Just like food,
cocktails should be a bucket-list item
when traveling to a new destination.
Let's take a look at what signature cocktails
look like around the world.
Puerto Rico's official drink is a must-try when visiting.
The piña colada can be found in just about every bar
or restaurant on the island.
It's a sweet cocktail made with cream of coconut,
pineapple juice, and rum, preferably Puerto Rican rum,
and mixed with ice.
It's usually garnished with a pineapple wedge and cherry.
The creation of the drink is a bit controversial,
since both the Caribe Hilton hotel and Barrachina restaurant
claim to be the inventors.
But regardless, it should not be missed.
This British drink is for gin lovers.
Pimm's cup, or Pimm's No. 1 cup,
is made with gin, lemon soda or ginger ale,
and, most importantly, a dark liqueur,
Pimm's No. 1.
Garnishes include mint, cucumbers, strawberries,
citrus, and even apples.
The gin-based liqueur was invented
sometime between 1823 and 1840 by James Pimm,
the owner of many oyster bars in London.
Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail.
It's a refreshing drink made with sugar, lime, and cachaça,
a distilled spirit from the fermented juice of sugarcane,
which dates back to the 1500s,
when the Portuguese arrived in Brazil.
There are many theories on how the cocktail was created.
Some believe a variation of the drink
was used to help cure the Spanish flu.
Nowadays, caipirinha can be used as a remedy
for the common cold.
If you're headed to Havana,
you must know that it's the birthplace of the mojito.
The Cuban staple, like many other cocktails,
has a blurry origin,
but it's pretty simple to make.
A traditional mojito has only five ingredients:
white rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water, and mint.
The mint is muddled with the mixture
to create a refreshing flavor,
and the drink is served in a highball glass.
The signature cocktail is often said to be
one of author Ernest Hemingway's favorite drinks.
A proper negroni is stirred, not shaken.
The strong Italian cocktail
is made with gin, vermouth, Campari, and orange peels
and is usually drunk before a meal.
Legend says it was created in a cafe in Florence
when the Count Camillo Negroni
asked his friend, a bartender,
to replace soda water with gin in his Americano cocktail.
An orange garnish was added instead of a lemon.
Have you ever heard of a Singapore sling?
The gin-based cocktail was supposedly invented in 1915
at the Long Bar at Singapore's Raffles Hotel.
The hotel says the drink was invented by a bartender
named Ngiam Tong Boon.
Today, the drink is popular throughout Singapore.
It resembles a fruit punch
and is made with cherry liqueur, Cointreau, grenadine,
Bénédictine, gin, pineapple juice, and lime juice.
This highball cocktail is made up of only two ingredients.
That's right. Dark rum for the dark,
and ginger beer, which is obviously the stormy.
The unproven legend says that the name came from a sailor
who compared the color of the drink to storm clouds.
The rum used is usually Gosling's Black Seal dark rum,
and it's followed by ginger beer and a lime wedge.
The Goslings family was one of the most well-known families
on the island of Bermuda
and began their rum business in 1857.
This Spanish drink is one for wine lovers.
Sangria is a combination of red wine and chopped fruit.
Brandy is sometimes added to the mixture.
It's known to be a classic summertime punch with alcohol.
The drink became widespread in Europe
and was soon seen in Spanish restaurants in America.
It became even more popular in the States
when it was served during the 1964 World's Fair in New York.
Today, there are many variations of the cocktail.
Pisco is a grape brandy
that some historians believe originated in Peru.
However, it's a complicated debate,
with some arguing that pisco was created in Chile.
Well, regardless of the exact origin,
the cocktail pisco sour is enjoyed throughout the region.
Ingredients include pisco as the base,
along with lemon juice, egg white, and a simple syrup.
It's garnished with Angostura bitters.
Calling all Champagne lovers.
This French cocktail, known as Kir Royale,
is made with Champagne and crème de cassis,
a black-currant liqueur.
The original Kir cocktail was created
in France's Burgundy region by a hero
of the French Resistance, Felix Kir.
Legend has it, when the Nazis invaded Burgundy,
they confiscated all of the best red wines.
In an attempt to mimic the color of red wine,
Felix Kir mixed available Aligoté,
a dry white wine, with black-currant liqueur,
and voilà: a red cocktail.
In a Kir Royale, Champagne replaces the Aligoté.
You might think the margarita
is the must-try drink when visiting Mexico.
Mm, but not really.
The cocktail of choice is actually la paloma.
They're both tequila-based cocktails,
but the paloma is made with grapefruit soda, lime juice,
and any tequila of your choice.
It's garnished with a lime wedge and served on the rocks.
This cocktail is a Nairobi classic.
Beloved by Kenyans, the drink is made up of vodka,
lime juice, and honey.
The final touch includes a "dawa stick"
to stir the honey at the bottom of the glass.
You can feel tropical vibes from this rum cocktail.
The painkiller, as it's called,
is a favorite on the British Virgin Islands.
It was created in the 1970s at Soggy Dollar Bar
by a bartender named Daphne Henderson.
The recipe calls for Pusser's rum, pineapple juice,
orange juice, cream of coconut, and nutmeg for garnishing.
So tell us, which drinks will you be adding
to your bucket list?
Let us know in the comments below.