Air Mail is spoken of and written as a tropical version of the Champagne Cocktail and rum variation on French 75 or even as a Daiquiri with honey and champagne. Its author is unknown, but it was probably created in 1930 in Cuba, where the post office started flying at the same time.
Air Mail (sometimes also written as Airmail) is a combination of rum, lime juice and honey topped with champagne. It is one of the cocktails whose name is inspired by aviation, more precisely by airmail. Its history dates back to 1911, when the British first made the first test flight in India and then put into operation a postal line between Hendon in north London and Windsor. Airmail began flying in the United States seven years later, between New York and Washington. Its transport was provided by war pilots on war planes. As many Americans flew to Cuba for entertainment and drinking during the Prohibition period, planes began flying on the Key West-Havana route in the mid-1920s, and in 1930 a regular mail line was added. In the same year, Bacardi published a brochure called Bacardi and Its Many Uses, in which the Air Mail cocktail recipe seems to have appeared for the first time. It is therefore obvious to believe that the year 1930 is the year of its creation and Cuba, which was experiencing a cocktail boom at the time, is the place where it happened.
Air Mail enjoyed popularity in the 1940s, when it often appeared in literature. W. C. Whitfield included him in his book Here's How in 1941, with the suffix: "It makes you fly high." It is also present in David Embury's The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, which was published in 1948. A year later, Esquire's Handbook for Hosts also gained its share in the popularity of Air Mail. In the following decades, Air Mail was gradually forgotten, and it was not returned to bar life until the PDT Cocktail Book of 2010, in which it was published. Its renaissance was also due to the Bacardi-Martini company, which used it to promote its rum.
Interestingly, the recipe for Air Mail has not changed over the decades. Apart from the double writing of the name (one-word vs. two-word) and the variation of decorations (twist of orange peel, sprig of mint), one controversial point can still be encountered. It concerns the choice of glass and service in general. Even if there are those who serve it in a flute or coupette, a better choice is a highball glass filled with ice. Tipsy Banker Martina Jacošová, who also gives the idea of a twist, also leans towards this variant. "The beauty of Air Mail lies in its simplicity and balanced sweet and sour taste complemented by bubbles. Therefore, when twisting it, I would choose ingredients that would fulfill these properties and help its refreshing sound. I mean, for example, grapefruit soda instead of champagne, or calvados instead of rum, and use dry cider as a top, ”he says.
17 сен 2024
