Cocktail Honors Eusebio Leal and Havana’s 500th Anniversary

The Wonder City celebrated its 500th birthday with a new cocktail, Habana Spengler, honoring the city full of history and tradition, recognized as Capital of the World Cocktail Bar in 2017.

The winning drink was the result of the mastery of the young bartender Sergio Serrano and, as the name implies, pays tribute to the capital city and the Historian of the City, Eusebio Leal Spengler, soul of its streets, buildings and avenues.

One cannot talk about Havana without Eusebio, nor can you think of the great intellectual without taking into account his immense work in the preservation and conservation of its historical heritage.

Inspired by that concept, Serrano made a cocktail with passion fruit liqueur essences in reference to the passion aroused by the city in which they were born, in their womb and those adopted children who inhabit it.

The tribute contest took place Friday, in one of the rooms of the National Hotel of Cuba, National Monument and host of the contest that grouped other eight bartenders of the Gran Caribe hotel chain.

Of them, the second and third awards went to Maykel Díaz and Arianna Zaldívar, authors of Mi Habana and 500 sunsets, respectively, completed the podium.

According to Zaldívar, his preparation was inspired by the Havana sunset because it is the best time of day, just when the day is coming to an end and the afternoon prepares to receive the night.

I think it is a magical and enchanting moment to fall in love, and I have had the privilege of enjoying the splendid view of the gardens of the National Hotel where you can see the sea and the ‘fall’ of the sun, commented the creator.

For the preparation, Zaldívar used Havana Club Seleccion de Maestros as a base of Cuban rum and added Malibú coconut rum, Disaronno liquor, grapefruit juice and a cinnamon syrup with honey.

The event, which had members of the Association of Bartenders of Cuba as jurors, is the fourth of its kind held this year to encourage the creativity of the bartenders and celebrate the half millennium of the capital of all Cubans.