Berenburg met Sinas — The Frisian long drink: cold berenburg over ice with orange soda

Berenburg met Sinas

The Frisian long drink: cold berenburg over ice with orange soda

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ozWeduwe Joustra Berenburg
    Straight from the freezer, if you keep it there
    Substitute: Another Frisian berenburg
  • 5 ozOrange Soda
    Sinas in the Netherlands; any orange soda elsewhere

Instructions

  1. Fill a highball glass with ice
  2. Add 1 1/2 oz cold Weduwe Joustra Berenburg

    Straight from the freezer is the Frisian way

  3. Top with 5 oz orange soda
  4. Garnish with a slice of orange

Technique Notes

Everything cold before it meets. Berenburg is drunk ice-cold in Friesland and orange soda is sweet enough to flatten the herbs on its own; at room temperature the drink loses the one edge that makes it worth building.

Why the Berenburg met Sinas Works

Berenburg is juniper, gentian and bay on a jenever base, which is a lot of bitterness for a soft drink to carry. Orange soda works because it is sweet and low in acid: it lengthens the herbs without arguing with them, the way tonic would.