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In today’s craft cocktailculture, being forward-thinking with your drink program is important. For example, if you are a tiki bar, then you want your menu to reflect cocktails, liquors, beers, and flavors that match a tropical and Caribbean theme, i.e. rums and frozen drinks. What kind of drinking establishment are you?
Inevitably, that means a lot of Miller Lite and tequila shots. But the area has its own cocktailculture too, and that culture reflects the region’s sensibility: It’s tropically inclined and tiki-influenced, but sillier, more absurd, more ridiculous, more over-the-top.
Amid the menu’s usual suspects — Martini , Manhattan , Americano , and Negroni — lurked a mind-boggling showing of drinks that originated or were popularized during the 1970s: Amaretto Sour , White Russian , Tequila Sunrise , and — it can’t be! — It was the height of the jet age as well, and tikiculture was soaring.
You can’t talk about the evolution of American cocktailculture without Trader Vic’s. They really introduced Americans to rum blends, house syrups, and a style of cocktail that influenced nearly every cocktail bar you see today. I mean, come on — Julio is the Ambassador of Tequila to the U.S. That says it all.
Bartenders at pioneering cocktail establishments like NYCs Please Dont Tell and Death & Co. latched onto the flavorful liqueur, stirring it into everything from tequila-based Martini variations to intricate gin-forward Tiki drinks. Phil [Ward] was making tequila drinks with it; those just flew off the shelves.
Cocktailculture is strong, and is probably about as strong as its been in the last 10 years, says Mat Snapp, a partner in Barter and Shake, the consultancy behind Phoenixs award-winning concept bar, Century Grand. UnderTow is a tiki bar with tropical drinks. Grey Hen takes cues from Prohibition-era Chinatown.
There are spirits and then theres spirit, and El Guapo embodies bothin no small part because the leader of the brand, Christa Cotton, came of age in a craft cocktailculture ripe with creativity. Quite festive and a great bitters for whiskies, anjeo tequilas, dark rums and tiki inspired cocktails. Really well done.
Tampa may be best known for its Gulf Coast sunsets and Cuban sandwiches, but for those with a well-trained palate and a thirst for a well-balanced spritz, this city is quietly becoming a sun-soaked haven of cocktailculture. If youre looking for the best tequila in the city, youll find it here.
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