99 Bottles of No-Beer
Gujarat is a dry state. Which means: no alcohol. Now this doesn’t bother as I can’t drink anyways (I turn shades of eggplant purple, among other fun side effects that would deliver me to the emergency room), but one thing that I always don’t get to partake is cocktails. Unless I order them non-alcoholic, but let’s be serious: what bartender wouldn’t laugh if I ordered a virgin martini? A virgin martini would be…two olives on a stick. But in almost every restaurant here, there is a bar with martini and margarita glasses. The drink menus are creative.
While the “Evening in Paris” looked like drinking sand, the “Mai Thai” and “Mohito” are delicious. But the best drink I probably ever had is a concoction know as “March 1, 2003″ at an eclectic restaurant called Basil (far right photo). It is orange, cream, and lychee. Three things I adore.
If you are not into mocktails, other than water, buttermilk is often served here as it is a coolant. On the streets, you can sugar cane being freshly run through a hand-crank. Ginger and lime are added for a cooling drink.
Softdrinks are also common, including Fanta (I wanna-wanna-Fanta…but no Fanta Limon, which I love) and the ever-popular, Limca. Limca is quite good, a fizzly lemon drink which tastes a bit like a light Fresca. Thumbs Up…now the story (I think) is that that Coca-Cola had bought out Thumbs Up to take it off the market but consumer demanded it back. So now you can get Coke, Pepsi, or Thumbs Up (owned by Coke). It is a bit sweeter than Coke, but pretty darn good. Nimbooz is a new drink that just came out (the displays are everywhere) by 7UP and it is a nice lemon drink that isn’t fizzy but refreshing.
The Gujaratis know how to do it right.
Popularity: 30% [?]
B! Let lose and get a non-virgin drink! We would love to see your face turn eggplant purple! Also, any particularly reason the drink is called March 1, 2003? Was it created on that day?
Very good!!! You got it!!!