Hiroshima Cocktail – the legendary and terrible Pousse Cafe drink

Only a Russian person could come up with a mixed drink that would plunge the brave sybarite capitalist into a slight cultural shock. Hiroshima cocktail – this is the case when you drink not for pleasure, but for the sake of “getting drunk”, moreover, to do it mediocre and quickly. Nevertheless, the cocktail has become a real classic of Russian mixology and a must in the bar list of any institution. Therefore, every self-respecting bartender should be able to cook it, even if it does not bring him pleasure.

The Hiroshima cocktail was invented in one of the Moscow clubs, when the boom in the legendary classic drink of the new era B-52 was just returning. The bartender, apparently, did not have to think long about the new invention – it was enough to replace the coffee liqueur with sambu, and the orange liqueur with absinthe. To heighten the effect, he dripped Grenadine pomegranate syrup, which “stuck” in the middle layer of Irish cream liquor (that is, Baileys) and formed a real atomic explosion – than Hiroshima.

However, the taste and effect of this drink can really stun you, just as the bourgeoisie stunned the innocent Japanese in their time. The recipe for the drink is extremely simple, like most cocktails in the Pousse Cafe category (if you don’t understand this word, read this article, where we examined in detail the technology and subtleties of preparing shooters).

Hiroshima cocktail recipe (shooter, build)

Ingredients:

  • 1 part sambuca;
  • 1 part Irish cream liqueur;
  • 1 part absinthe;
  • 2-3 drops of grenadine.

Preparation:

Pour sambuca into a shot glass, preferably a tall glass for shooters with a volume of 70 ml. Then, using a bar spoon, or a regular coffee spoon, layer the Irish cream liqueur (in most cases, this is Baileys). Add absinthe in the same way. After that, carefully drip 2-3 drops of Grenadine pomegranate syrup, which should cut through all three layers, “get stuck” in Baileys and form a kind of atomic mushroom in the transparent layer of sambuca. However, it is better to see once:

How much to pour? In most cases, 20 ml of all ingredients are poured – this is the optimal proportion, but you can make concessions towards one of the components.

To carefully add Grenadine to the Hiroshima cocktail, you can use the following trick. Take an ordinary cocktail tube / straw and lower its end 4-5 cm into the Grenadine, and pinch the other end with your finger. Then, bring the tube close to the surface of your shot and gently release your finger that is pinching the top edge. In the same way, bartenders taste the mixed drinks that they prepare for the guest – this is necessary in order to understand whether this or that cocktail is ideal.

It takes skill and lack of common sense to prepare and, even more so, offer this drink.

Well, about how to drink a Hiroshima cocktail. You can just knock it over in one gulp or pull it through a straw. But the author of this “battery fluid” suggested first setting fire to the top layer, that is, absinthe, and serving the guests in this form. After burning absinthe, you need to wait 10-20 seconds and quickly drink a cocktail through a straw (we recommend doing this from top to bottom, and not pulling the entire cocktail from the bottom – if you drink from above, then the most unpleasant layer, warm absinthe, will go first, and sweet Grenadine will smooth out this vile combination).

Why is the Hiroshima cocktail so popular? Why are Pousse Cafe cocktails popular at all? Why does the bartender prefer to serve his guests greasy and aniseed muck, instead of refreshing shooters, like the Green Mexican? Apparently, the whole point is in the mentality – they say, if you undertook to do something, then do it either through the ass, or well. Our young people have their own approach to “getting drunk” – to skip something like that a couple of times, “that would penetrate to the marrow of bones …”.

In general, if you are a bartender and want to quickly calm down a daring guest at the bar, offer him to overturn a pair of Hiroshima … In other cases, this drink is not recommended to be prepared!!!

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