In our first installment of First-name basis, a new column on how cocktails get their weird names, bartender Dan Rook tells how he named the Gucchi Utah.
Gucchi Utah: rum, cachaca, dry curacao liqueur, mint syrup
Dan Rook, South Water Kitchen
225 N. Wabash Ave. 312-236-9300
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From his summer tiki menu, RedEye’s 2015 Best Bartender champion Dan Rook of South Water Kitchen serves up the Gucchi Utah, a rum-based cocktail paired with two interesting spirits: cachaca, made from sugar cane juice, and curacao, a liqueur flavored with the peel of the lahara fruit, a citrus fruit related to the orange. He describes it as a “funky” drink, and it’s definitely that. With a hint of mint, the flavor is unexpectedly creamy and sweet—but not too sweet—like chewing on a sugar cane stick. As far as the name goes, Rook thought the curious flavor deserved an equally odd name. Here’s the scoop:
It’s a funny story. A good friend of mine, Andrew Clark, he’s a big cocktail nerd as well—I was playing with some drink recipes with him one night at the bar, and after he left, I texted him the final build and a picture of the drink. He responded in some way excitedly, and I responded with, excuse my language, “[Bleep] yeah!” in a text. But the iPhone autocorrected “[bleep] yeah” to “Gucci Utah,” which I thought was hysterical, and I didn’t know what I was going to name the drink at that point so I decided that was the obvious choice. —Dan Rook
Gucchi Utah, Dan!
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