Tag: Drink History

Forget the sticky fruit syrup you’re thinking of. When you ask ‘what’s a cordial drink,’ the answer that truly matters, historically and in terms of genuine complexity, is alcoholic. What many people commonly refer to as a ‘cordial’ today—the non-alcoholic fruit syrup—is actually a simplified, diluted descendant of a much more potent, and historically significant, […]

Despite what its ancient-sounding name might imply, Sambuca is a definitively modern Italian invention. It didn’t emerge from Roman antiquity or medieval monasteries, but rather from a small coastal town in the late 19th century. The clear answer to “where does Sambuca come from” points squarely to Italy, specifically the vision of Luigi Manzi in […]