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It’s a muggy day in Sri Lanka and I’m sitting at a table by the water in Raaa new bar on Hiriketiya beach, a beautiful cove on the south coast. In my hand I have a frozen fuchsia cocktail of pink-skinned dragon fruit and “toddy,” a traditional spirit fermented from the sap of the coconut blossom collected by toddy collectors who climb the spindly coconut trees that tower above our heads. On the table are blue bowls of fragrant yellow dhal, scarlet prawns, snowy coconut rice and fiery sambals.
“We really want to bring back local flavors,” says Raa managing partner Stephan Martinesz, pouring punch into a terracotta pot. “There are only 200 toddy pickers left in the country, so we try to keep that tradition alive.”
I have come here with Dom Fernando, the British-Sri Lankan owner of Paradisein London, to find out more about the inspirations for their new drinks list, which celebrates drinking in Sri Lanka. Created in collaboration with British bartenders Max and Noel Venning, of the acclaimed three leaves cocktail bars in Soho and Dalston, uses Sri Lankan ingredients, from rambutan and curry leaves to jasmine, ginger and Ceylon Pekoe orange tea. “I think the drinking culture in Sri Lanka is accelerating faster than the food culture, and I want to reflect that in our drinks list,” says Fernando. “I want to celebrate the flavors of the tropics but in an elevated way.” The drinks she has created for Paradise with Venning include a pickled mango iced tea, a pink grapefruit paloma scented with coriander seeds and orange blossom, and a version of a French 75 made with lime leaves, tea, coconut water and jasmine that drinks like a slightly dry champagne.
Another ingredient that will be central to Paradise’s drinks list is Sri Lankan specialty arack, a coconut blossom sap spirit distilled from toddy that is believed to have been the basis of the first Spice Route punches. . Paradise will serve it in a cinnamon-spiced ginger sour grown on a small property owned by Fernando’s extended family (most of the “cinnamon” consumed in foreign markets like the United States is actually cassia; true Sri Lankan cinnamon Lanka is finer and more expensive). At Raa we drank arrack in a guava sour with salt, lime and chili, a spicy condiment often combined with fruits in Sri Lanka to make the spicy acharu pickle.
Unfortunately, much of the arack is heavily adulterated and tastes more like bootleg whiskey. But Sri Lanka’s oldest licensed distillery, Rockland Distilleriesproduces an excellent 100 per cent coconut sap, Ceylon Arrack, which has an elegant grassy, coconut and golden flavor similar to light rum (£30.70, amathusdrinks.com). Rockland Unaged Arack, also called Paradise, combines a vodka-like freshness with subtly creamy coconut notes and floral notes that are a good expression of the raw material.
A short tuk-tuk ride from Raa is Smoke and bitter (recently voted 86th best bars in the world). Set back from the water on a sloping lawn, it’s another serene spot for outdoor drinking. I had Pamuditha’s Punch made with local rum, arrack, naarang (Sri Lankan wild orange) and spiced falernum.
The bar with the largest selection of arack in Sri Lanka is rope ride at the Galle Fort Hotel, an elegant boutique accommodation in a Dutch colonial mansion in the heart of a historic fort. Here they serve more than 70 arracks in cocktails and tasting flights (I also tried thambili wine, a traditional ferment of coconut water, spices, orange peel and shocking pink cherry).
If you prefer gin, head up the hill for a Colombo gin and tonic on the terrace of the supremely luxurious amangala hotel, where the air smells of lemongrass and the floor tiles date back to 1684.
The coastal journey from Galle to Colombo takes 2.5 hours by train. We finish with a stop in Bentota, a meeting point for construction works. Geoffrey Bawathe Sri Lankan architect often dubbed the father of tropical modernism. The small whitewashed station was designed by Bawa; It is also where the architect had an old house. we visit Store 87a trio of villas he designed that are now a B&B, and spent a restful hour in the lush gardens sipping fiery Sri Lankan ginger beer and Ceylon tea, in the company of a huge monitor lizard.
On the way back to Colombo, you can have excellent drinks in the lively uncle’s bar. I liked the crystalline piña colada-style drink made with pandan coconut leaf; There is also punch on tap. Early next year, Fernando will open an 11-seat restaurant and bar with ocean views called Open door policyserving new generation cocktails and Sri Lankan food.
And soon we’ll all be able to make Sri Lankan cocktails at home thanks to Three Families, a new range of cocktail “seasonings” from the British-Sri Lankan bartender. Ryan Chetiyawardana – also known as the “world’s best bartender,” Mr. Lyan – created in collaboration with Rockland Distilleries and Dilmah, the country’s leading tea producer. The five seasoning range includes Amethyst Punch (green tea, mangosteen, pepper); Verdant Sinhaya (tangerine, wildflower honey, lemongrass) for martinis; and Pettah Market (rambutan, jasmine, arrack) for Old Fashioneds and G&T, launching in January in the UK, Australia and Singapore.
Alice Lascelles traveled as a guest of Sri Lanka Airlines