Here’s How to Celebrate World Cocktail Day

Grab the shakers, mixers and some ice because today (May 13) is World Cocktail Day.

The holiday was popularized by Drinkaware, a United Kingdom-based charity that raises awareness of alcohol abuse and encourages responsible drinking practices.

Though there is no “official” way to celebrate the holiday, people around Tysons can get creative in a variety of ways. Options include picking up a to-go cocktail from dozens of different eateries and bars, supporting Virginia distilleries or even crafting their own cocktails from ingredients at home.

The term “cocktail” originated in the early 1800s and was defined as “stimulating liquor with a wide variety of sweets, waters, and bitters,” according to The Balance, and Columbian Repository. The drink type only reached peak popularity after prohibition when people didn’t have easy access to high-quality alcohol and wanted to make drinks more palatable, the Days of the Year website said.

“The ‘Bee’s Knees’ cocktail was actually created to mask and sweeten the taste of illegally brewed bathtub gin,” Days of the Year said. “The roaring twenties took the cocktail and shook it up into some of our most popular modern-day cocktails.”

Tysons Reporter previously did a roundup of local places offering to-go cocktails.

Falls Church Distillers sells bottles of whiskey, rum, vodka and brandy.

Peruvian restaurant Inca Social regularly posts bartending and cooking classes on Facebook. In past weeks, the staff taught viewers how to make things like “Passion Chilcano,” which contains pisco Peruvian liquor, limes, passionfruit syrup and ginger ale.

For anyone who doesn’t drink or is underage, there are also a myriad of mocktail options online too.

Happy #WorldCocktailDay https://t.co/I4qNr2Prpg

— Condé Nast Traveller (@cntraveller) May 13, 2020

Photo via Kobby Mendez on Unsplash