Mix travel with cocktail pleasure

[attach id="238312" size="medium"]Instead of 10 cheap beers, people are opting for just the one drink but making it a great one.[/attach]

During a global recession, you’d expect cocktails would be out of vogue. Sipping from a pricey drink garnished with frivolities such as miniature umbrellas seems out of keeping with the new age of austerity, even on holiday. But if anything, cocktails are booming.

Instead of 10 cheap beers, people are opting for just the one drink but making it a great one. And with good reason; a cocktail sets the tone for the evening, flooding the brain with alcohol and sugar and giving you an instant high.

And with every region in the world boasting a cooler cocktail than the last, cocktails are part of the cultural experience. Here’s where to drink the cream of the crop on your travels.

Spain

Queimada at Albergue Acuario, Santiago de Compostela

Queimada is more of a performance art than a drink. It’s made from the Galician spirit Orujo, with added lemon peel, sugar and coffee beans. The ingredients go into a special clay pot (they come with little cups hanging off the side). The alcohol is then ignited.

Once the flames turn blue, the lid is put on to extinguish the fire and the drink is served warm in the clay cups. The Queimada usually happens spontaneously in someone’s home, so the best way to experience one is to get in with the locals. If you don’t manage that, the Albergue Acuario holds a Queimada party twice a week for pilgrims finishing the Camino de Santiago. Located at Calle de Estocolmo 15707, Santiago de Compostela, Tel: +34 981 57 54 38.

England

Bacon and Egg at The London Cocktail Club

The head bartender here won part of the World Class Global Finals last year for concoctions such as the Bees Knees (a heart of honey floating in gin, lemon and orange bitters) and the Breakfast Martini (gin, Cointreau, lemon and marmalade, garnished with a slice of toast).

The Bacon and Egg mix takes the British favourite to new liquid heights. You can also learn how to mix a cocktail with the professionals at the cocktail school. Located at 61 Goodge Street, London.

Peru

Pisco Sour at the Gran Hotel Bolivar, Lima

Peruvians are so fond of this particular cocktail that they have a public holiday in its honour on the first Saturday in February. It consists of Pisco (a Peruvian firewater), syrup, egg white, Angostura bitters and ice. Given the raw egg constituent, you want to make sure you drink this particular cocktail at a reputable establishment.

The Bolivar has been serving the drink in Catedral glasses since 1924 and the practice shows. Pretty much everyone will be having one in the bar; it’s a fabulous experience. Located at Jirón de la Unión 958, Lima.

Italy

An aperitivo at Caffe San Carlo, Turin

Turin is the home of Martini Rosso and Cinzano, and locals have been sipping their version of cocktails for a couple of centuries. Having an aperitif is such a cultural tradition here that late afternoon drinks have morphed into a full-on buffet gastronomic experience.

Between 6 and 9pm (usually), you’ll pay a slightly inflated price for your drink (around €5 to €10) but get the buffet of canapés, cheese and salad thrown in for free. Caffe San Carlo is one of the oldest and the best. Located at Piazza San Carlo, 156, Turin.

The US

Poipu Pina at Keoki’s Paradise, Kauai

If you’re looking for an overblown hyperbole of a drink, the Poipu Pina is for you. It’s made of locally grown pineapple, blended with mint, coconut rum, passion fruit and coconut cream then served in the hollowed out pineapple with a straw and, yes, a paper umbrella, in the cheerful, tropical atmosphere of Keoki’s Paradise bar. Faux waterfalls gurgle, koi swim past, palm trees sway and after a couple of these, so will you... in the best possible way. Located at 2360 Kiahuna Plantation Drive, Koloa.

Bermuda

Dark ’n’ Stormy, White Horse, St Georges

Bermuda has many pleasant peculiarities; pink sand beaches, knee-length shorts teamed with socks, absurdly turquoise seas. The best thereof is the Dark ’n’ Stormy cocktail made with Goslings Bermuda rum, one of the world’s best.

Join the Bermuda shorts brigade and try a drink perfectly poised between biting and syrupy. The best ones are mixed with Barritts spicy ginger beer, then poured over ice with a slice of lemon. It’s been described as a ‘poem in a glass’ (perhaps one about smugglers) so it seems apt to drink yours at the White Horse pub overlooking the old port of St Georges, a World Heritage Site for its colonial history. Located at 8 Kings Square, St Georges.