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The Fabled Pour
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Country

Colombia

I have one sourced drink connected to Colombia. The label on each card says how: where it began, what the country is known for, what people drink there, or where the origin is disputed.

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Colombia on the world map. Boundaries are generalized Natural Earth data.

Drinks of Colombia

Signature drinks and regional ones, with the evidence behind each. A drink marked non-alcoholic has no alcohol in the traditional serve.

  • Illustration of Refajo: clear golden amber and fizzy with a thin white head, in a straight-sided glass tumbler.

    Refajo

    Colombia, nationwide; the soda varies by region

    IconicSignature drink

    A beer and kola soda shandy poured into a chilled jug or straight into tumblers over ice. One recipe pairs 1 liter of Colombiana with 6 ounces of aguardiente and 3 bottles of lager. Adding aguardiente is said to make it the poisoned refajo. It is served with grilled meats and picadas.

    The shandygaff story is the usual explanation: one article says the drink began in the 17th century when word of shandygaff reached Colombia, and a bartender later switched to white beer and a local soda. This is an unsourced account on a single retailer blog and is popularly told. The kola used differs by region, from Colombiana in Bogota to other brands in Santander and on the Caribbean coast.

    Made with: pale lager beer, Colombiana kola soda, optional aguardiente, ice, lime, orange.

    Confidence: mediumEvidence: licorea.com (opens in a new tab), mycolombianrecipes.com (opens in a new tab), en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab), colombia.com (opens in a new tab)

Map data: Natural Earth, public domain.