The Apollo 11 Moon Landing and the Moonwalk Cocktail

It took the crew on Apollo 11 only 12 minutes to leave Earth and start orbiting the planet but another three days to reach lunar orbit. With 650 million people watching on television all over the world and with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining the Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility. At 10:56 p.m. EDT Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder and became the first human to ever set foot on the lunar surface proclaiming “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. During two hours Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin collected samples and took photos before leaving an American flag to returning to Collins waiting in the orbiting command module, Columbia. After another four days they landed in the ocean outside Hawai’i in July 24.

THE MOONWALK
The Apollo 11 moon landing in the Sea of Tranquility was an incredible feat of engineering, effectively making the United States take the lead in the space race.

After returning to earth and a 21 day quarantine (nobody knew what disease or bacteria could be caught during space travel) the crew went on a 45 day, 24 country celebratory Apollo 11 “Giant step Presidential Goodwill World Tour”.

Before traveling across the globe they celebrated with cocktails and the first cocktail they had after returning from space was a Moonwalk. The cocktail was the invention of Joe Gilmore, head bartender at the Savoy’s American Bar in London. Even though the world tour took the astronauts to London Mr. Gilmore never got a chance to serve them his concoction at his bar. Instead he made the crew a batch of the cocktail and sent it to the US along with champagne and glasses.

THE DESIGNER
The glass, called Moonshot, was
made to honor the Apollo 11 expedition. Designed and produced by Libbey in 1969.

The Daiquiri Day

In 1898 an American engineer, Jennings Stockton Cox, led a mining exhibition in the small town of Daiquiri in Cuba. While entertaining guests when he ran out of gin. To keep the party afloat Cox went out and bought rum that was readily available in Cuba. July 19 is Daiquiri Day, a perfect day to raise your glass to Jennings Stockton Cox, to Constantino Ribalaigua or to Ernest Hemingway for that matter.

THE HEMINGWAY DAIQUIRI
”El Rey de los Cocteleros”, or Constantino Ribalaigua Vert, was born in 1888 and learned the trade from his father. At 26 he tended the bar at El Floridita, at 30, in 1918, he had made enough money to buy the bar. During thirty years Constante, as his customers called him, invented more than 200 cocktails, catering to a flow American tourists. The amount of tourists coming to Havana doubled during Prohibition from 45,000 per year in 1916 to 90,000 in 1926.

One of the most famous of El Floridita’s customers was undoubtedly Ernest Hemingway. In the early 1930’s being fairly new to the city, Hemingway was on the way back to his hotel when he ventured into El Floridita in search of a restroom. Some guests were going on about their excellent daiquiris. Hemingway ordered one, then asked for another, this time with less sugar and double the rum. That was the birth of the Papa Doble (Papa after his Cuban nickname and Doble for the double amount of rum). This first version was way too strong to be enjoyed by any other than Hemingway. He boasted having had 17 Papa Dobles in one go in 1942, amounting to about 1.5 liters of rum.

Over time Ribalaigua added grapefruit juice and maraschino to the rum and fresh lime juice. Ribalaigua gave this modified Papa Doble the name Hemingway Daiquiri.

THE DESIGNER
The glass, Model I-103 was designed in 1956 by Timo Sarpaneva.

The World Mojito Day

The Piña Colada Day was declared a holiday by Ricardo A. Cofresí in Puerto Rico in 1978, in honor of the drink, now known as a symbol of Caribbean culture. The best place to experience it is definitely at its birth place at the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico.

THE PIÑA COLADA
Piña Colada, means strained pineapple, and is referring to the freshly pressed and strained pineapple juice in the drink. The first time a drink named Piña Colada was mentioned in print was in an issue of Travel Magazine from December 1922. It was made with Bacardi Rum, pineapple juice, lime and sugar but most importantly, it did not include coconut. The name however, fits very well with this pineapple cocktail.

Nowadays, a Piña Colada is generally thought of as a creamy coconut-tasting drink and the original is usually referred to as a Cuban-style Piña Colada. The modern Piña Colada was invented on August 15, 1952 (the Caribe Hilton say 1954), after three months of hard work. Ramón “Monchito” Marrero Perez, the head barman at the Caribe Hilton in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico was trying to create a signature cocktail for the hotels Beachcomber Bar. He eventually landed on the Piña Colada possibly just adding Coco López cream of coconut, a new product in Puerto Rico at the time, to the existing Cuban drink. The change was big enough though to be considered an entirely new drink.

For 35 years Mr. Perez personally served Piña Coladas at the Caribe Hilton, making it so popular it was made the official drink of Puerto Rico in 1978. In 2004 the Caribe Hilton was presented with a official proclamation signed by Sila María Calderon, the Governor of Puerto Rico, in honor of the 50 year anniversary of the famous cocktail.

THE DESIGNER
The glass was designed by Agustina Bottoni in 2020 and is called High Spirits.

The Piña Colada Day

The Piña Colada Day was declared a holiday by Ricardo A. Cofresí in Puerto Rico in 1978, in honor of the drink, now known as a symbol of Caribbean culture. The best place to experience it is definitely at its birth place at the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico.

THE PIÑA COLADA
Piña Colada, means strained pineapple, and is referring to the freshly pressed and strained pineapple juice in the drink. The first time a drink named Piña Colada was mentioned in print was in an issue of Travel Magazine from December 1922. It was made with Bacardi Rum, pineapple juice, lime and sugar but most importantly, it did not include coconut. The name however, fits very well with this pineapple cocktail.

Nowadays, a Piña Colada is generally thought of as a creamy coconut-tasting drink and the original is usually referred to as a Cuban-style Piña Colada. The modern Piña Colada was invented on August 15, 1952 (the Caribe Hilton say 1954), after three months of hard work. Ramón “Monchito” Marrero Perez, the head barman at the Caribe Hilton in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico was trying to create a signature cocktail for the hotels Beachcomber Bar. He eventually landed on the Piña Colada possibly just adding Coco López cream of coconut, a new product in Puerto Rico at the time, to the existing Cuban drink. The change was big enough though to be considered an entirely new drink.

For 35 years Mr. Perez personally served Piña Coladas at the Caribe Hilton, making it so popular it was made the official drink of Puerto Rico in 1978. In 2004 the Caribe Hilton was presented with a official proclamation signed by Sila María Calderon, the Governor of Puerto Rico, in honor of the 50 year anniversary of the famous cocktail.

THE DESIGNER
The glass was designed by Agustina Bottoni in 2020 and is called High Spirits.

Black Friday Book Release

As you all know, today is Thanksgiving (Happy Thanksgiving All) and tomorrow is Black Friday. We don’t usually celebrate Black Friday at mobilità but when it coincides with our book release we just couldn’t help ourselves. We celebrate by offering A Year of Cocktails for 850 SEK from now until midnight on Sunday the 26th. After that the book will be 1,100 SEK so take the chance of saving 250 SEK (almost $24).

Again, Happy Thanksgiving!

A Proof of A Year of Cocktails

Celebrating getting the proof of my first cocktail book (and actually my first ever book of any kind) in the best possible way, with one of the cocktails featured in the book, a Moonwalk (and a Roy Rogers). This drink, made with Grand Marnier, grapefruit juice, champagne and rose water, was made to celebrate the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. Not to in any way compare the feat of the moon landing with the release of a book but it is nevertheless something to celebrate and what better way to celebrate than with a cocktail created for a celebration.

A Whole Year of Cocktails

Almost since the start of the cocktail print project I have been asked when I will make it into a book and finally I’ve got an answer. It is happening now. I decided to make it into two separate books with 52 cocktails in each. One cocktail per week for a whole year. Or if you’d like to go about it another way, all of them are also attached to a date or at least a part of the year. Like the Blood and Sand for International Scotch Whisky Day (yes there is such a day, February 8) or a Zombie to celebrate tiki pioneer Donn Beach’s (a.k.a. Don the Beachcomber) birthday. Or why not make a Saketini, a cocktail created for the 1964 New York World’s Fair, on the date the fair opened their gates, April 22.

The book comes complete with the history of the cocktail, the story about the glass designer and the history of the date that the cocktail is in some way attached to.

More information is to come but expect it to be ready in time to make a fabulous gift for the holiday season.

But first thing first. Here is a teaser. Enjoy!