Hen Weekends and cocktails - a message from our sponsors.

There’s a drink to suit every occasion, and a trip abroad is no exception. Whether you prefer to stick to an alcohol-free mocktail or to imbibe a more bacchic beverage, you’ve got the whole world of choice laid out in front of you!

International cocktails are by far the flavour of the month, and are popular for birthday drinks, hen and stag parties or just a post-vacation drink to help you reminisce about a recent holiday.

However, keep in mind that many international cocktails aren’t exactly what they seem. Perhaps you’ve partaken in hen weekends or stag weekends in St. Petersburg or Moscow and thought you’d get into the authentic swing of things with a Black Russian or a White Russian. Sorry to spoilt your hen party with the news, but these kalhua and vodka-based beverages were actually created in the United States during the 1950s.

Same goes with the Americano, as contrary to its name, the drink was created not in the United States, but in Italy, by bartenders who wished to emulate the American style of drinking cocktails by mixing campari and vermouth rosso in an old fashioned glass.

Sometimes it’s just more amusing to find out the stories behind the creation of a cocktail. Waldorf Astoria Hotel bartended Johnny Solon admitted that his Bronx cocktail creation ‘wasn’t really named after the borough, or the river so-called. I had been in the Bronx Zoo a day or so before, and I saw, of course, a lot of beasts I had never known. Customers used to tell me of the strange animals they saw after a lot of mixed drinks. So when Treverson said to me, as he started to take the drink to the customer, ‘What'll I tell him is the name of the drink?’ I thought of those animals and said, ‘Oh, you can tell him it is a Bronx.”

Stranger than the animals on a stag or hen night? I’d like to see that!