Butano — Pamplona's festival highball: pacharán floated over cold orange soda

Butano

Pamplona's festival highball: pacharán floated over cold orange soda

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 5 ozOrange Soda
    Well chilled, poured first
    Substitute: A bitter orange soda for less sweetness
  • 1 1/2 ozZoco Pacharán
    Floated over the soda at the end
    Substitute: Any Navarrese pacharán

Instructions

  1. Fill a highball with ice and pour in 5 oz cold orange soda
  2. Float 1 1/2 oz pacharán over the top and do not stir
  3. Garnish with an orange slice and drink it before the layers merge

Technique Notes

Pour the pacharán last and leave it unstirred. Floated, the first sip is sloe and aniseed and the rest of the glass is orange soda, which is the shape the drink is supposed to have.

Why the Butano Works

Sloe and aniseed against orange soda sounds unlikely and works because the soda is acidic rather than merely sweet. Pamplona pours both by eye, so treat the measures here as a starting ratio and adjust toward the soda if the aniseed dominates.