Sangria
Classic Sangria Recipe
This classic sangria recipe is rooted in Spain and dates back centuries. Sangria evolved from traditional Spanish wine punches and fruit-infused drinks and has been around since the Middle Ages. During that time, however; it was drank out of necessity, not fun.
The water quality was so bad during this time that wine was mixed with water as a way to purify it and make drinking it safer. The word “sangria” comes from the Spanish word “sangre,” meaning “blood,” and refers to the deep red color of traditional red sangria. The color is a good hint as to the quality of your sangria.
As Spain expanded and took over more of the world, Spanish wine became more widely available. Sangria evolved as a popular way to enjoy wine, especially among the working class, who mixed inexpensive wine with water, sugar, and whatever fruits were readily available to create a refreshing and flavorful beverage.
Over time, sangria became associated with social gatherings, celebrations, and fiestas throughout Spain. Its popularity grew beyond the borders of Spain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as Spanish immigrants brought their cultural traditions, including sangria, to other parts of the world.
Today, Sangria has became synonymous with the vibrant and festive atmosphere of Spanish culture, and it began to appear on menus in restaurants and bars around the globe.
While sangria is enjoyed in many variations these days, if you want a delicious, traditional red sangria recipe, look no further.
Immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of Spain with our timeless Classic Red Sangria recipe. Inspired by centuries-old traditions and bursting with rich flavors, this iconic Spanish beverage is the perfect accompaniment to any fiesta or gathering. Join us as we journey through the sun-drenched streets of Spain and uncover the secrets to crafting the perfect glass of sangria.
Ingredients for a Sangria Recipe:
– 1 bottle of Rioja red wine
– 1/2 cup Spanish brandy
– 1/4 cup orange liqueur (such as triple sec or Cointreau)
– 1/4 cup simple syrup (adjust to taste)
– 1 orange, thinly sliced
– 1 lemon, thinly sliced
– 1 apple, thinly sliced
– 1/2 cup mixed berries (such as strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries)
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 2 cups lemon sparkling water (for fizz)
– Ice cubes for serving
How to make Sangria:
Let’s explore the step-by-step process for our sangria recipe
1. Thinly slice the orange, lemon, and apple. Wash and slice your mixed berries . Set aside for later use.
2. In a large pitcher, combine your rioja wine, Spanish brandy, orange liqueur, and simple syrup. Stir well to ensure all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
3. Drop in the sliced orange, lemon, apple, mixed berries, and cinnamon stick. Give the mixture a stir.
4. Cover the pitcher with a lid and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Better is overnight. Allowing the sangria to chill allows the flavors to meld and results in a more vibrant and complex flavor profile.
5. Just before serving, pour in lemon sparkling water to add a refreshing fizz to the sangria. Stir to mix everything.
6. Fill glasses with ice cubes and pour Sangria over the ice. Garnish each glass with a slice of orange. Enjoy!
*Looking to shortcut the process and get all of the good and none of the bad? Check out our sugar free Sunny Sam Sangria Kits, many of which are organic, and all of which use environmentally friendly materials
Conclusion:
With its rich flavors and cultural significance, our Classic Sangria recipe is a celebration of Spain’s vibrant heritage. Whether you’re hosting a Spanish-themed party or simply craving a taste of tradition, this iconic beverage is sure to delight and impress your friends and family. So gather your loved ones, raise your glasses, and toast to the flavors of Spain with this sensational sangria recipe. Cheers!
Podcast
Podcast Summary:
“Anyway, I’ll Drink to That” is a Boozn Sam’s production, exploring the fun, quirky, and fascinating tales of drinks (The Screwdriver Drink in this episode) that define culture, history and the world. Every drink has a story to tell, and I’m going to tell it…as true as I can. Hosted by Sam, from Boozn Sam’s. Saddle up with a good cocktail and give me a few minutes of your time for a mystery surrounding a drink that changed the world.
Episode 15 Details:
A famous media mogul, after fame and success in the US, finally met his match battling the fiesty Italians. He walked away a brusied and beaten, but with a drink to ease his pain.
Transcript of Podcast:
*This is the entire podcast episode in written form. Do not read if you want the audio version to be spoiled.
The Sumer spread across a part of the world they called “Country of The Noble Lords.” They drained marshes to plant crops. Created trade routes and established a barter system. Invented industry. Leather work. Pottery. Masonry. Metal work. They grew and learned, and thrived for almost 4,000 years.
Arguably, one of the biggest advancements that propelled their civilization forward was farming. By harnessing the power of farming, the Sumer were able to expand their kingdom and ship grains to different parts of their city, as we still do today, by taking the food grown in the heartland of America and sending it across the country to sustain life in parts of the country that might be inhabitable today…. Places like Chicago, Los Angelos, Nashville, and all the other places filled with concrete and steel and not a square inch of rich farmland capable of sustaining life.
Today, the basic principles remain the same, although we’ve advanced through modernization. We’ve also expanded our farming operations to many other domains, one in particular in this same part of the world, thousands of years later, and, to many, more important than the food we eat. A farming operation that also gave us the name of a simple, but popular drink.
But, before all of that, there was Sumer. Sumer, the overarching kingdom given to many city states, some you even might have heard of, such as Mesopotamia, was home to the Sumerians, a group of people you’ve likely heard of at some point. Spreading across part of the world, nestled along a body of water that also provided for, and teemed with life, also offered great advantage.
The Sumerians looked to the water for many things. Fish and colorful coral. The plant life, that exploded everywhere and provided nourishment and nutrients for, not only the agricultural needs, but other edible plants too.
Arguably, they also existed in the most stable time of all history, in this part of the world.
A decade ago, I hate to even say that because it makes me feel old now, I was on an early morning flight out of this part of the world. The night before had been long, filled with music and booze and the trappings of life as an early twenty something on his own in the world. I found myself next to an older man who spoke very clear English, and liked to talk.
Before I nodded off to sleep on the way back to Europe he made a comment about this part of the world that has stuck with me ever since.
He looked at me beneath white eyebrows and said, “And that’s why this part of the world will never have peace. It isn’t destined to be. It will always be a place of war and fighting.”
And it has been. For thousands of years. While one could make a similar argument for most parts of the world, since humans are inherently good at killing and fighting each other like animals for the sake of more, this particular slice of the world has something which makes it especially valuable.
It’s also a part of the world that the United States has had a presence for a long time, and it was during the first half of the 1900’s that workers from the United States found themselves here, farming the resource more important to humans, than food.
Or, if you look at the confrontation and the deaths, and the never ending disputes, as an objective outsider, that would be your conclusion. For, one could argue that no where else in the world has more interest and time and money and resources been devoted.
The Sumerians could not have known this back then when, at their peak 70,000 of them were living lives they never thought would end, farming in ways never done before, and creating a coexistence that no creature had every seen. And it was this coexistence that ultimately shaped the world, along with this farming, and this part of the world…which also gave us a drink worth noting here.
Most striking was the end of Sumer, though, for what projected this kingdom forward, also led to its demise. And not in a violent way either. There was no glorious fight for survival at the end, no last ditch stand of glory. Sumer, and the Sumerians, faded away, as one of my favorite poems describes, “Not with a bang, but a whisper.”
After almost 4,000 years rising salt levels in the soil, continually escalated by the arid climate which dried out the fields and left behind a higher and higher salinity content in the ground, made growing crops impossible. The population, which at its peak was estimated around 70,000 plummeted to 25,000, and those remaining were doing all they could to hold on. The price of grain increased 60 fold.
Cities in Sumer fell away, become victim to unrest amongst the people and a neighboring kingdom, the Elamites. The final blow came in the form of an Elamite invasion, which ushered in a new era, a new kingdom, and left the Sumers, for thousands of years, lost to time like the fields here which once great bountiful crops. The first recorded war, ever, in the history of the world, was here, when the greed of the Elamites for more land, more power, more control, solidified in history that might was right and nothing else mattered.
And the whisper, not the bang, had taken away peace, and a civilization, that would never exist again.
From there this part of the world came under a new ruler, whose offspring, Hammurabi, would perfect the art of military invasion and war, uniting this part of the world under his command and providing us with The code of Hammurabi, 282 laws, and the world’s most clearly defined code of law, a code that would influence civilizations to come.
In effect, The Sumer, who had expanded and farmed, and nurtured life, fell to the great, first colonizer, who systematized civilization, laying out things like business contracts, justice, and the punishments that would occur if any law was broken.
It gave every controlled citizen complete knowledge over how he was expected to behave, live his life, and die, under the rule of the lucky, who, by chance, timing, and good fortune, sat above them on great thrones and looked down with a commanding hand on humanity.
Now, at this point, some of you might be thinking, but this is always the way the world has been. What’s so important, or different about what you’re talking about?
Well, this world that know now, has always been governed by law and civilizations and those in power, and fear of punishment for not following the written, or unwritten ways of living… but not before this time.
This was, quite literally, the beginning of civilization as we know it today. Civilization that would show it had mastered brutality and law and punishment by acing every exam that has taken place in this part of the country in the last hundred years.
The civilization that whispered away would never exist in any form like that again, ever. Instead the bang of bombs and guns and fires would usher civilization, an ironic term, into the bronze age, an age of metal, and into the modern age, an age with all of the original ideas, just with more window trappings today.
It would be these modern trappings too, and a modern way of farmers, that would invent a drink by the farms that tended to their growing resources to feed the world in the ways it desired most.
The turning point for this part of the world, and a particular part of water, would occur in 1908 with a discover that would simultaneously civilize and also show the true horror these “civilized” humans were capable of.
And thirty years after that, farmers would arrive from the United States to do dangerous work and, ahem, “Secure American Interests Abroad.” That would drive them to drink to cope with the dangers and stress, the risks, and create a new drink that would find its way to Europe a few years after, during World War Two.
Before this point, this area of the world had endured little notoriety, aside from being the birthplace of modern ugliness… I mean, civilization. Date farming was a staple in this area. So too was sailcloth making and camel breeding. The area had few people and many nomads. Fishing was still popular. But, none of those things really matter with the discovery of 1908.
Oil.
And this area, which has 2/3 of the world’s oil supply
And 1/3 of the world’s natural gas supply;
And if anything about the last 100 years has become evident, it’s that farming oil is more important to the civilized world than most everything.
It fuels our cars.
Heats our homes.
Makes our plastic goods.
Heart valves. Antifreeze. Ink. Clothing. Lipstick. Tennis rackets. Ice chests. Artificial limbs. Roofing. Antihistamines. Footballs. Tires. Sunglasses. Lotions.
Whew! The list goes on and on and on and on and on…and on.
Which, is why it’s so vital to so many industrialized countries.
And the reason that the Persian Gulf, which nestled itself nicely along Sumer and the first civilized kingdom in the world, first providing for the creation of farms that helped the Sumerians prosper, now provides for the survival of so many.
There is no more fishing here.
Or plant life.
The landscape is arid and dry.
But the oil rigs and tanker ships are everywhere.
Shipping out to parts of the world that would cease to exist without oil and natural gas.
This dependance led to the Persian Gulf War, the Invasion of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and most every country in the Middle East, a place, that a man on a flight I took out of Israel a decade ago, told me was destined to always be a place of violence.
He quoted the Bible as the reason for the violence.
I’d throw greed and survival in there too as reasons.
The Persian Gulf is the Cleopatra of the modern age, the thing that launched a thousand
ships, or in this case, a million missiles.
And also created a drink that, as I’m thinking about it now, bears little importance to all the other things I’m talking about – greed, power, manipulation, war and death for oil, laws meant to train people how to behave in a civilized world under uncivilized men.
But, since this is a podcast where I talk about a drink that changed the world, I need to mention it.
This screwdriver drink is a simple drink of two equal ingredients, one a strong masking beverage that could easily hide alcohol in plain sight, especially when you’re working.
Not to mention how it can boost your immunity.
So, we’ll end on a whisper that isn’t deserving of a bang by talking about the oil farmers, on their oil rigs in the late 1930’s that took their morning orange juice with a shot of something else to steady their nerves for the dangerous and difficult work they had to do.
And we’ll use a stanza from T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men, to hammer the point home:
Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
The shadow here, is The Screwdriver Drink, made with 2 ounces of vodka and 2 ounces of orange juice
Originally mixed with one of the easiest and handy of mixing tools that the oil farmers had on their person at all times, a screwdriver.
Anyway… since this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is, the way the world ends…
Not with a bang, but with a whisper…
Anyway, I’ll drink to that. (Whispered)
Sangria
Peach sangria is a refreshing and different alternative to traditional sangria. You might be thinking sangria is a simple party drink made with little effort and thought. Throw a few pieces of cut fruit in some red wine, dump in sugar, send a few text messages, eat a cut orange, take a pull of liquor and add some to the wine, stir and serve. If you are thinking Sangria is as simple as that – you would be partially correct.
We’re not dealing with a specialty drink served at high end cocktail parties and sipped in evening gowns and tuxedos. There is little sophistication in the drink itself, which hints at the history of the beverage as a drink for common folks throughout early Europe. But, there is beauty in its simplicity.
What you might not realize is that Sangria’s simplicity means countless flavor profiles and combinations exist. You could make a red wine sangria recipe, or a white wine sangria , or a white peach sangria recipe, peach sangria, apple cider sangria, or even a thanksgiving sangria.
I’m sure at this point your head is spinning. You came here for a recipe, dammit, not a diatribe on flavor profiles and 50 different sangria recipes. Or, maybe you did.
I’ve done the hard work, put in the long hours on the sunniest beaches around the world, got chased by bulls in Spain while covered in Sangria remnants from prior nights of relentless research and, with a complete lack of orientation, aim and ambition over a quarter century, developed the perfect mix of booze in a variety of palette pleasing combinations.
And I’ve crafted some of the most popular variations of the fruity toot toot, party favor and some of the weirdest variations too. And, I tell you what, anyone can make homemade sangria, but not everyone can make homemade sangria that’s sugar free or low in sugar. My years of rigorous work in the field has led me to correlate more intense hangovers with sugar. Eliminate sugar and you eliminate the follow up pain and don’t totally wreck your body by putting shit food in it. C’mon here! Just because we’re drinking doesn’t mean we cannot also drink responsibly. Keep the fruit. Keep the Wine. Those are natural and good. Throw out the processed sugar. We’ll overthrow the sugar industry one glass of sangria at a time. At this point you almost have a moral obligation for your own health and the health of others to drink sangria and do some good.
Peach Sangria
Flavor Profile:
One sip from this and you’ll notice the subtle hints of peach, which lift up the sweetness in a poetic, not Game of Thrones kill your brother sort of way.
Drink this if you like to smell flowers on a mild summer day. It’s light and airy, and goes perfect on a lazy afternoon post coitus, when you’re relaxed, at peace, and need a greater sense of pleasure and fulfillment than what you just received.
Difficulty Level:
Our difficulty scale:
1 – Like falling asleep on the beach after a few glasses of capriccio sangria
5 – Like trying to put your shoes on after a few glasses of capriccio sangria
10 – Like trying to ride a bike, with a dog on a leash, and a bottle of half finished capriccio sangria in one hand, after a few glasses of capriccio sangria
This easy sangria recipe for peach sangria is quick to make and comes together easy. For that reason, it receives a rating of 3
Peach Sangria:
1 – .75L bottle of Syrah or Port wine
1/2 – lemon
1/2 cup – gin
1 cup – blueberries
1 – orange
2 – peaches
1 can – peach juice (sweeter) or peach seltzer (less sweet)
How to Make Sangria:
Dump that wine in a pitcher. Glug, glug, glug
Rinse the peaches, lemon and orange. Stop the spread of bacteria.
Quarter the peaches, lemon and orange, and plop in to the pitcher
Add the gin. Take a drink for yourself. I know this is hard work, but we’re halfway done and you’re doing awesome.
Add the blueberries
Add the peach juice or seltzer.
Stirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Put in the fridge for a few hours for proper absorption to occur
Pour a glass of gin as a reward for your great work.
Podcast
Podcast Summary:
“Anyway, I’ll Drink to That” is a Boozn Sam’s production, exploring the fun, quirky, and fascinating tales of drinks (The Hurricane Drink in this episode) that define culture, history and the world. Every drink has a story to tell, and I’m going to tell it…as true as I can. Hosted by Sam, from Boozn Sam’s. Saddle up with a good cocktail and give me a few minutes of your time for a mystery surrounding a drink that changed the world.
Episode 14 Details:
A famous media mogul, after fame and success in the US, finally met his match battling the fiesty Italians. He walked away a brusied and beaten, but with a drink to ease his pain.
Transcript of Podcast:
*This is the entire podcast episode in written form. Do not read if you want the audio version to be spoiled.
Ed sat before the board and hard gulped. The faces looking back at him were all angry. Well, all except for Pat’s face, which he didn’t understand. He knew their anger was misplaced too, and due to a misunderstanding that he needed to clarify. The issue had been going on for years, and, with no end in sight, there wasn’t much Ed could do but appeal to those gathered around him and hope they’d understand. He doubted they would.
Ed harbored his own anger and resentment too, as is usually the case. The stomped on like to pass on the beating to others. Hurting people, hurt people. Only, for Ed, he couldn’t pass along the whooping he wanted to give to anyone. Henry was the source of all his pain, and Henry was too far away to face retribution.
Besides, it wasn’t like it was Henry’s fault either. He was only the mastermind behind the current problem, a problem that led, out of necessity, the creation of a completely unrelated drink, which sells by the hundreds of thousands every year, in one very popular place alone.
He’d followed Henry closely these past ten years. A man in his position, at this time in history, had to. There was too much happening throughout the world to not pay attention. Things that had never happened before, ever, were occurring. The world was being reshaped. War had hung on the horizon like a thick, dark cloud for many years until it exploded in violent fashion over in Europe when Hitler decided the world wasn’t a big enough place for all to exist.
So, he took his pride and his prejudices and he sent them off to death camps, as he blitzkrieg his way through Europe amidst a shower of bombs and bullets. Bombs, the explosives, was the culprit here.
Or, became a culprit when Henry took over as Secretary of War at the ask of Theodore Roosevelt. At the time, Henry said this:
“we didn’t have enough [explosive] powder in the whole United States to last the men we now have over overseas for anything like a day’s fighting. And, what is worse, we didn’t have powder [explosive] plants or facilities to make it; they had all been destroyed after the last war.”
Neither side realized how much explosives they would need for this war, or, that, the use of explosives would become a primary strategy in World War 2. One popular explosive required mixing Toluene, Nitric Acid and Sulphuric Acid together.
But, the resulting product was…dirty… for lack of a better word. It wasn’t a clean explosive.
Science presented a solution, but not a solution that people like Ed, or the board that looked to Ed for direction, appreciated. After all, they had businesses to run, and without product, they had no businesses.
There is a process called recrystallization where an impure substance is heated up until a saturation point is reached with another substance. Then, when the, now combined, liquids cool, crystals form.
Filter out the crystals.
Dispose of the liquid, which contains the impurities that bound to the added substance.
What you’re left with is pure crystals.
A clean product.
A product called TNT that most certainly goes boom.
And a metaphorical boom was also occurring for Ed, as he looked into the angry faces of those around him, who were listening to what he was saying, and the process of making explosives that he was describing, but were angry none the less.
He wiped sweat from his brow and paused. The room was so quiet you could hear the strike of a match. And in that moment, Ed kinda wished a match would strike, and blow this who meeting out of here. Because he wasn’t finished yet.
When no one asked questions, he gulped, and continued. For a second his eyes met the eyes of Pat, who smiled, with a look of unconcern. If only everyone could be as calm as Pat, he thought, and wondered what sort of secret Pat had up his sleeve.
“You see,” Ed said, fumbling with his sport coat, “their product was being siphoned for the war effort, to make bombs, not for consumption by the military. Furthermore, the shortage is likely to continue to be real as long as the war lasts.”
He gulped, waiting for the backlash, but he was met with something far worse. Indifferent stares that he couldn’t read. More sweat pouring out of him, and more heat rolling off of his hot chest and red face. Still, he continued on and explained another problem that would certainly not help their cause in any way.
In addition to the process of recrystallization that was needed to create TNT, this substance was also needed to create a better version of a chemical called Butadiene, which was essential for the war effort…because it was used to produce tires and other plastic resins. And, do you know what the military was going through a lot of during World War 2? Tires.
A groan went through those gathered and the temperature int he room seemed to tick up a few more degrees. The seersucker suit Ed wore wasn’t doing him any good. He looked at the faces of those gathered. Anger. Frustration. Disappointment. More Anger. And Peace.
Pat seemed unconcerned. If anything, he seemed… okay with the situation. As if, whatever trick he had up his leave was lighting a new pathway to success that none of the others had discovered.
“But, it’s 1944 and we’ve been without any new production here in the US for 2 years. Surely we can’t be expected to continue on like this much longer.” Someone shouted.
“We’ve got businesses to run.”
It’s the war effort.” Ed mumbled and shrugged. How could he be expected to change the tide of an entire nation, and didn’t it seem selfish to demand such a thing for such, at a time like this, felt inconsequential in comparison to all the lives being lost overseas?
“It’s our lives.” Someone retorted.
And from there the anger only rose, until all of the frustrated owners voiced their objections, despite knowing that the shortage came from a good spot.
All voiced there anger, expect for one. Pat. Because Pat knew that if the world hands you coconuts, you make a Pina colada. Well, not a Pina colada exactly, but something along those lines.
Ed pulled at his shirt collar and shrugged once more. “What do you want me to do about it?” He finally asked angrily. “It’s not like I’m the one taking all your alcohol.”
And he wasn’t. The great shortage of alcohol in the US during WW2 was due to a directive from the acting Secretary of War Henry Stimson, appointed by Theodore Roosevelt, who saw the need to dramatically ramp up production of explosives and essential war time materials like tires.
Alcohol was essential for both.
For the production of TNT and the process of recrystallization, whereby the impure mixture of Toluene, Nitric Acid and Sulphuric Acid, which formed the basis of TNT, was mixed with alcohol, heated, and then allowed to cool. The crystals created upon cooling left behind their impurities in the remaining liquid substance.
And TNT production in WW2 was a big deal.
3 millions tons of it were exploded during the war.
Rubber was the same way, and the United States dealt with natural rubber shortages the entire war…
Which lead them to invest heavily in synthetic rubber production, which required a chemical that could be made better and cheaper with alcohol.
For all in the room, expect Pat, this was a big blow.
Pat, on the other hand, had something the others did not.
At this time, with the extreme alcohol shortages hitting hard, distributors required the purchase of a different type of liquor, a much more prevalent type of liquor that could be more easily imported. So, to get the good stuff, the drinks like scotch and whiskey that people really wanted, a fine establishment had to buy a ton of other liquor in addition.
For many this was a deadly blow, because the liquor purchased was not desirable by any stretch of the imagination.
But, Pat stretched his creatively a little bit further. Like he had to survive the prohibition years not too long ago. After all, him and his business partner had, only a few years prior in 1940, opened a new establishment just down the street from his prohibition speakeasy.
Then, two years later, they were dealing with this. So, Pat employed every ounce of resourcefulness he had and came up with a sweet, fruity drink that utilized the surplus of liquor distributors were pushing.
He found a clever name, a name after the container that he served the drink out of.
Still, that wasn’t enough. He had to go further. And he did. By taking an old time concept and reinvent it into a format that still lives on today with great popularity.
So, when Pat looked around the room at his fellow bar owners, he wasn’t worried. He’d found a way to survive the hard times and adapt. And a way that would, fast forward over 85 years later, result in over 500,000 of these drinks being served up every year at the establishment that still bears his name, the same establishment he started.
The establishment where you can find the only thimble tray player in the world still alive today. Alvin, who has been tapping thimbles stuck to his fingers on the bottom side of an aluminum tray filled with quarters to create a rhythmic, unique percussive instrument…like his predecessor, Eddie.
Alvin has been there almost 45 years. And Eddie, well he played there for almost 7 decades, until he drowned in Hurricane Katrina not too long ago at the age of 95.
But, this bar having the only musician of this type in the world in attendance isn’t even the most famous part of this establishment.
Nor is it the two pianos, which face each other and allow two pianists to duel it out in a, what we consider, classic dueling piano scenario….a concept that Pat himself also invented by taking the 1890’s ragtime piano duel concept and allowing for crowd participation with song requests….which is the version of dueling pianos that we know today.
Still, set aside the musician who plays thimbles on the bottom of a tray, cast away the first version of the modern dueling piano, and let’s look to the most important contribution that Pat made at Pat O’Brien’s, which still stands in New Orleans today.
The invention of a cocktail with the rum that flowed fast and free from the Caribbean during WW2, when good scotch and whiskey were hard to come by, and people like Ed Dauphin, Chairman of the Southwest Louisiana Liquor Industry Board, had to explain to a room full of angry people the importance of alcohol in the war effort to make explosives and synthetic plastic.
The Hurricane Drink
Pat took 4 oz of Caribbean rum, and added 2 oz of lemon juice and 2 oz of passionfruit syrup to create a bright red drink that he served out of a glass shaped like a flower vase, or, more specifically A Kerosene Lamp…
That kerosene lamp carries a nickname that gave this drink it’s name:
The hurricane lamp
And the rum drink Pat called the hurricane,
You can still drink this drink today at Pat O’Briens, and many other places.
The next time you do, remember the resourcefulness of a man named Pat during a very trying time in world history, and a drink named the Hurricane Drink, which also gave us
Dueling pianos
And the only living musician still around making music by tapping thimbles on the back of a tray.
Anyway… I’ll drink to that.
Podcast
Podcast Summary:
“Anyway, I’ll Drink to That” is a Boozn Sam’s production, exploring the fun, quirky, and fascinating tales of drinks (The Mint Julep in this episode) that define culture, history and the world. Every drink has a story to tell, and I’m going to tell it…as true as I can. Hosted by Sam, from Boozn Sam’s. Saddle up with a good cocktail and give me a few minutes of your time for a mystery surrounding a drink that changed the world.
Episode 13 Details:
The origins of the Mint Julep date back to ancient Persian times and the Safavid Empire, which was a famous but treacherous family that ruled most of Persia through murdering and killing their own family members. Persian culture was the birthplace for the name of this now famous Kentucky Derby drink.
Transcript of Podcast:
*This is the entire podcast episode in written form. Do not read if you want the audio version to be spoiled.
Pari looked on as the corpse of her brother Ishmail the second was lowered in the ground and buried. They concluded the Persian ritual as was customary, with a grand dinner fit for a king, because…well, Ishmail the second was a king, and they washed it down with a delicate drink that would give it’s name to a famous drink three hundred years later.
Pari watched the ceremonies with a cautious eye, was unconcerned. With her brother now dead, poisoned, mysteriously, the kingdom would fall to her. And what a kingdom it was.
Considered as one of the three great empires of the early modern muslim world that also included the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire, the Safavid Empire expanded from the Caucasus Mountains, wrapped around the Kaspian Sea, and ended where Iran is today.
Pari was no stranger to power, which, for a woman, was not uncommon during this time. Today, such behavior from the Middle East would be received quite different. But, back then, before the regression of values in the forward progression named religion, it was not unique for a woman to run a kingdom.
Pari had, in fact, when her ailing father was in his last years. Then after his death, and after twenty years imprisoned by his own father, out of fear and jealousy for how well liked he was, Ishmail, with the help of Pari took the thrown.
There were many other claims to the thrown at this time. The kingdom had grown powerful in the 75 years that it had already existed and there was much to desire in the way of wealth, land and power. Ishmail, to secure his spot, and with the help of his sister Pari, killed all those siblings, except for his full brother, who had a claim on the thrown.
Without a clearly designated successor by her father, Pari had to imagine that the kingdom would fall apart from civil war and factions. Something had to be done. So she took a side. And, in doing so, I doubt either her or Ishmail the second participated in any of the customary funeral rituals that followed all of their murdered, with the drink that gave it’s name to a fashionable drink today.
Now, only a four years removed from all of that chaos, Pari was up against the same thing once more. She had participated heavily in the ruling of the kingdom under Ishmail the Second, as well. But, would the men let her continue to rule? Surely not. Their egos were too fragile. Pride too big. This was a patriarchal society, after all. When one king died another must be selected or ascend to the throne somehow, even if no successor was selected.
Of course, she’d thought this over many times in many different ways before she poisoned her brother, and continued to reach the same conclusion. If she continued to act as ruler, who would stop her?
No one had with her father. No one had with her brother. The kingdom had enjoyed her years of reign and wisdom to help guide it toward greater prosperity. In parts of the kingdom, Kashan in particular, the drink she was drinking now was making a surge in popularity, thrust forward by the distilleries that popped up overnight and flooded the kingdom and beyond its border with the sweet, slightly soapy to some, flavored drink that seemed to suddenly dominate Persian culture.
Pari had a loyal following. Many personal guards and servants. Surely it would be madness for someone to oppose her. So, the best thing for her to do was act as if she owned the kingdom, and people would think she did.
She mulled this over as she sipped the drink heralded for its medical benefits and healing properties and pretended to console those around her who mourned the dead king. She had other problems. Bigger problems. A kingdom to rule. One of the largest and most important of the time.
So, for over two months Pari ruled the Safavid Empire, until a council, comprised of men, appointed one of the few still living that also had the royal bloodline. Mohammad. The full brother that Ishmail the Second spared during his murderous family rampage and ascent to the throne.
Still, Pari felt confident that Mohammad and his wife Madh-e would be no problem for her. You see, Mohammad was old and his blindness made it challenging to rule. He’d rather spend his time enjoying the pleasure of women than ruling. And his wife was a woman and, well, a woman would know her place. After all, this was a patriarchal society.
With Mohammad in power, Pari knew that she could continue on as she always had, ruling and controlling the affairs of this great kingdom. She gave her agreement to the new proposed king for that reason. Knowing she could still control the kingdom with a weak king in power. And, if all else failed, and he didn’t bend to her will, like her father, and like her other brother, then she would toast and sip another glass of this rose flavored drink to another dead king.
So, a few days later when Mohammad and Madh-e arrived in the city to take the throne she greeted them on a gold throne of her own. Flanked by 5,000 personal guards and servants. She looked at the people around her, her heart beat pumping harder in her young chest. At 28 she had achieved alot. But, back then, that was not uncommon.
When you lived till 50, at best, you needed to get started with really living life a little sooner. Of all the things that we’ve forgotten in our society today, this would be a good one to remember. For even though our lives are longer, our life in those years is shorter.
50, of course is a ripe old age to reach during this age. And, it was an age Pari would never reach, as that very same day she greeted Mohammad and Madh-e at the gates of the city to welcome them through with a display of her power, she was strangled by the bare hands of a man loyal to the new queen: Madh-e
As it turns out, Madh-e had an equal amount of desire to prove that a woman can rule. And she did. Until, years later, she had the power snatched by a son of Mohammads, that was not her son, when he rode into the capital and forced Mohammad, his own father, to give him the crown under threat of death.
And in that way Abbas, not Madh-e, or Pari, would be attached to the period of this famous empire’s rule that was considered the pinnacle of its rule and height of it’s power.
And no one, I’m sure, took the time to tip back a drink of rose water in honor of these women.
A drink that flourished under the Safavid Empire under blooming rosewater distilleries throughout the kingdom,
And started an annual event, which is now over 700 years old, that translates as the “rosewater making festival”
that honors the blessings and greatness of the natural world and its many gifts,
Including gulab.
An ancient Persian word that translates into “rose water”
A non alcoholic drink that infuses Damask roses with water,
A popular drink the middle east still today,
But which has another drink derived from it in American culture.
Julep
Derived from gulab
Which signifies the infusion of something in water.
In the case of Gulab it’s roses in water.
For Julep it’s mint
Which is crushed and muddled with a bit of water and sugar,
Tossed with some bourbon
And garnished with a mint leaf
The Mint Julep
Named after a rose water infusion that flourished under one of the great early modern Middle Eastern kingdoms,
A regal kingdom that also existed with a surprising twist of powerful females ruling, but ultimately succumbing to violence and cultural norms, something that has unfortunately become even more common place today.
But, it’s only fitting that we toast the mint julep’s powerful and regal history,
Filled with so many struggling to win at any cost,
Not unlike the Kentucky Derby, which is, ironically, so closely tied to the mint julep today.
Anyway… I’ll drink to that.