Cocktails and other alcoholic beverages are typically associated with partying, kicking back, and having a blast. Whether you’re grabbing happy hour drinks with co-workers or giving a toast at your best friend’s wedding, a good beverage goes hand in hand with a good time. However, your favorite cocktail could shine a light on where you need to travel to next.
Most cocktails and liquors have a destination of origin. So why not enhance your travel bucket list by exploring a few places where some of today’s most popular and trending drinks were created? Here’s exactly where you need to travel based on the origins of your favorite cocktail.
French 95 – Louisville, KY
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces bourbon
- 3/4 ounce lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
- 2 ounces champagne
A simple drink to make, the French 95 is the close cousin of the popular French 75 cocktail. The drink has been trending online among millennials, and folks can’t get enough of the classy. You’d probably think, with a name like French 95, travelers who enjoy this cocktail should head over to France. But you’re wrong.
With bourbon being the main ingredient, French 95 lovers should head to Louisville, KY. America’s only native spirit, bourbon whiskey blew up along the Ohio River in Kentucky around 1783. No other whiskey in the world can be described as bourbon and Louisville is the best place in the country to find bourbon for a French 95.
Manhattan – New York City
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces rye whiskey
- 1-ounce sweet vermouth
- 2 dashes of Angostura bitters
The Manhattan is considered the first modern cocktail and it was created in NYC. The cocktail was the first one to implement aromatics in its creation. The beloved cocktail was created by Dr. Iain Marshall as a special beverage for a party at the popular Manhattan Club in the 1880’s. Over a century later, the Manhattan is still a favorite cocktail of people worldwide and there’s no better place to get one than in the Big Apple.
Vesper Martini – Northern France
Ingredients:
- 3 ounces gin
- 1 ounce vodka
- 1/2 ounce Lillet blanc aperitif
Everyone loves a good martini. However, the Vesper Martini grew in popularity thanks to fictional action icon James Bond. In the book Casino Royale, Bond orders a Vesper Martini – later made famous in the film when he ask for it “shaken not stirred”. Although the fictional town in Northern France where Bond ordered the drink, the region is beautiful during the late spring and early fall seasons. Head to Calais, Laon, or Bayeux to enjoy a Vesper Martini the next time you’re in France.
Caiprihini – Brazil
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lime
- 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons superfine sugar
- 2 ounces cachaça
- Lime wheel, for garnish
Made famous in Brazil, the Caiprihini cocktail is a favorite to travelers all over the world. However, the drink originated in San Paulo with farmers who distilled fermented sugarcane into a cocktail for parties. This fermented sugar cane became known as cachaça, the primary ingredient in the Caiprihini cocktail. Once known as a drink for the poor, this cocktail has traveled far beyond Brazil into bars and restaurants worldwide.