An Unexpected Flavor Trend in Copenhagen
October 19, 2011
When I visited Copenhagen twice this summer, I was surprised to find one flavor all over the drink menus: eucalyptus.
At 1105, they serve a drink called the Lady Eucalyptus, made with eucalyptus syrup, gin, lemon, Cointreau, and egg whites.
At Salon 39, a very creative neighborhood bar/restaurant, they make their own line of bitters. Their eucalyptus bitters I saw all over town, helping drive this trend.
They use them in their Gin & It, as well as in their version of Sam Ross' Penicillin.
At the bar Rouge at the Skt. Petri Hotel, the bar program changed literally between me visiting it in the afternoon and the same evening. (Rumor has it they've changed over and over in the past few years.) But the menu that they showed me during the day also had the Penicillin with eucalytpus bitters. By nighttime, it was a short menu of about eight classic cocktails.
At Umami, they also have a eucalyptus drink on the menu. I thought I stole a copy of the menu but I can't seem to find it now.
At MASH, they use eucalyptus syrup in their Signature Margarita.
Now I'm wishing I brought some eucalyptus bitters as a souvenir; and odd taste that unites the great bars of Copenhagen.
Eucalyptus? Isn't that the same herb used on Vicks inhalers?
Posted by: Denniseo | October 19, 2011 at 03:11 PM
When I first moved to California and smelled the eucalyptus trees I thought it smelled like catnip.
Posted by: Camper English | October 19, 2011 at 03:33 PM
This reminds me of the original Boker's Bitters. Tasty, but poisonous. Eucalyptus is toxic to humans. I'd say, try it once, and then move on to safer products.
Cheers!
Blair
http://goodspiritsnews.com
Posted by: Blair Frodelius | October 19, 2011 at 06:52 PM
The actual question here is whether the alcohol extraction (or whatever they used for a solvent) contains the toxic elements in any appreciable amounts. It's entirely possible that the extraction is perfectly (or mostly) safe. Eucalyputus is approved for external use in the US, so whatever it is couldn't be that toxic (not to mention that koalas, also mammals, have a diet that is primarily eucalyptus leaves). Interesting question!
Posted by: Tarc | January 22, 2012 at 11:50 AM