舌尖上的航海丨第8集 水手“鸡尾酒”

今天是冬至，马腾的生日。

在家乡过生日，“饺子酒”是少不了的，热腾腾的饺子就着“老白干”，“驱寒气，祝吉祥”。

马腾望着舱壁上的日历出神，大厨兴致勃勃地闯了进来：“生日快乐！”

大厨是马腾的老乡，马腾的“生辰八字”记得清清楚楚，贴着马腾耳根悄声说：“船长特批，今晚靠上码头，让你唱‘特别酒’。”

没等马腾追问，大厨扮个鬼脸溜走了。

远航多年，马腾三次喝“特别酒”：赤道的“鬼酒”，荷兰的“黑酒”，日本秋夕的“水酒”。

喝赤道“鬼酒”，正值船跨越赤道。附近居民的在过“鬼节”。扮成各类鬼神的岛上居民拥上甲板，把各种油彩涂抹在船员脸上。瞬时被涂抹的人“面目全非”；面目狰狞的“小鬼”，怒发冲冠的“海狮”，娇美靓丽的“月亮娘娘”……。随着激昂的鼓声，高歌狂舞，热闹异常。

接着，在一阵刺耳的海螺声中，扮做鬼神的岛上居民手持各式各样的器皿，把用椰子酿制的“鬼酒”，劈头盖脑泼向涂满油彩的船员，酒香和油彩顺着脸颊流进嘴里…...。

第二次喝荷兰“黑酒”是个特殊的日子。

船靠在欧洲最大的港口——荷兰的鹿特丹港。船舶代理利用装货空间组织船员到首都阿姆斯特丹观光。

阿姆斯特丹享有“北方威尼斯”之称。木靴、风车、郁金香誉称“三大国宝”。

参观这天，是荷兰伟大爱国女作家安妮·弗兰克的纪念日。

安妮故居是座运河旁极普通的十七世纪建筑。二战期间，安妮被德国盖世太保禁锢在这里二年之久。

纪念人群端着荷兰特产“黑酒”（黑啤）边喝边洒，故居前浓浓的酒香沁人心肺。

怀着敬仰的心情，马腾加入长长的纪念队伍…...。

最值得记忆的是在日本喝的秋夕“水酒”。

船在日本堺市。船舶供应商星野邀请船员到家做客。这天是日本的“秋夕” ，也是中国的中秋节。

餐桌上摆放一只硕大的酒瓶，已经十分陈旧，上面还用日文写的标签。

望着大家诧异地样子，主人说，这酒并是他的“媒人”。

原来，十多年前，单身的星野在远航船上做水手。漂浮不定的海上生活，错过了许多“喜结良缘”的机会。一次酒后望着空荡的酒瓶并突发奇想，把“征婚启事”塞进密封的酒瓶抛进大海。这只漂流的酒瓶终于为他找到了另一半；一位美丽善良的渔民姑娘。“秋夕”之夜，他们走进了婚姻的殿堂，每当“秋夕”星野都会将酒瓶盛满水酒接待远来的船员兄弟…...。

今晚，船长说的“特殊酒”是啥样？船长詹姆斯是位美籍欧洲移民，人缘极好，出身于酿酒世家。

晚餐时，餐厅里聚满了人。热腾的水饺已经端上餐桌，最后，船长捧着一只插着鸡尾羽毛的酒并走了进来：“祝贺生日快乐！”

大厨接过酒瓶，斟满一大杯，举到马腾面前；“这是船长对你的特殊待遇。”

马腾端起酒杯一饮而尽。

船长詹姆斯讲述了这瓶酒的历史。

二百多年前，纽约州埃尔姆斯福一家用鸡尾羽毛作装饰的酒馆，来了几个水手买酒喝。当天酒馆的酒快卖光了。望着客人急迫的样子，一名叫弗拉纳根的女侍者，无奈将剩下的几种酒统统倒在大容器里，随手用根鸡尾毛搅匀端到客人面前。客人们望着酒的成色，品不出酒的味道，纷纷询问女侍者。女侍者指着插在上面的鸡尾毛，随口答道：“鸡尾酒哇！”

水手们高兴地举起酒杯，高声呐喊：“鸡尾酒万岁！”

从此，“鸡尾酒”风靡世界各地，各种配方应运而生；其色、香、味兼备，“鸡尾酒馆”成了酒文化博物馆享誉世界。由于最初由水手们喊来的，所以人们称为“水手鸡尾酒”。

这家酒馆最早由船长祖父开设的。

喝着船长的特殊“鸡尾酒”，吃着家乡的饺子，马腾过了一个终身难忘的生日，并知晓了“鸡尾酒”的来历。

The first day of winter was Ma Teng’s birthday.

Back home, his favorite birthday meal was dumplings with a side of Lao

Bai Gan liquor. The warmth of his steamed dumplings coupled with the heavy

taste of alcohol always filled him with comfort, driving away the cold air

of winter and replacing it with good luck.

This year, Ma Teng was away at sea on his birthday. He stared blankly

at the calendar on his wall, thinking of home, as the head chef stormed

into his room and shouted, “Happy Birthday!”

Ma Teng and the head chef were especially close as the two of them

hailed from the same hometown. The chef remembered exactly when Ma Teng was

born, and made an important note to himself to make Ma Teng’s birthday as

memorable as possible. “The captain gave us permission to serve you

special wine on the dock tonight!”

Before Ma Teng could answer, the head chef slipped away mysteriously.

Throughout the many years he’d been at sea, Ma Teng had only had

special wine three times: ghost wine in Africa, black wine in the

Netherlands, and sake in Japan.

He had ghost wine when his ship passed by an African town on Halloween.

The local residents dressed up as all sorts of monsters and ghosts, and

swarmed onto the ship to celebrate. Some locals brought face paint onto the

ship and drew patterns on the sailors’ faces, disguising them as

grim-faced ghosts, frowning, majestic lions, and beautiful, magical

fairies. The crew forgot all about their lives at sea for a night and

celebrated with the locals to the beat of the drums.

As they danced into the night, the horn-like sounds of a conch shell

marked the passing of midnight. The local townspeople took out cups and

pots of all shapes and sizes, filled them with a dark “ghost wine” made

of coconut and oil, and splashed it onto the crew. Drenched in this special

drink, the sailors tasted its distinct sweetness, and got caught up in a

water fight.

The time Ma Teng had black wine was also on a notable occasion.

His ship was docked on the largest harbor in Europe - the Rotterdam

Port in the Netherlands. The port manager invited everyone on the ship to a

sightseeing trip in Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ capital city.

To some, Amsterdam is romantically nicknamed “The Venice of Northern

Europe”. Its peculiar wooden boots, breathtaking windmills, and heavenly

tulips were known as the treasures of Holland.

The day that Ma Teng visited Amsterdam, happened to be the anniversary

of Dutch author Anne Frank’s death.

Anne Frank’s house was situated in a very ordinary 17th century

apartment building. During the Second World War, Frank lived in the small

flat with her family for over two years while hiding from the Nazi Party.

A crowd stood outside of her house to pay their tributes to the young

author. They raised their glasses to the sky, as if proposing a toast to

Frank, who was now in heaven. The smell of Dutch wines and beers took hold

of the historic streets, igniting a bittersweet sense of respect and

longing inside of Ma Teng’s heart.

With admiration and wonder, Ma Teng joined the groups of people and

silently honored the remarkable Dutch author…

But for Ma Teng, the most unforgettable moment was when he had sake on

an Autumn day in Japan.

His ship docked at the Japanese city of Sakai, and he was invited into

the home of the ship supplier, Hoshino. It was the day of the Autumn Eve in

Japan, which took place on the same day as the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.

Hoshino lived in a modest home in Sakai, but what caught Ma Teng’s

attention was the bottle of wine that sat quietly on his table. Though it

looked old and worn out, the Japanese label on the bottle was still clearly

intelligible.

Ma Teng inspected the bottle carefully, trying to understand its

significance. When Hoshino noticed his visitors’ confusion, he explained

that this unsuspecting bottle of wine had once helped him propose to his

wife.

Ten years ago, when Hoshino was still a bachelor, he worked as a

shiphand on a steamliner that travelled thousands of miles away from Japan.

As he floated adrift on the ocean, he rarely ever got to spend time with

the girl he had fallen in love with, separated by the vast ocean between

them. Once, after a night of drinking, he came up with the nonsensical idea

of folding a marriage proposal into the empty wine bottle and tossing it

into the ocean, in the hope that it would somehow reach the love of his

life.

As if by miracle, the floating bottle eventually found its way to

Hoshino’s other half: a kind, beautiful girl from a small Japanese fishing

village. The two of them got married on Autumn Eve, and ever since that

day, Hoshino prepared a bottle of wine to serve to all his fellow sailors

who had left their homes and families behind to end up in Sakai on the day

of his wedding anniversary.

So on Ma Teng’s birthday, he was curious to see what kind of “special

wine” will be served for him and his crew, and whether or not its story

will be as heartwarming as the ones he’d heard before. Ma Teng knew that

the captain of the ship, James, was a European-American immigrant whose

family had a history in brewing wine, so Ma Teng’s expectations were

secretly quite high.

The entire crew gathered on the terrace at dusk and awaited dinner. As

the head chef served dishes of dumplings on the table, Captain James

carried a bottle of wine and a wine glass decorated with a cocktail feather

out from the kitchen, and handed it to Ma Teng. “Happy Birthday!” He said

excitedly.

The head chef poured the glass to the brim with the Captain’s

mysterious wine, and told Ma Teng, “The Captain prepared this especially

for you.”

Ma Teng lifted the glass to his lip, and tasted the curious cocktail.

Captain James began to recite the history of this fascinating drink.

Around two hundred years ago, a few sailors walked into a tavern

decorated with cocktail feathers in Elmsford, New York, and demanded to be

served some wine. But they had arrived too late into the night, and the bar

had already run out of any one kind of wine that was enough to serve a few

people.

Sensing the distress of her customers, a waitress named Flanagan had no

choice but to mix portions of all the remaining kinds of alcohol into a

large glass, stir it with a cocktail feather, and set it down in front of

the sailors.

The boisterous seamen stared at the dark hue of the drink before them

and found themselves unable to decipher exactly what kind of wine they were

served. Confused, they begged for the waitress to tell them what she had

put into their drinks. Flanagan pointed at the feather that she mixed the

drink with, and replied confidently, “It’s a cocktail!”

The three sailors emptied their glasses down to the last drop, and

exclaimed, “This cocktail is delicious!”

From that day onwards, the legend of the cocktail was spread across the

globe. Bartenders from all over the world tried to replicate the taste of

the original cocktail from Elmsford, experimenting with all sorts of

alcohols and spices and mixing different colors and tastes. Because they

had heard of the strange liquor from sailors, the drink became known as

“the sailor’s cocktail”.

It turns out that the tavern in Elmsford was opened by Captain James’s

grandfather, and Flanagan was none other than James’s aunt.

As Ma Teng sipped Captain James’s special cocktail and paired it with

the familiar dumplings from his hometown, he thought deeply about the

history of “the sailor’s cocktail”, and celebrated a birthday he would

remember for the rest of his life.

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