The coronavirus crisis will be partly remembered for a series of enthusiasms that have gripped the imagination of those labouring under lockdown. The craze for following the fitness training of Joe Wicks, the “Body Coach”, on YouTube appears to have given way to the more leisurely pursuit of mixing cocktails. Yesterday Waitrose, the supermarket, reported burgeoning demand for aperitifs. Compared with the year-earlier level, sales of the Mediterranean tipple Aperol have risen by 148 per cent. Meanwhile sales of Pimm’s No 1 cup are up by 105 per cent, and those of Pampelle Grapefruit Aperitif are up by 4,850 per cent (not a misprint).
What is behind this upsurge? It may be due to a sense of relief that summer has been reached after a long and trying experience of isolation. Moreover, those who work from home have the time and opportunity to serve sundowners before supper, rather than struggle back on a conventional commute. And whatever the change in patterns of work and leisure as more normal times eventually return, we suspect that the pleasures of mixing your own aperitifs will remain.
Much of the modern taste for mixing drinks derives from a 19th-century master of the craft, Jerry Thomas, an American who was to become known as the Escoffier of bartending. His seminal book How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon Vivant’s Companion (1862) laid out the principles of cocktails and aperitifs, in which he had extraordinary virtuoso ability. His invention of the whisky-based Blue Blazer requires particular skill, as well as raw courage, to create, as it involves setting the concoction on fire.
For this type of showmanship and dexterity, the discerning drinker can and should expect to pay up. It becomes more difficult to justify high retail prices of mixed drinks when their creation requires scant effort. Perhaps the taste for mixing your own will revive this art; we’d drink to that.