Liquid Travels – Drinks from Around the World to Make at Home During Lockdown

These are some of our favourite drinks from around the world to make at home during lockdown – if we weren’t in the middle of a two-week quarantine in a city where liquor sales are currently banned, that is. So let’s just clarify: these are some of our favourite drinks from around the world that you can make at home, while we’ll just keep dreaming of sipping them again one day.

We’ve long been the kinds of travellers who bring local liquor back from our travels – rum from Cuba, tequila from Mexico, pisco from Chile and Peru. Then, when we’re missing that place or just longing to travel again, we mix ourselves a cocktail, preferably one we sipped regularly on that trip, and we embark on some liquid travels.

As we’re currently mid-way through a two-week quarantine and four months into a dry period due to a liquor sale ban back in April, we’ve been dreaming of making and sipping some of our favourite drinks from around the world when this is all over. You, on the other hand, can make these classic cocktails at home, whether you’re in quarantine, lockdown or just staying at home. We hope they help recall cheery memories of your liquid travels.

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Drinks from Around the World to Make at Home During Lockdown

These are some of our favourite drinks from around the world to make at home during lockdown – if we weren’t in the middle of a two-week quarantine in a city where liquor sales are currently banned. So let’s just clarify: these are the drinks from around the world that we’re dreaming of sipping once again.

Aperol Spritz Recipe for a Taste of Summer in Italy

This classic Aperol spritz recipe makes the original Aperol spritz cocktail, a bittersweet Italian aperitif sipped all over Italy, most famously in Venice, especially in the summertime, although these days it’s one of those drinks made right around the world. Regardless, it’s a taste of sunny summers in Italy in a glass that will brighten any day. It’s the perfect drink to sip right now wherever you may be. The classic Aperol spritz recipe is super easy to make too – so easy that after a couple of times mixing this sunny Italian aperitif you won’t even need a recipe. So, what is an Aperol spritz cocktail exactly? If you’ve been to Italy and you didn’t get a chance to try this insanely popular cocktail, it was that bright orange drink that you probably noticed the locals sipping during aperitivo hour – the late afternoon cum early evening drinks that Italians enjoy together before heading off to dinner. Click through for the recipe on the post below.

Classic Aperol Spritz Recipe for a Taste of Summer in Italy Wherever You Are

Margarita Recipe for Mexico’s Quintessential Cocktail

A classic Margarita from Mexico is one of the best drinks from around the world to make during lockdown. We learnt this Margarita recipe on our first trip to Mexico many years ago and still make it, wherever we are in the world. Come sunset when we were in Mexico, whether we were in our apartment rental in Mexico City or our cute casita in San Miguel de Allende, Lara would reach for the tequila, Triple Sec and limes and mix us some Margaritas. Use a dedicated Margarita glass or Champagne coupe. A classic Margarita requires only a rub of fresh lime on the rim before dipping it into quality salt. This Infused Margarita Lime Salt, supposedly made from the finest sea salts and real fruit, is fun. If you’re making picnic Margaritas, pack this cool all-in-one ‘glass rimmer and reamer‘ for juicing your limes and dipping the rim of your Margarita glass into the juice, and take these re-usable Margarita ‘glasses’. If you must use a Margarita Mix, go for something organic like the Tres Agaves Margarita Mix or this handcrafted small-batch Margarita Vintage Original Cocktail Mixer by Powell & Mahoney, which they claim is made with all natural ingredients to the original 1937 recipe.

Classic Margarita Recipe – How to Make the Quintessential Mexican Cocktail

Pina Colada Recipe for Puerto Rico’s Taste of the Tropics in a Tumbler

This classic pina colada recipe is based on the original piña colada recipe of Ramón ‘Monchito’ Marrero who claimed to have concocted the pineapple and coconut cocktail at the Hilton Caribe Hotel in Puerto Rico. That means this rich aromatic cocktail that screams tropical sunshine and summers on the beach – does not contain any Malibu, a coconut flavoured rum that was invented for bartenders to simplify the classic piña colada recipe. The original piña colada recipe is simple enough, especially if you’re not making your own coconut cream and sugar syrup, making it one of the best drinks from around the world to make during lockdown. Lara serves our pina coladas in tall vintage crystal tumblers or highballs with kitschy swizzle sticks and paper umbrellas. If you really want to go all tiki you could chop your pineapple in half, hollow out one half, and pour your pina colada into the pineapple. You’ll need to sit your pineapple on a saucer – if you haven’t sipped a cocktail from a pineapple in a while, they have spiky thorns – and we recommend using bamboo straws instead of plastic. They’re in theme and they’re better for the environment.

Classic Pina Colada Recipe – A Cocktail that is the Tropics in a Glass

Authentic Cuban Mojito Recipe – With a Cambodian Twist

This authentic Cuban mojito recipe is based on the mojitos we sipped in Old Havana on our first trip to Cuba way back in the mid-Nineties, and it’s another of the best drinks from around the world to make during lockdown. Thirst quenching and refreshing, it was just the thing we needed after hours spent in a sweat, strolling the empty streets of Old Havana or ambling along the Malecon. A Cuban mojito is a refreshing drink that is a perfect sip for a sultry day in the tropics. As we’re in Siem Reap, we gave it a Cambodian twist and made it even more aromatic by adding kaffir lime leaves and a lemongrass stalk. Note that the limes and mint should only be lightly muddled, and if you add kaffir lime leaf and lemongrass, just crush one kaffir lime leaf slightly and only bash the base of the lemongrass stalk – you want to release the aromas and flavours without smashing your ingredients.

An Authentic Cuban Mojito Recipe from Old Havana – With a Cambodian Twist

Caipirinha Recipe for Brazil’s National Cocktail 

Unlike drinks such as Italy’s limoncello, which is best sipped in the late afternoon southern Italian sun after a long slow lunch, the caipirinha does travel well, as long as you take a bottle of cachaça home with you, making it one of the best drinks from around the world to make at home. In Lara’s opinion, most bartenders fail the caipirinha test. Given that Brazil’s national cocktail is made with just a few ingredients, cachaça (an alcoholic beverage made from fermented sugar cane), sugar and limes, how can it be so hard? And while it is simple, it’s simply brilliant when it’s done right. And it gets done right everywhere in Rio, from neighbourhood bars to nightclubs. On our last trip to Rio de Janeiro we set ourselves the task of perfecting the caipirinha. Firstly, it’s all about the Cachaça. There are two main types, industrial and artisanal. It’s easy to tell the difference as the industrial Cachaça is generally clear and cheap and the artisanal Cachaça is darker and relatively more expensive. More on the perfect caipirinha on the link below.

Perfecting the Classic Brazilian Caipirinha in Rio De Janeiro

Liquid Travels – More Drinks from Around the World

Michelada Recipe – A Spicy Mexican Beer Cocktail with a Kick

Our michelada recipe makes the spicy Mexican beer cocktail that has a kick. If you haven’t tried a michelada before, you need to make one now. We sampled our first michelada one Saturday at La Lagunilla market in Mexico City where every young Mexican hipster seemed to be nursing a hangover — and a Michelada. It was a fun, fantastic, thirst-quenching drink that I knew I had to make, as refreshing as an icy cold beer is on a warm summer’s day. But it also had some kick to it, which a beer without a rim of spice usually lacks!

Michelada Recipe – A Spicy Mexican Beer Cocktail with a Kick

Limoncello and Cherry Liqueur Recipes from Puglia in Southern Italy

When we were in Alberobello, Puglia, the caretaker of our trullo, Maria gave us a bottle of her own olive oil, taught us how to make pasta with a colossal bunch of pomodorini (her homegrown tomatoes) that she hung in our kitchen, and on the pizza-making day left us a jar of her marinated olives and her dried oregano. On our drive to Maria’s home another day, she pointed out her olive groves, cherry trees, grape vines, and vegetable garden, and during lunch she served her own wine. When Maria and Anna, an Alberobello guide, took us to Anna’s family’s restaurant, her parents Maria and Michele served us their own liqueurs, a potent, fragrant limoncello while Michele’s specialty, a cherry liqueur. Click through for the recipes.

Limoncello, Cherry Liqueur and other Earthly Delights in Puglia in Southern Italy

Hanoi Bia Hoi — All You Need to Know About Hanoi’s Fresh Beer

Bia hoi or ‘fresh beer’ is Hanoi’s drink of choice — for locals and visitors alike. Trust us, we spent three months downing the stuff. Bia hoi refers to the refreshingly light, chilled, straw-coloured draught beer, as well as the no-frills neighbourhood drinking spots where you’ll finding yourself throwing them back. For instance, your new friends might say to you “Let’s go for bia hoi!” or “Let’s head to the bia hoi!” Befriend some Vietnamese and that’s what you’ll hear, often. While microbrewery craft beers and obscure French organic biodynamic wines have taken the region by storm in recent years, in Hanoi, Vietnam, the bia hoi joint;reigns supreme.

Our Hanoi Bia Hoi Guide — All You Need to Know About Hanoi’s Fresh Beer

How many of these drinks from around the world have you tried or even made at home during lockdown?