Cocktail | |
---|---|
Type | Cocktail |
Base spirit | |
Served | On the rocks: poured over ice |
Standard drinkware | Highball glass |
Commonly used ingredients |
|
Preparation | Stir into glass over ice, garnish and serve. |
The brandy sour is a mixed alcoholic cocktail considered the unofficial national cocktail of Cyprus. [1] While other forms of the brandy sour cocktail exist, the Cypriot variety is a distinct mixture, which only shares the basic brandy and lemon flavourings with other variants. Both brandy and lemons are among Cyprus's major exports, and both have distinctive Cypriot characteristics.
The Cypriot brandy sour style was developed following the introduction of the first blended brandy made on Cyprus, by the Haggipavlu family, in the early 1930s. [2] The cocktail is said to have been developed at the Forest Park Hotel, in the hill-resort of Plátres, for the young King Farouk of Egypt, who often stayed at the hotel during his frequent visits to the island. [3] The brandy sour was supposedly introduced as an alcoholic substitute for iced tea, as a way of disguising the Muslim monarch's preference for Western-style cocktails. The story lacks credibility, because no matter how lavish and extravagant the lifestyle of King Farouk was, he did not drink alcohol. [4] The drink subsequently spread to other bars and hotels in the fashionable Platres area, before making its way to the coastal resorts of Limassol, Paphos and Kyrenia, and the capital Nicosia.
A typical recipe for a Cypriot brandy sour includes: [1]
Cocktail brandy produced in Cyprus is typically less strongly flavoured than cognac or armagnac, and most brands have a caramel-biased aftertaste balance. [2] Cyprus also produces distinctive, yellow-green coloured, bitter lemons — used by British author Lawrence Durrell for the title for his autobiographical novel Bitter Lemons of Cyprus . These lemons are used locally to produce a bitter-sweet lemon cordial, which forms the sour and bitter base for the brandy sour cocktail. Bitters are added to taste, and while the locally produced Cock Drops brand is widely available on the island, the internationally recognised Angostura brand is increasingly used. These ingredients are added to a tall glass and stirred, before the glass is topped up with lemonade (for a classic, slightly sweeter drink) or soda water (for less sweetness and a more pronounced brandy flavour), and plenty of ice. It is quite common to decorate the Brandy Sour cocktail with sugar on the rim of the highball glass and a Maraschino cherry.
A Manhattan is a cocktail made with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. While rye is the traditional whiskey of choice, other commonly used whiskies include Canadian whisky, bourbon, blended whiskey, and Tennessee whiskey. The cocktail is usually stirred with ice then strained into a chilled cocktail glass and garnished traditionally with a maraschino cherry. A Manhattan may also be served on the rocks in a lowball glass.
The old fashioned is a cocktail made by muddling sugar with bitters and water, adding whiskey or sometimes brandy, and garnishing with an orange slice or zest and a cocktail cherry. It is traditionally served with ice in an old fashioned glass.
A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice, without ice, or blended with ice. Most bars serve margaritas in a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass or champagne coupe called a margarita glass. The margarita is one of the world's most popular cocktails and the most popular tequila-based cocktail.
A bitters is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter for a bitter or bittersweet flavor. Originally, numerous longstanding brands of bitters were developed as patent medicines, but now are sold as digestifs, sometimes with herbal properties, and as cocktail flavorings.
The Singapore sling is a gin-based sling cocktail from Singapore. This long drink was reputed to have been developed in 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, Singapore. It was initially called the gin sling.
Pink gin was historically used to refer to a cocktail made fashionable in England in the mid-19th century, consisting of Plymouth gin and a dash of Angostura bitters, a dark red bitters that makes the whole drink pinkish. In recent years, the term Pink gin has also been used to define a specific category of gin where a range of fruits and flavourings are infused into the gin to give it a pink color.
The term punch refers to a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruits or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from the Indian subcontinent to England by employees of the East India Company in the late 17th century. Punch is usually served at parties in large, wide bowls, known as punch bowls.
The negroni is a cocktail, made of equal parts gin, vermouth rosso, and Campari, generally served on the rocks, and commonly garnished with an orange slice or orange peel. It is considered an apéritif.
A sour is a traditional family of mixed drinks. Sours belong to one of the old families of original cocktails and are described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks.
Angostura bitters is a concentrated bitters based on gentian, herbs, and spices, produced by House of Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago. It is typically used for flavouring beverages, or less often, food. The bitters were first produced in the town of Angostura, hence the name, but do not contain angostura bark. The bottle is recognisable by its distinctive oversized label and yellow cap. Angostura is Spanish for "narrowing", the town of Angostura having been at the first narrowing of the Orinoco River.
The Prince of Wales is a cocktail created by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. There are several variations of the cocktail, but what they usually have in common is champagne, angostura bitters, sugar, either rye whiskey or cognac, and a liqueur.
The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is a book about cocktails by David A. Embury, first published in 1948. The book is noteworthy for its witty, highly opinionated and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails into two main types: aromatic and sour; its categorization of ingredients into three categories: the base, modifying agents, and special flavorings and coloring agents; and its 1:2:8 ratio for sour type cocktails.
A long vodka is a vodka-based cocktail, popular throughout Scotland and known to be served in some parts of England.
A sling is a drink historically made with sugar, hot or cold water, nutmeg, and a spirit such as gin, whiskey, rum, or brandy. In its modern form, it is made with gin and, varyingly, of ingredients such as sweet vermouth, lemon juice, simple syrup, Angostura bitters, and soda water. Some sources suggest the word sling comes from the German schlingen, meaning "to swallow fast". The Oxford English Dictionary says that the origin is uncertain.
A whiskey cocktail is a cocktail that includes whiskey. Although whiskey is often served neat or on the rocks, it is used in many classic cocktails such as the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Julep. Some specifically call for Scotch whisky or bourbon whiskey.