Drink served at inauguration raises debate on Brazilian cocktails

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The gin and tonic served at the presidential inauguration at the Itamaraty raised, days later, a debate about the absence of ingredients, techniques and national recipes. For mixologists and researchers, the occasion became a moment to reflect on how the Brazilian cocktail industry is doing.

Among the dishes offered at the reception on the 1st were piracuí dumplings (dried fish meal typical of the Amazon), acarajé and rice.

The website Mixology News, specialized in beverages, praised the “Brazilian quality” of the composition, but recalled that the logic could also be used in ethylic choices —with distillates (such as tiquira, popular in Maranhão) or typical drinks (such as aluá, fermented based on ingredients like pineapple).

“We can talk about various cultural identities in Brazil and, consequently, gastronomic expressions. But drinks end up occupying a secondary place”, says Renato Monteiro, professor of beverages in the gastronomy course at UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).

Monteiro says that, in order to move forward in the debate on Brazilian cocktails, it is necessary to identify traditions of national drinks, including pre-colonial ones, with the support of universities, research centers and industry professionals.

“It is definitely still not understood that what you drink reveals where you come from. Drinks can represent ‘decolonization’, a virtuous cycle of producers, ingredients and techniques of a people. Cocktail making is also in this place” , says Néli Pereira, mixologist and researcher.

At the end of last year, she released the book “From Botica to Boteco – Plants, Bottles and the Brazilian Coquettelaria” (ed. Companhia de Mesa; 208 pages; R$ 59.90), in which it is possible to have a historical panorama of how drinks with medicinal functions left prescriptions and ended up in bars.

In addition to mentioning examples of liquids that made this transition in the world, such as Chartreuse liqueur, the publication highlights Brazilian techniques and ingredients.

One of these examples is the bottle, a name that derives from the medicines prepared by the Jesuits in large barrels — and which, according to the researcher, are the fruit of the knowledge of the original peoples about plants, roots and vines.

The mixologist has been studying the flavor of these elements since 2013, and in 2016 she launched her first Brazilian cocktail menu at Espaço Zebra, in Bela Vista, downtown São Paulo, which is now open a few nights a month with advanced reservations.

One of the ingredients used there is jurubeba, a plant common in medicinal preparations with hepatoprotective functions and originally from Rio Grande do Sul. She became the protagonist of umami jururu, with the fruit of the plant soaked in vodka and Cynar, with bitter and herbaceous flavors (R$ 35).

For Márcio Silva, head of the reality show Bar Aberto and award-winning mixologist, knowing the historical context of ingredients and producers is part of the development of a national cocktail shop.

“Using cashew is making Brazilian cocktails? Knowing the ingredient and the culture around it is what brings genuineness. Right now, I believe that the country’s cocktails are developing.”

When opening the Muamba Bar in Belém (PA), in 2019, Yvens Penna’s intention was to talk about cocktails in the city “and not just have a bar that served drinks with bacuri”. As the majority of the public is local, he uses the connection between Belenenses and their food to create regional recipes.

In one of them, chicory, a plant used to season tucupi, is an ingredient in a carbonated margarita. In another, he makes annatto syrup to use in a pisco sour.

Three years after opening the bar, Penna created a project called Amazônia Sour, which intends to be “an accelerator of the process to have a cocktail shop identified as Amazonian”. The idea is to act on several fronts, such as the qualification of producers and labor.

With support from Sebrae and the University of the Amazon, the project offered training to 110 professionals last year to talk about topics such as the history of cocktail making and hospitality. The idea is that, this year, the result will be seen in an Amazon cocktail circuit involving bars, restaurants and hotels in the capital of Pará.

“Basically what we do is anthropophagy: bringing in references from abroad and using them with this profusion of fruits, leaves and seeds. We have human and natural ingredients to form a cocktail scene around here”, he says.

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