I love trying new drinks. I also love trying *old* drinks, if I'm being honest. But what I love most is combining new drinks and new destinations. Sometimes, there's nothing better than chilling out after a long day's sightseeing with a local cocktail or five. If there's something I've been particularly fond of on holiday, I'll often buy bottles of the component parts and bring them home. This helps me reminisce about my travels and unwind on a cold Welsh weekend. However, some drinks just can't be recreated and this is mostly about the surroundings rather than the ingredients. Although, when it comes to frozen cocktails: it's both.
Straight Up Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey:
Doesn't taste *quite* the same back in the UK as it did after picking up a bottle in a liquor store in Tennessee and road trippin' back to a log cabin in the Smokies. A porch and rocking chair are essentials. You will also need a bit of country music playing in the background...and maybe some fried chicken. Perfect with ice and warm autumn nights in the south. Sitting on a cold sofa in North Wales, listening to the strains of Radiohead from the neighbour upstairs just doesn't cut it. That doesn't stop me, mind you.
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| Best consumed with ice while rocking' on a front porch. Not necessarily your own. |
Key Lime Coladas:
This is my favourite cocktail EVER and it has never tasted the same as it did when I lounged by the pool of the Key Largo Holiday Inn, soaking up the sun. I didn't move for days. This was partly due to the incredible location and partly due to the fact that there's only so much tequila a girl can drink before she needs some assistance to get up.
I purchased a bottle of Key Lime coconut liqueur in a local off licence in Key West and flew it back home, but without the searing sun, sparkling seas, and fabulous seafood, it just didn't have quite the same impact.
I purchased a bottle of Key Lime coconut liqueur in a local off licence in Key West and flew it back home, but without the searing sun, sparkling seas, and fabulous seafood, it just didn't have quite the same impact.
Drinking this amazingly calorific coconut concoction was one of the highlights of my days spent chilling out in the Keys. As soon as I get the chance to go back, I'll be standing at the bar of the HI, demanding to be served. And I'm willing to bet it won't be my only order.
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| Add a splash of Key Largo sunshine... |
Margaritas:
Unless your pool side in Riviera Maya, or at an awesome cooking school in Cozumel (no, seriously), margaritas just don't seem to have the same effect. I love frozen 'ritas, but I just don't have the equipment or ingredients to recreate them back home. I have tried, though. A lot. I also don't have those fabulous glasses, but I just don't think they taste the same without Mexican food, Spanish chat, and the odd lizard darting by your pool side lounger.
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| Dos mas Margaritas, por favor... |
Singha Beer:
Must be consumed on a boiling Thai day in a beach hut, eating a massive bowl of Tom Yum Ghai, wondering just how many bottles you'll need to lower your body temperature enough to cool down your sunburn. This beer reminds me of several evenings at a local bar in Thailand, making plans to travel to neighbouring Cambodia in order to make the trek to Angkor Wat. This is due to the fact that, after a few bottles, a trip to Cambodia seemed like such a breeze. In the sober light of day, it was anything but.
However, it was still one of the best trips I've ever taken and Singha is solely responsible for that. Well, that and the taxi drivers, the visa issuer bloke, and several scary border control guards. Cheers!
However, it was still one of the best trips I've ever taken and Singha is solely responsible for that. Well, that and the taxi drivers, the visa issuer bloke, and several scary border control guards. Cheers!
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| Wanna spend 24 hours trying to visit a temple in Cambodia tomorrow? Hell, yes, let me just have another beer first... |
Cosmopolitans:
If you're not at Scout in Manhattan, it's just no good. I make a mean Cosmo, but nothing will ever come close to the cocktail I had on the Sex and the City tour in New York. Without the atmosphere and excitement of the trip (we're talking 2007 here, I doubt I'd be quite so interested now), no subsequent mixture has come close. Even when I double the alcohol content.
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| Drink in swish Manhattan bar while wearing fabulous shoes. Obviously. |
Do you have a favourite drink that reminds you of your travels?
Suzanne x
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