Stroll into Can Pumuki in Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic, and among the many Gintonics, Mojitos and Caipirinhas, you would possibly see glasses crammed with a creamy white or pink combination. Usually consisting of a mixture of gin and condensed milk, Leche de Pantera (Spanish for “Panther’s Milk”) is an outlier among the many easy-drinking cocktails that make up the canon of Spanish classics, however the unlikely combination—which tastes like a boozy arroz con leche with out the rice—stays a staple on the nation’s dive bars.
Significantly fashionable in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter and Madrid’s Moncloa neighborhood, the drink originated by the hands of barman Perico Chicote, who based what’s now thought of by many the oldest cocktail bar in Spain, Madrid’s Bar Chicote (now Museo Chicote), frequented by the likes of Chaplin, Hemingway and Dalí.
Because the story goes, Chicote created the drink within the Twenties on the behest of José Millán-Astray, basic and founding father of the Spanish International Legion, who was searching for a recipe that may be simple for troopers to organize—even in lively battle zones. The result’s a mix of gin and condensed milk that’s gradual to spoil and a bit too simple to throw again, and which skilled a swift rise to reputation in civilian bars following the regime of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
Although the drink had fallen out of favor by the Nineteen Fifties, it skilled a resurgence throughout Spain’s transition to democracy within the Seventies, as former legionnaires opened bars in Madrid and Barcelona with psychedelic pink variations of the drink (made with grenadine or strawberry liqueur) and inexperienced variations (made with peppermint) displaying up as fashionable choices within the Eighties.
In 1975, in Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic, a former soldier opened La Barretina on Carrer de Mercè. The bar turned recognized for a high-octane model made in large-format vats. From there, Leche de Pantera unfold to bars all through the neighborhood; a lot of them, together with La Barretina, have since closed, however the drink continues to be on provide at this time at Can Pumuki, La Oveja Negra and Casa del Molinero, amongst others.
It’s not simply Barcelona that has adopted the drink. Over 1,000 miles away, in Glasgow, Scotland, the creamy cocktail has discovered an unlikely enclave of followers. After encountering the drink at Bar Avesta (closed since 2018), Paul Crawford introduced the idea again to Glasgow, the place it served because the unique providing of his pop-up—aptly known as Panther’s M*lk. The drink acquired a cult following that stored the pop-up working a full 4 years—three years and 9 months longer than initially meant. From there, Crawford determined to launch his model of the drink as a bottled cocktail with one key change: creamy oat milk in lieu of condensed milk.
Most of the bartenders I spoke to had been cagey about revealing their recipes; one merely replied with “You don’t wish to know.” Nonetheless, the proprietor and operator of Can Pumuki, Sergi Ramos (who goes by Pumuki), was recreation. “I’m undecided why nobody’s keen to share this recipe when the drink is nothing new,” he says. “I suppose everybody’s is a bit totally different, however I feel the thriller is taken into account a promoting level, as a result of what’s in it’s hardly a commerce secret.”
Pumuki’s take combines the requisite gin and condensed milk, however leans on the unorthodox addition of whiskey to bolster the nice and cozy and woody notes of cinnamon, which is dusted throughout the highest of the drink. The bar additionally serves Leche de Pantera Rosa, or Pink Panther’s Milk, a standard twist on the drink, with a splash of pink currant syrup (Pumuki’s pink model additionally swaps out whiskey for Cognac), and a Leche de Pantera Verde (or Inexperienced Panther’s Milk), a home specialty made with crème de menthe. After a decade promoting the drink, Pumuki continues to be fascinated by its reputation—particularly amongst youthful friends, who probably don’t have any data of its historical past. “It’s wild,” he says. “Many of the younger individuals don’t have any clue in regards to the drink’s hyperlink to the International Legions and the Franco regime in any respect.” And but, like several traditional, the drink endures on the benefit—or on this case the thriller—of its make up.
