Mexico may have been one of the most popular locales for American travelers this past year, but I’m still not ready to jump on a plane and lay on its sandy beaches. Instead, I’ll be heading over to the South End’s Atlántico soon for this delightful drink, named after Mexico’s ultra-popular beachside town, Tulum. Made with Arette tequila, pineapple, and bell pepper, it’s a refreshing reminder that we can still travel via food and drink. And if you snag a seat on the patio at Atlántico, a café and tapas bar which recently reopened after a stint of hibernation, you may even get a tan.
At the beginning of the cocktail revival in the early 2000s, craft bartenders struggled to rescue Manhattans that had hardly any vermouth in them, vodka martinis instead of gin that had virtually no vermouth, and Old Fashioneds that were a hodgepodge of various traditions smashed together into a kind of post-prohibition fruit salad of whiskey, orange, cherry, and soda.
The Manhattan, still closer to its original than the others, was easier to get back. Proportions moved from three to one of bourbon and vermouth, from to two to one of rye and vermouth, with a healthy dose of aromatic bitters, presented an older version of the cocktail full of the flavors that lovers of this drink enjoy.