The joys of preparation

Putting 17 cocktails on the menu when you normally have none… well, that’s a challenge.

But nothing that can’t be tackled with some serious preparation. But serious doesn’t have to be tedious: yesterday evening the bar staff of Thornbridge and I had a blast trying out all the drinks that will be served on May 13^th, World Cocktail Day.

So I ended up tasting 18 cocktails. We took two shots at the Hole in One to fine-tune the Scotch we’ll be using and we decided to also mix up a Perfect Manhattan (not to be confused with a perfect Manhattan, but we’ll certainly do our best next Saturday).

The count would have been 19, but Siem was hugging his White Russian (but that was well deserved, you can see him taking notes in the picture).

Although Daan will be enjoying his birthday and will not be behind the bar, I’ll let him mix my Sazerac anytime. And the Vesper of Guus was enough to land him a role in the next Casino Royale remake (if we could ever get him into a suit and out of his cap).

We’ll be ready on the 13^th of May. You’re very welcome to join us on this singular event.

No Bunny Hugs, though.

World Cocktail Day

Of course, we do not actually need an excuse to drink a cocktail. Let alone one special day in the year. It’s a bit like the discussion that keeps coming back on October 4 (World Animal Day): shouldn’t every day be animal day?

Although most people will associate cocktails with festive events and nights out on the town, cocktails can be enjoyed every day, really. There’s such a wide variety of cocktails there’s bound to be a cocktail that will fit your mood or needs in the evening (or earlier, if circumstances permit).

So why is World Cocktail Day on the 13^th of May?

It’s because on that date, in the year 1803, the first definition of a cocktail appeared in print. According to The Balance and Columbian Repository, a New York newspaper, a cocktail was “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.”

It’s not the first time that a cocktail was mentioned in print, but it does exactly define what a cocktail used to be in the old days. Today we use the word cocktail for almost every mixed drink. But in the early days it was a family of mixed drinks that had the same structure. In this case, the structure of a bittered sling (it’s not hard to puzzle out what a sling used to be, given the definition of a cocktail).

So somebody decided that this was reason enough turn May 13 in World Cocktail Day. And this year, it’s on a Saturday. How very convenient… So let’s really let it rip.

Thornbridge, the local pub which I haunt, is going to serve 17 cocktails on May 13. Normally they don’t do cocktails (not counting the Irish Car Bombs on St. Patrick’s), but on this special day (which also happens to be the birthday of one of the bartenders) this English pub will be turned into a cocktail bar.

I’ve helped them to assemble a cocktail menu which is very different from the cocktails its public is acquainted with.

 So who knows, maybe I’ll see you on the 13^th of May in Thornbridge. But in any case: make sure to take at least one glass in celebration of the mixed drink.

Salud!