Cocktails
The espresso martini was created in 1983 by legendary bartender Dick Bradsell at the Soho Brasserie in London. The story goes that a young supermodel—widely rumoured to be Kate Moss, though this timeline has been disputed—asked for a drink that would "wake me up and f*** me up." Bradsell, working with a coffee machine next to his cocktail station, combined vodka with fresh espresso, coffee liqueur, and sugar syrup, creating what would become a modern classic.
The story of the gin and tonic begins not in a bar, but in the jungles of South America. In the 17th century, Spanish conquistadors discovered that the indigenous peoples of Peru used the bark of the cinchona tree to treat fevers. This bark contained quinine, which would become crucial in the fight against malaria.
Limoncello, the bright yellow Italian liqueur, originated along the Amalfi Coast and in Sorrento, where the unique local lemons have been cultivated for centuries. While its exact origins are disputed, with both Sorrento and Capri claiming to be its birthplace, the liqueur has been a traditional part of southern Italian life for at least a century.
