(Courtesy of Juvia Group)
Juvia on Lincoln Road pours an aromatic cocktail called a Monkey Business.
Winston Churchill once declared, “Gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen's lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire." Admittedly, he was probably more than a little sozzled at that particular moment, but he wasn’t wrong.
Gin, of course, had been thought of as “medicinal” for decades and old advertisements referred to it as “pleasant medicine.” But the primary bittering agent in tonic water is quinine, and the classic G&T cocktail was invented as a way to make swallowing this anti-malarial medicine a little less unpleasant for Her Majesty’s loyal footsoldiers as they made the tropics safe for cricket and steak-and-kidney pie. Quinine is an extract of the bark of the cinchona tree, which happens to be a potent anti-parasitic.
It might have seemed miraculous to the mustachioed chaps in their pith helmets -- what-what -- but it wasn’t exactly a technological breakthrough. The process of using alcohol to make medicines goes back centuries, and, as any well-schooled mixologist will tell you, the oldest cocktails were less likely to have been stirred up at a neighborhood pub than at the local apothecary. That is to say, the first bartenders were also the first pharmacists.
Bitter Truth
A cocktail, in its simplest form, consists of four elements: spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The idle partier might want to skip the icky-sounding stuff and just go for something fruity with a kick to it, but the Biscayne tippler recognizes that traditions last for a reason - and usually more than one. Don’t skip the bitters. Not only are you missing out on cocktail custom, but you’re also leaving out the good stuff!
Somewhere in here we should say that we’re not medical professionals and nothing in this article would pass muster in JAMA, The Lancet, or even at a CVS counter. There are more effective treatments there, and we believe in their efficacy. But looking back a few hundred years, people didn’t have those options. Instead, the wise and learned would steep certain aromatic plants in
(Courtesy of Public Square)
Public Square in Coral Gables serves Monk Juice made with gin and chartreuse.
distilled alcohol to draw out the potent compounds responsible for their flavors and their usefulness in treating various maladies.
Spices like cassia, cardamom, and coriander. Flowers like vervain, gentian, and lavender. Roots with names like devil’s club and wormwood. Maybe you can guess what medical use that last one was named for. It’s also the key ingredient in absinthe, and in vermouth. In fact, that’s where the name “vermouth” comes from - it’s the French pronunciation of “wermut,” the German word for “wormwood.”
In the 1800s, extracts like these would be blended to make so-called patent medicines, which became notorious for their wild claims to cure whatever ails you. But they also became key components in cocktails we still enjoy today. Take digestives, for example An Aperol spritz and an Americano (made with a shot each of Campari and sweet vermouth in a tall glass of soda over ice) are two Italian versions of the classic bitters and soda, a drink order that sounds exactly like what it is. It’s also a perfect refresher for a teetotaler, and an effective remedy for settling an overstuffed stomach.
Clever cooks will use a few dashes of Angostura or Peychaud’s bitters to spruce up a seafood chowder the same way bartenders use them in an old fashioned. As one ingredient among many, they bring out the best in everything. And yes, they might actually make you feel better, too.
Local Practitioners
8Street Brickell, an upscale purveyor of classic cocktails. His recommendation for those curious about apothecary cocktails? “Our Local Negroni brings a harmonious fusion of flavors and feels - from glass to mouth.”
8Street Brickell gives the cocktail a Miami twist with a homemade spiced mango shrub prepared for a few hours before mixing.
Local Negroni
- ½ oz. mango shrub (below)
- ½ oz. Campari
- 1 oz. sweet vermouth
- 1 oz. gin (8Street Brickell uses London Sypsmith)
Mix ingredients well and serve over ice.
Spiced Mango Shrub
- 7 oz. champagne vinegar
- 12 oz. refined sugar
- 12 oz. Squeeze mango juice
(Courtesy of Oasis Wynwood)
Oasis Wynwood refreshes with an herbal-infused Oasis Cooler.
Simmer juice and sugar over very low heat until sugar melts and flavors are combined, then add vinegar and allow to cool. Alternately, mix all ingredients, cover and refrigerate overnight.
At Root & Bone, at 59th and South Dixie in South Miami, the apothecary tradition is kept alive with the Ella
Fitzgerald, a cocktail consisting of Plymouth gin, Aperol, fresh lemon, and a dash of Angostura bitters. On Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, Juvia pours an aromatic cocktail named Monkey Business, consisting of Monkey 47 gin, Pomp & Whimsy gin liqueur, sparkling lime and yuzu, raspberry, fresh mint, citrus syrup, and candied peel.
Head south to Coral Gables, and you’ll find Public Square serving Monk Juice, a virtuous-seeming cocktail blended from Beefeater gin, chartreuse, lime juice, basil, and cucumber. If that austere cucumber intrigues you, catch a ride back up to Oasis Wynwood to sample an Oasis Cooler, made with Hendrick’s Gin, cucumber, basil, bergamot liqueur, jasmine tea, and soda.
If you’re staying at home, you could always try a traditional apothecary cocktail known as an alabazam. Newer versions of this venerable recipe call for bitters measured in dashes, but the original recipe penned by Leo Engel in 1878 pours in bitters by the spoonful.
The Alabazam
- 1 ½ oz. cognac
- 2 tsp. Cointreau
- 1 tsp. Angostura bitters
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. sugar
Stir ingredients together until sugar dissolves. Add ice, stir, then strain into a cocktail glass.
Here’s to your health!