Crocktail - The First Croatian Cocktail

Marin Nekić, the founder of Nekić Barology Cocktail Studios and Schools for Bartenders, created the first cocktail composed exclusively of Croatian ingredients and named it Crocktail. The ingredients of this refreshing beverage are the Zadar Maraschino, sour cherry juice, fresh lemon juice, candied orange zest and lots of ice. These ingredients can usually be found on every corner and can be prepared at every opportunity.

Marin Nekić, the multi award-winning Croatian barmen and mixologist, came to this idea while traveling the world and studying the origins of Mojito, Cuba Libre, Caipirinha and other world-famous cocktails.

Realizing that each of them was created by combining the foods and beverages specific for that country, the idea was born to come up with a cocktail by which Croatia will be recognized. The idea as such had been developing for several years and its primary goal was the inclusion of Croatian autochthonous resources. Faced with high consumption and imports of various alcoholic beverages, he realized the possibilities of this particular cocktail and how much potential power was hidden in it. After years and years of work, some elements simply merged into a puzzle called CROCKTAIL.

As Marin Nekić grew up in Dalmatia (Seline, Mala Paklenica), the leading principle in the project were the habits of his grandparents who lived a typical Dalmatian life. He simply poured and blended the best Dalmatia can offer but had almost forgotten it existed.
Driven by memories of his grandmother's recipes, Marin Nekić set out in researching the history of drinks with the longest tradition in Croatia. He came to the conclusion that Maraschino had the longest tradition and decided to use it as the basis of the first Croatian cocktail. To it he added Zadar cherry juice and lemon juice and decorated it with arancini, a traditional Dalmatian sweet prepared from candied orange peel.
Crocktail forms the basis of the first Croatian cocktail which Marin will vary by adding to it other seasonal ingredients such as pomegranate juice, tangerines, figs and even Slavonian quince.

The exact recipe for the preparation of Crocktail can be found on www.crocktail.hr.


Source: CNTB