One quick way to get to know a destination is to drop by a local bar (or two, or three…). If you love to celebrate your arrival in a new city with a drink, order one of these quintessential cocktails on your next business trip.
New York City: Old Fashioned
Don Draper’s favorite cocktail remains a perennial crowd pleaser in New York City. This combination of whiskey, bitters, and sugar is said to have been invented in Louisville, but it became a New York classic soon afterward when it was brought to Manhattan Waldorf-Astoria hotel bar.
Los Angeles: Moscow Mule
The always-refreshing Moscow Mule is the ideal antidote to Southern California heat, so it’s fitting that LA is where the drink first gained popularity. Made of vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice, no Moscow Mule is complete unless it’s sipped from a copper mug, which makes the drink’s chill that much more satisfying.
Sao Paulo: Caipirinha
Brazil’s national cocktail is a delicious blend of sugar, lime, and the Brazilian spirit cachaça. The full history of the Caipirinha is unclear, but what we do know is that it originated in the Piracicaba farming region of São Paulo, and that a variation of it may have once been used to treat flu symptoms in the early twentieth century. Another thing we know: it’s a perfectly sweet, refreshing drink at the end of the long day.
Mexico City: Paloma
Margaritas, step aside: the paloma is Mexico’s real favorite drink. This tasty tequila cocktail gets its crisp flavor from lime juice and grapefruit soda, and was invented in the city of Tequila itself.
London: Pimm’s Cup
There’s no better way to toast to an English summer than with a Pimm’s Cup, a delectable glass of lemon juice, ginger ale, and Pimm’s No. 1 liquor. Originally gaining fame as a drink enjoyed by Wimbledon spectators, the cocktail is now a local go-to.
Lima: Chilcano
Peru might be famous for the Pisco Sour, but another pisco drink has stolen Lima’s heart: the Chilcano. The pisco, lime, and ginger beer concoction is so popular in Peru that the country even celebrates National Chilcano Week each year.
Paris: Mimosa
The mimosa may have British origins, but there’s just something so quintessentially Parisian about this Champagne and orange juice cocktail. Sip on a flute over brunch as you take in the sights and sounds of the City of Light.
San Francisco: Tequila Sunrise
The Tequila Sunrise got its start when it was served to the Rolling Stones in a Sausalito bar in the ‘70s. Since then, this combination of tequila, grenadine, and orange juice has become a local legend - and with good reason.
Milan: Sbagliato
The Sbagliato is kind of like a negroni, but, well, not. (It might even be, dare we say, better?) The name Sbagliato means “mistake” in Italian, because the drink originated by accident when a bartender slipped up while trying to make a Negroni. Instead of gin, he mixed Prosecco with sweet vermouth and Campari. It turned out to be an excellent error, because the drink is an ideal refresher for any time of day. Cheers to that!
