How to drink kosher for Easter
Often, we take things for granted that maybe we shouldn’t. One great example is the date. Many in the United States assume that today is March 31, and for us, it is. But it isn’t for everybody.
According to the Hebrew calendar, today is Nissan 18, 5781, and the Islamic calendar has it at 17 Shaban 1442. Let’s not even get into the “Chinese” calendar or the Eastern Orthodox one. Now, try combining competing calendars with solstices, equinoxes and lunar phases, as well as contradictory belief systems, and things begin to get really confusing.
If ever there was an excuse for daytime cocktails, spring 2021 might have the best argument.
Why is this important? Because this week is one of the most important religious weeks in two major religions. And both of those religious traditions center around a meal, and meals contain both food and drink.
Easter and Passover don’t always line up (the formulas are ridiculously complicated), but this year they mostly do. Many believe the first Easter cycle was started with a Seder meal (the Last Supper). In fact, in the Romance languages, Easter is rendered as Pâques (French) or Pasqua (Spanish and Italian), which translated literally means Passover.
Religious discussions aside, what this weekend also does do is kick off the brunch season, which probably has more to do with the advent of spring than the religious nature of the holidays. And this particular spring might be the best spring ever to celebrate the passing of a plague and the arrival of new hope.
So, if ever there was an excuse for daytime cocktails, spring 2021 might have the best argument. In that interest, I have assemble three classic brunch cocktails, all localized (where possible). These are sure to satisfy, whether you are celebrating Easter, Passover or just Sunday.
Jeff Burkhart is the author of “Twenty Years Behind Bars:
The Spirited Adventures of a Real Bartender, Vol. I and II,” the host of the Barfly Podcast on iTunes and an award-winning bartender at a local restaurant. Follow him at jeffburkhart.net and contact him at jeffbarflyIJ@ outlook.com.