Mix the perfect drink in the great outdoors
EmilyVikre posed with her travel flask and collapsible cup on the shore of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota: “You don’t need perfect bartending tools to make a really good cocktail.”
As the last stop for many campers on theirwayUp North, the 8-year-old Vikre Distillery in Duluth has become an unofficial resource for those with questions about bartending in the great outdoors.
Fortunately, co-founder EmilyVikre is an expert on nature’s cocktail room.
She is the author of “Camp Cocktails” (Harvard Common Press, $26.99), a new guide to the manyways to imbibe under the stars.
The Duluth native grew up partly inNorway, and camping and the outdoors were “deeply ingrained in the culture” of both places, she said. “And having a distillery here at the gateway to theNorthWoods, it was a natural fit.”
The book, which came out earlier this year, organizes recipes and techniques by camping style.
If you’re a “hard-core” camper like Vikre, the section on backpacking features easy “spikeables,” like adding an ounce of bourbon to 8 ounces of lemonade. Or premixing a simple, stirred cocktail like a Vieux Carre, proportioned for one serving, an 8-ounce flask or even to fill a 32-ouncewater bottle.
The mixtures become more complex, depending on whether you’re car camping or spending a cozyweekend in a cabin. Sitting around a fire? Grill some oranges or strawberries to muddle into a drink.
A chapter on foraging and seasonality helps camping mixologists find uses for crabapples, sumac, wild berries and herbs.
“It’s bringing pieces of the outdoors into your cocktails,” Vikre said.
Vikre spoke about some of her favorite tips, tricks and recipes for a camping getaway.
Q: Why should people make cocktails on a camping trip? Why not just crack open a beer?
A: We havemade gourmet food for camping into part of that kind of elevated outdoor experience. I always feel like you can go outdoors and really rough it and push your limits and eat nothing but beans. But you can also go outdoors because you are really celebrating and being present in nature and in being alive, and I feel like having nice food and nice drinks just makes that experience much richer and more complete.
Q: Howdid you come up with the recipes in the book?
A: There are a bunch of classics in therewith tips and directions on howto do it when you are outside and far away from your regular home bar and tools. And there are original recipes, based on thingswe’ve done in our cocktail room, things Imakemyself outside at the cabin, inspired by flavors of thewoods. The flavors of camping, like grilling. And the things you tend to take with you.
Q: Are you noticing people are campingmore these days?
A: I do think a lot of people are like,“Well, I can’t go on the trip I’ve planned, but I’ll go camping.”
It’s a great time to be doing this and thinking about it, because there are a lot of places thatwe can’t go. But going outdoors in a family group, it’s still very safe overall.
It’s nice to do a little extra planning so it becomes an extra enjoyable experience. Because I think we are all looking for moments of levity.
Q: What’s a good drink after a long, hot hike?
A: One that I really like and is really refreshing after a hot day is the Cobbler. Make it with wine or sherry, and sugar and grilled oranges. Smash the grilled orange slices in there and pile it full of crushed ice. It’s like a slushie. It’s kind of a handmade frose type of situation.
Q: Howabout a cabin drink?
A: One that’s maybe more unusual is the Pontoon Life. It’s bourbon and amaro, lemon juice and simple syrup. It’s kind of surprising, because it’s a darker spirit drink, and the lemon juice lifts it up. Shake itwell and serve it with a bunch of ice.
Q: What else should people knowabout mixing drinks in a rustic setting?
A: You don’t need perfect bartending tools to make a really good cocktail, as long as you knowthe principles behind howcocktails are constructed. If you know that a cocktailwould normally be shaken to aerate it and dilute it, even if you don’t have ice, you could addwater and shake it up until it’s frothy in aNalgene for the same effect. Sometimes people are hung up on having the perfect things. I’m like, shake it in your coffee thermos and strain it by holding back a fork. You can get creative.
And many things are spikeable. The saying, when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail? When you havewhiskey, everything looks like a cocktail.