Favorite Cocktails from Our Barman
When you are at The Syntopia, you can always count on enjoying a sophisticated cocktail at the bar, where our seasoned mixologist pours the best libations.
After you leave the hotel and Crete, if you still crave your favourite cocktails from The Nomad and Beach Bar Roulis, we now give you the recipes to make them at home, wherever you are in the world. All you need are the best spirits, the smoothest syrups, fresh limes or lemons, seasonal fruits, and other ingredients.
In the following, our bartender gives you step-by-step recipes, complete with quantities and ingredients, to recreate his favourite cocktails.
Mangonito Double Old-Fashioned
Choose a DOF (double old-fashioned) glass to pour this drink, which is best enjoyed on a hot summer evening by the pool. You’ll need a blender to mix all the ingredients, as you do with Margaritas. Make sure you have plenty of crushed ice to top your concoction. Try using ripe mangos (yellow and red on the peel) to prepare the mango puree for the Mangonito.
Ingredients:
- 40 ml Don Julio® Blanco Tequila
- 20 ml fresh mango puree
- 10 ml agave nectar
- 10 ml ginger simple syrup
- 25 ml lime juice
- crushed ice
- fresh spearmint leaves to garnish
- mango peel (optional) to garnish
Method:
First, make mango puree using ripe mango: peel the fruit and slice it into cubes. You can add sugar, honey, or maple syrup for sweetness if the mango needs to be ripe more. Place the mango cubes into a blender, with one or two teaspoons of water and sugar, honey, or maple syrup to taste, then puree until smooth.
To make the Mangonito, place all the liquids in a blender with some crushed ice and give it a good swirl until you create a smooth mixture. Next, pour everything into a DOF glass, top with more crushed ice, and garnish with spearmint and a small mango peel.
Bramble
Bramble is a spring cocktail created in London in the 1980s by Dick “the cocktail king” Bradsell. The cocktail’s name comes from blackberry bushes, called brambles in English. Therefore, Bramble will always contain Blackberry Liqueur (also known as Crème de Mûre) and fresh blackberries – when in season. You can serve the cocktail in a highball glass.
Ingredients:
- 40 ml gin
- 40 ml craft lime cordial
- 15 ml Crème de Mûre
- crushed ice
- lime slice or fresh blackberries to garnish
Method:
Add the gin and cordial into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled, then fine strain into a highball glass over crushed ice. Slowly pour the Crème de Mûre over the drink, and garnish with a lime slice and a fresh blackberry if available.
Rakito
Rakito is one of our bartender’s signature cocktails. It contains raki (aka. tsikoudia), the traditional drink of Crete. Raki is a grape-based pomace brandy with an alcohol by volume (ABV) ranging between 37% and 65%. Because of its ABV, you can expect your Rakito cocktail to have a high ABV too. Remember to buy a bottle of raki from a supermarket or souvenir shop to take home with you. Cretan raki is hard to come by abroad.
Ingredients:
- 40 ml Cretan raki
- 40 ml craft herbal cordial
- 4 leaves spearmint
- crushed ice
Method:
First, muddle the spearmint leaves with a cocktail muddler in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. The process should only take three-four taps with your muddler to help the spearmint release its aroma faster. Next, add the raki, cordial, and some crushed ice to the cocktail shaker, then shake it vigorously until the ingredients are thoroughly chilled. Strain the mix over a glass filled with ice and garnish with spearmint leaves.These are only three of our bartender’s favourite cocktails. The bar menu features many others we will share another time.
