How To Drink

Three Hundred Years of Day Drinking (2020x63)

: 20, 2020

Today I'm looking at a loosely connected history of wine based mixed drinks from Spain, or, at least Spain adjacent. Talking about Sangaree, Sangria, and Kalimotxo. Now, technically Sangaree was probably invented in England in the 1700's, but it feels Iberian somehow. Partially it's the name, partially it's the port, but, I don't know. From there we jump ahead about a hundred years to the 1963 World's Fair where by all accounts Sangria makes a splash at the Spain pavilion. What Sangria invented in the 60's? Uh, maybe. Some people claim Sangria is really part of a tradition of mixed sweetened wines going back to ancient Rome, and that "Sangria" is about a thousand years old, and maybe that's true. The thing is, I can't find any record of the name "Sangria" being used any time before the 60's. So, maybe the traditions that go into Sangria are ancient, I think the actual specific thing is pretty new. Meanwhile we bounce over to the Basque region to enjoy some Kalimotxo, which is red wine and coca cola mixed fifty fifty. Winey wine wine, let's goooooooo!