The Pitiusas Islands have always had a loving relationship with alcohol, a liquid philosopher’s stone that stimulates ingenuity and brightens the spirit. The older fishermen, peasants and smugglers tell us that in the olden days they drank much more, but the tradition of happily toasting at the bar is still somewhat sacred.
The Palo with ginger is a true island cocktail. Ideally served as an aperitif, it awakens both the appetite and the imagination of those at the table. And what about the Suisse, mixed with the absinthe of Marí Mayans, the results of which can be as forceful as a round with Mike Tyson or as joyous as the enchanted kiss of an Ibizan nymph. Together with the Café Caleta which lets you see the Green Ray at sunset, they form a trio of Ibiza and Formentera’s most classic cocktails.
In the 1950s travellers started landing on the island, travellers in romance like those W. Somerset Maugham wrote about in his book of the same name, “A traveller in romance”. The swashbuckler and heavy drinker, Erroll Flynn, sailed in on the most beautiful schooner in the entire planet, the Zaca, and liked to toast at any time of day or night. In the legendary Sandy’s bar he was able to showcase a variation of the Daiquiri that Ernest Hemingway had taught him in Havana. We’re talking about the Papa Doble which mixes rum with the magical grapefruit from Buscastell. Erroll, like Hemingway, regarded sugar as the worst enemy of the drinker’s liver.
Maybe that’s why Erroll drank mostly vodka. And here we have the Bloody Mary, capable of exorcising the most demonic hangover and able to resurrect the most annihilated reveller, brightening up the morning once again. It can be made directly in a glass or a Ming dynasty vase. But I prefer it in a cocktail shaker (shaking to the rhythm of La Vie en Rose) and, as a great barman once taught me, with a few sprigs of fresh coriander that complement the tomato most wonderfully.
The Ibicenco Dry Martini is something special. It reminds me of the recipe of W. Somerset Maugham, whose nephew Robin was a regular in Ibiza. The vermouth is changed for a few drops of absinthe “so the molecules lie sensually on top of the other”. The rule says that two is too few and three is too many. As Dorothy Parker warned:
I like to have a Martini
But two at the very most.
After three I´m under the table
after four I´m under my host.
The Negroni was another favourite drink in the bars of Ibiza at that time. It was invented by a Florentine count who judged the Americano to be too cloying a drink. He added gin and the magic was done.
The measurements for each glass naturally depend on the handicap of the drinker. If Aristotle said that living well is better than living, I maintain that drinking well is better than drinking.
