Cocktail: Red Ickulus
Despite its frivolous name, the Red Ickulas is a cocktail with a serious cause. Jonathan Leung, general manager of Linguini Fini, created it to help raise funds to supply antiviral drugs to people in Africa suffering from HIV/Aids who would not otherwise be able to afford them.
The drink is made with Belvedere Red, a special edition bottling of the vodka, half of the profits from which are donated to the Global Fund of the Red charity, which to date has generated more than US$195 million to fight HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria in Ghana, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia.
You can support that cause either by trying a Belvedere Red cocktail at Linguini Fini, or by mixing one up for yourself at home.
Leung, who started out in the F&B business as a bartender at China Jump, still enjoys the work and sometimes mixes the cocktails at the bar himself. "I'm a bar guy," he says. "I like making drinks and talking to customers."
His taste in cocktails is relatively classical and he has no interest in molecular mixology, preferring to focus on simple combinations of high-quality ingredients. "I try to make cocktails that are clean, crisp and refreshing without too much going on," he says.
For the Red Ickulas, Leung chose to use a home-made simple syrup produced by boiling roselle - a species of hibiscus native to Hong Kong and the mainland, and believed to have medicinal properties - with organic honey. Commercially produced roselle syrups are also available.
"The fresh lemon juice is important," says Leung, who squeezes half a lemon in each drink.
The drink is, indeed, clean and refreshing, with the sweet roselle syrup balanced by the lemon juice.
The spirit that supplies the kick differs from regular Belvedere vodka only in its red metallic packaging, but only sales of the Red bottles benefit a cause which is clearly worth supporting.
Recipe
- In a shaker mix ingredients with ice.
- Shake and strain into a highball glass, top up with ice.
- Garnish with the lemon slice.
