drink

Recipe: The Cacti Cocktail from 2023 Restaurant Award “Best Latin American” Winners Suyo

Good drinks come to those who wait—and this delicious Peruvian cocktail has a six-week aging process.

By Kerri Donaldson /

This recipe is an investment in your future happiness (seriously, there’s a six-week aging process before you can enjoy your first taste). But like all good things—Vancouver summers included—it’s worth the wait. From the team at Suyo, which recently took home the title of Best Latin American in the 2023 Vanmag Restaurant Awards, this cocktail captures the sun-soaked Peruvian coast with every sip: it’s the summer fling you didn’t know you needed (despite the lengthy courtship).

The Suyo Cacti

Serves 1

30 ml Volcan Reposado

15 ml Sotol Ono

7 ml Grappa di Marolo

30 ml verjus blanc

2 dashes bay leaf tincture

10 ml chamomile-infused Strega liqueur (see recipe below)

10 ml bee pollen syrup (see recipe below)

50 g beeswax

Soda and grapefruit oils, to serve

 

How to Make

1. Combine all cocktail ingredients except for the beeswax, soda and oils

2. Gently melt beeswax in a disposable container. (It will ruin your pans so don’t use anything you’re fond of.)

3. Carefully pour the liquid wax into a clean glass bottle, and, while it’s still liquid, rotate the bottle, coating the inside with a layer of beeswax as it solidifies.

4. Allow to cool fully before filling the bottle with your batched cocktail. Age in beeswax for six weeks (at room temperature and out of direct sunlight). Be sure to date your bottle so you know when it’s ready.

5. Once six weeks have passed, pour 120 ml of the batched cocktail into a glass and add 60 ml soda. Spritz the top with grapefruit oils and enjoy.

Chamomile-Infused Strega

10 g chamomile flowers

750 ml Strega liqueur

 

METHOD

Steep chamomile flowers in Strega for 60 minutes. Fine strain, bottle and reserve in the fridge. (It can be kept indefinitely.)

Bee Pollen Syrup

40 g bee pollen

1 L water, boiling
White sugar

 

METHOD

Steep bee pollen in boiling water for 20 minutes. Stir vigorously, then strain using a paper coffee filter. Weigh the remaining pollen water and add equal parts white sugar. Stir to dissolve. Once all sugar is completely dissolved, bottle and reserve in the fridge. (It will keep for up to two weeks.)

TIP: Local beeswax and pollen can be bought from the lovely folks at Main Street Honey Shoppe, located on Main and King Edward.

 

This story was originally published in the July/August 2023 print issue of Vancouver Magazine—find the digital issue here.