However, it doesn’t stray far from its roots, as you’ll find all the essential elements in every single sip: There are at least a couple of brands that produce premade long drink that contains actual gin, but as I alluded to above, Bevy deviates from tradition by deriving its alcohol from a malt base (meaning it’s technically brewed as opposed to distilled). We were just really inspired by the beverage and also what it could bring to the drinkers here that’s new and unique.” We thought it would be a great way to bring a new twist to the American market. Long drink really popped for us because it is so simple and easy to drink. , but we didn’t know what it was, so we were keeping our eye out on what it could be. There was sort of empty space that we knew we could probably fit something in. “We’re always looking around for any kind of innovation something that the drinker hasn’t seen yet. However, once it popped up on Boston Beer’s radar, the company knew they had a golden opportunity to open the eyes of a much bigger audience: Long drink is a drink for all occasions in Finland (many bars have it available on tap), but despite its ubiquity there, it managed to remain a fairly hidden national treasure until recently. The whole category has grown over time-for example, people have played around with different fruit characteristics-but It’s usually about 5 to 5.5% ABV.” It’s really popular there’s actually a huge aisle of long drink beverages in Finland when you go to the market. It’s traditionally made with gin and citrus-usually grapefruit-and tonic.įrom there, it continued to grow in popularity across Finland. “They really wanted to have a drink that was easy to make at the crowded bars and restaurants, and so they came up with ‘lonkero,’ which is the Finnish word for long drink. The country is gearing up to host the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and in order to ensure the athletes and spectators about to descend upon the city remain in good spirits while there, the government tasks the state-run company that produces and sells all of its alcohol to dream up an easy-to-serve and easy-to-drink quaff it can distribute to the masses: Take a trip with me, if you will, back to Finland in 1952. After having my eye opened to the magical concoction at a tasting, I got the chance to talk with Senior Director of Product Development Annette Fritsch about the history of long drink and the role it played in the creation of a new offering that has all the makings of becoming The Next Big Thing. However, long drink-which has been a staple in Finland since the 1950s-somehow managed to escape my attention until it popped up on my radar a few weeks ago courtesy of Bevy.īevy is a bit of a twist on the traditional long drink-which is most commonly a mixture of gin and grapefruit soda-from the creative minds of the always-reliable people at The Boston Beer Company. Well, my friends, I think I’ve found the answer: long drink.Īs someone with a bar filled with fairly obscure and borderline unpronounceable liqueurs from around the globe, I like to think I’m pretty well-versed in the libations people in other countries rely on to get them where they need to go. However, it does seem as if its reign as the king of adult beverages is on the verge of coming to an end, which begs the question: which worthy successor will take its place? I’ll be the first to admit that I thought hard seltzer was a fad that was going to fizzle out when the Summer of White Claw came to an end, but as you likely know all too well by now, that did not turn out to be the case.
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