by Monica Conrady

ne of the great pleasures of traveling is to order a classic cocktail or two in the bar where it originated.

For instance, most visitors to San Francisco sooner or later find their way to the Buena Vista Cafe. It’s one of the city’s most famous landmarks and the ‘home of Irish coffee’ (even though it was invented by a bartender at Shannon Airport). There’s nothing so good as an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista on a foggy, chilly San Francisco night.

And anyone visiting Cuba is bound to end up at La Bodeguita del Medio, one of Hemingway’s favorite watering holes in Old Havana, to test-sample a Mojito. Hemingway did this a lot.

Harry’s Bar in Venice, another of Hemingway’s favorite haunts, is where the signature drink is the Bellini. It’s been called the best-known bar in the world and people have been dropping in forever.

There’s nothing so good as an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista on a foggy, chilly San Francisco night.

Likewise, a visit to Singapore isn’t complete without partaking of a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in the legendary Raffles Hotel. The Sling was invented way back in 1915.

And if you just happen to be sailing around the British Virgin Islands and find yourself at the tiny island of Jost Van Dyke, wade ashore to the Sandcastle, where the drink of choice is the Painkiller. It’s famous throughout the islands but this is THE place to have it.

And finally, the Caipirinha, Brazil’s unofficial national drink and my favorite. It’s made with cachaça (sugar cane rum), lime, sugar and crushed ice. Who invented it and where it originated, I have no idea. I just wish I was back in Brazil, sipping one right now.

Cheers!

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