It’s world cocktail day, and to celebrate, we can reveal Edinburgh’s favourite cocktail - once and for all.
But before the big moment, where does the word ‘cocktail’ actually come from?
It turns out, cock-tail was the name for a non-thoroughbred horse, whose tail had been docked to show its hereditary inferiority. This association with a dilution in terms of the gene pool, soon transferred to an association with a diluted alcoholic drink - early cocktails were said to be a combination of sugar, water and bitters, with spirits being added later on.
With the history lesson out of the way, here’s what we found.
Edinburgh is, on this occasion, a trend-follower, with the Pornstar Martini being the favourite cocktail across the city. Representatives from cocktail bars such as Tigerlily and Le Monde were quick to disclose how popular it is with customers.
The pornstar martini won the UK’s favourite cocktail award in 2018 - and if you’ve ever had one, it’s easy to see why: the ingredients in a pornstar martini are made for each other.
It consists of vanilla-flavored vodka mixed with a passion fruit liqueur such as Passoã or De Kuyper, highlighted with a splash of passion fruit puree and a squeeze of lime, before being topped up with a sparkling wine or prosecco. As a garnish, a trademark passionfruit half bobs enticingly on top.
The pornstar martini was invented in 1999 by the owner of the LAB bar in London, with the name being said to be “pure indulgence, sexy, fun and evocative”.
A close second favourite in Edinburgh bars was the espresso martini, a sultry blend of vodka, a coffee liquor such as Kahlua, and freshly brewed coffee - garnished perfectly with a trio of coffee beans.
If you want to make a pornstar martini at home to celebrate world cocktail day, here’s how to do it.
You will need a cocktail shaker, a strainer and about 5 minutes. This recipe serves two.
Ingredients
60ml of vanilla flavoured vodka
30ml passoa or other passion fruit liquor
1 tbsp of lime juice
1 tbsp of simple sugar syrup (recipe here)
2 passion fruits, cut in half
Prosecco, to serve
Method
Empty the seeds from one of the passion fruits into a cocktail shaker and add the vodka, passoa, sugar syrup and lime juice. Add a small tumbler of ice and shake well until condensation is forming on the sides of the shaker. Strain over a sieve into 2 martini glasses, top up with prosecco, then bob the remaining passion fruit halves on top. Serve immediately.
