Overview
In celebration of the XX Commonwealth Games currently being held in Glasgow, one Scotland bar has created a marathon cocktail. Like many of the athletes competing this year, this cocktail is also a record breaker, with 71 ingredients used to represent each country participating in the Games.
Mal Spence, of Kelvingrove Cafe in Glasgow worked with Glasgow City Marketing Bureau to create this extravagant concoction. "Most classic cocktails have three or four ingredients.” Spence explained to the Evening Times. “To find a recipe that could combine all these different flavours and also taste good was a challenge I couldn't resist.”
Spence experimented with 300 different ingredients before finally achieving the right blend of flavours. While most alcohol aficionados would squash up their face at the thought of such a busy cocktail, in this case we’re satisfied that the research has been done and we will happily be the judge of this debate if someone would like to make us one.
While the cocktail uses some familiar flavours of English red Apple and Scottish wild strawberry, the Commonwealth Cocktail includes a few things we’ve barely heard of, let alone tried in a cocktail. Really, when else would you get to sample The Cook Islands’s custard apple seeds, Swaziland’s sycamore fig, or Malaysian galangal? Australia’s contribution to the mix is an aniseed myrtle (syzygium anisatum), in case you were wondering.
Spence is doing a limited run of 71 of these cocktails (of course) until August 3. If you’re unable to get to Glasgow Spence has made a simpler version, which you can make at home as you watch Australia dominate the Games. Here's the full list of ingredients:
Africa
Botswana: devils claw (genus clerodendrum)
Cameroon: bitter leaf (piper umbellatum)
Ghana: taro (psidium guajava)
Kenya: chives
Lesotho: rosehip
Malawi: cacao (pycreuscyperaceae)
Mauritius: wild raspberry (rubus rosifolius)
Mozambique: cassava
Namibia: prickly pear
Nigeria: utazi leaves
Rwanda: papaya
Seychelles: citronella
Sierra Leone: cashew nut (piassava)
South Africa: roobus
Swaziland: sycamore fig
Tanzania: cloves
Uganda: nakati eggplant
Zambia: sorrel
Americas
Belize: dragonfruit
Bermuda: arabica coffee beans
Canada: logan berry
Falkland Islands: bitter cress
Guyana: sugar cane
St. Helena: St. Helena tea plant
Asia
Bangladesh: jujubi
Brunei Darussalam: durian fruit
India: mangosteen
Malaysia: galangal
Maldives: pomegranate (annaaru)
Pakistan: saffron
Singapore: rambutan
Sri Lanka: ripe jakfruit
Caribbean
Anguilla: mango
Antigua & Barbuda: tamarind
Bahamas: egg fruit
Barbados: sour cherry
British Virgin Islands: noni
Cayman Islands: sage (salvia caymanensis)
Dominica: guava leaf
Grenada: lemon grass
Jamaica: okra
Montserrat: devil’s horse whip
St. Kitts & Nevis: tamon
St. Lucia: sweet basil
St. Vincent & The Grenadines: arrowroot
Trinidad & Tobago: tonka bean
Turks & Caicos Islands: sapodilla
Europe
Cyprus: basil-thyme (???????)
England: red apple
Gibraltar: maqui berry
Guernsey: blueberries
Isle of Man: new potatoes
Jersey: lavender
Malta: star anise
Northern Ireland: bog rosemary
Scotland: wild Scottish strawberry
Wales: wild cotoneaster
Oceania
Australia: aniseed myrtle (syzygium anisatum) (gundabluie) (bardi bush)
Cook Islands: custard apple seeds (annona reticulata)
Kiribati: dried coconut meat (copra)
Nauru: pumpkin seeds
New Zealand: manuka honey
Niue: paw paw
Norfolk Island: yam
Papua New Guinea: taro (colocasia esculenta)
Samoa: ladies finger (small, sweet banana)
Solomon Islands: taro leaves
Tonga: avocado (avoka)
Tuvalu: breadfruit
Vanuatu: plantain
Fiji: kava root
Via The Evening Times and Grub Street.