See off Hispanic Heritage Month with these cocktails featuring classic Latin flavors

Embrace the flavors of rum, coffee, lime, and cola

By Georgina Torbet Published October 11, 2024

hispanic heritage month cocktails 2021 07 09 thecocktailshaker santateresa1796 fr 4 1 — Santa Teresa 1796

As we enter the last few days of Hispanic Heritage Month, a smattering of cocktail recipes are on the cards to celebrate the flavors and traditions of Latin American countries. From the Venezuelan rum Santa Teresa 1796 to the classic Cuban Barcadi that everyone knows, these recipes use ingredients like rum, coffee, lime, and demerara sugar to celebrate just a few of the iconic flavors of Latin America that are beloved around the world.

Santa Teresa 1796 The Venezuelan

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Santa Teresa 1796
.75 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Demerara Syrup
1 Dropper of Vanilla Extract (about 20 drops)
3 Dashes of Angostura Bitters
1.5 oz Sparkling Wine

Method:

Recommended Videos

Shake all ingredients with ice but sparkling wine, double strain into a glass, top with sparkling wine.

Café Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa 1796

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Santa Teresa Arabica Coffee Cask Finish
0.5 oz Coffee liqueur
1 oz Espresso
0.25 oz Simple Syrup
2 Dashes of Orange Bitters

Method:

Shake with ice, then strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with coffee beans.

Bacardi Old Cuban

BACARDI — BACARDÍ

Ingredients:

2 oz Bacardi Reserva Ocho Rum
2 ½ oz Martini & Rossi Prosecco
4 Mint Leaves
1 oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Lime Juice
2 Dashes Bitters

Method:

Combine all the ingredients (except prosecco) in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Double strain and top with prosecco. Garnish with a mint leaf float.

Bacardi Cuba Libre

BACARDI — BACARDÍ

Ingredients:

2 oz Bacardi Gold Rum
4 oz Cola
2 Lime Wedges
Lime Wedge as Garnish

Method:

Fill a highball glass with cubed ice, and squeeze in the lime wedges. Pour in the BACARDI Gold Rum followed by chilled cola. Give it a gentle stir. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Georgina Torbet

Georgina Torbet is a cocktail enthusiast based in Berlin, with an ever-growing gin collection and a love for trying out new…

Food & Drink

Try out this Irish twist on a classic Spanish gin and tonic

Big glass, lots of ice, tons of garnishes - heaven

The Jackalope

I love any type of G&T, but I'm a particularly big fan of the Spanish gin and tonic. The Spanish approach keeps the two key ingredients, but emphasizes the importance of a higher ratio of gin to tonic water, allowing the flavors of a fine gin to shine through. It avoids this becoming boozy or harsh by incorporating plenty of ice, and I'm in favor of using particularly large ice cubes to keep the temperature down without melting and making the drink watery.

To fit all of this ice, you need a big glass -- so the Spanish-style drink traditionally uses a large, round copa glass that also has plenty of space for the other key feature of a Spanish G&T: big, bold garnishes. A slice of lemon is a fine addition to a G&T, but you can be far more adventurous than that, adding in spices, herbs, and big chunks of fruit to provide varying textures and scents within the glass.

Food & Drink

This herb is the unexpected star of your savory cocktails this spring

Love it or hate it, cilantro is about to become the main character

NoMad London _ Sergeant Pepper

This is going to be the year of savory cocktails, and that trend has arrived in force with cilantro cocktails for spring. Whether you're a lover of its fresh, fragrant flavor or you are regrettably one of the poor souls for whom it tastes like soap, cilantro is having a moment in the world of cocktails.

The most obvious choice of spirit to mix with cilantro might be tequila, given the shared Mexican flavors of both, but bartenders are experimenting beyond this by adding cilantro flavors to spirits as diverse as sotol, cahaça, and shochu. If you'd like to try this trend out for yourself and you're feeling ambitious, then three bars have shared their cilantro-centric cocktail recipes below.
Star Treatment

Food & Drink

Toast the warmer weather with these sharp, tangy vodka cocktails

Vodka cocktails needn't be dull - they can have bite of their own

VodkaSour

When it comes to flavors for spring, you might think of something soft and floral or something sparkling and light. But there's a place for drinks with a little twist of sharpness too, making use of ingredients like grapefruit, ginger, or bitters. That's especially true when you're looking for vodka cocktails, as vodka drinks can sometimes be a bit conservative. A simple screwdriver or a quick vodka and coke have their place, but I think we can do better.

Two suggestions for bright, tangy vodka cocktails come from the renowned brand Ketel One. As well as a classic vodka sour, making use of the always pleasing combination of lemon juice and honey syrup, and adding a touch of depth and interest by a plentiful helpful of angostura bitters, there's also an intriguing recipe for a Salty Rose. This one makes use of Ketel One Botanical, which is a vodka flavored with botanicals -- in this case, grapefruit and rose, perfect for the season.
Salty Rose