada would later suffer the indignities of the cruise ship scene. But nothing compliments the Caribbean sun—and beats the equatorial heat—better than the heady mixture of ice, rum, and fresh pineapple.
Sazerac / New Orleans, La.
Photo via Colony Wine Market
Originally named after Sazerac de Forge et Fils, the brand of Cognac brandy used as the central ingredient, this New Orleans staple has blossomed from its pre-Civil War days to become one of the more riffed-upon American cocktails (and include variations with rum to whisky to bourbon to rye)—fitting for one of the first cocktails made in the United States. We say go with a nice micro-distilled rye whisky with a swirl of absinthe, along the requisite Peychaud’s bitters, simple sugar, and an orange peel.
Mint Julep / Louisville, Ky.
Photo via Foodrepublic.com
The city of Louisville may not have created the mint julep, but thanks to the drinking traditions established by the Kentucky Derby, it pretty much owns it outright today. Origins of this bourbon-based sprint and summer favorite are murky, stretching back as far as the early 1800s when Virginians sipped on a dram of the stuff, mixed with mint leaves, in the morning. It became the signature drink of Churchill Downs in 1938, and today they serve more than 80,000 during the two-day event surrounding the derby.