Understandably suffering from a smidgen of pandemic fatigue? Too whacked to shake your own? Don’t fret, have cocktails brought to your door in Florence for Fridays night in (or any day of the week, come to that).
Floreal Firenze delivers canned cocktails (1 can for 7 euro, 15 cans for 90 euro) anywhere in Florence and outlying areas from Wednesday to Sunday. Such is the demand (and the times we’ve living in!) that there was a temporary outage in mid-November, but supply was swiftly resumed. Upbeat and brightly packaged, sip at a tequila-based Mexican Monk, zesty Floreal Garden or a fruity Velvet Punch while nibbling on creative bites by chef Edoardo Tilli (guinea-fowl hot dog or Japanese cheesecake anyone?). The brand just expanded the range with the Signature Cocktails Collection, with 11 drinks designed by bartenders and delivered to your home (10 euro each, 90 euro for the complete collection).
Floreal Firenze’s colourful canned cocktail line-up
Pescia-based Chiara Cantini is the brains behind Me.me Cocktails, an events service launched in 2016 for weddings that proved so successful that the drinks started to be sold in their own right in 2018. Made from handpicked Italian ingredients, choose from the sustainable glass 100ml and 500ml jars of Gin Sour, Flat Collins and Collins, Martini, Negroni and Gin Mojitos (starting from 7 euro). You can even order a snack pack to keep things responsible and very Italian—online shops are in the works and even international shipping is a possibility.
Considered and sustainable Me.me Cocktails
Master distiller Stefano Cicalese has just introduced a pre-mixed cocktail range incorporated his highly acclaimed Peter in Florence gin. Distilled and bottled in Tuscany, the Peter Martinez (gin, red vermouth, maraschino and bitter orange / 38.70 euro), Peter Negroni (gin, bitter and red vermouth / 35.70 euro) and Peter Martini (gin, dry vermouth / 35.70 euro) can be ordered online in multiples of three 20cl bottles—or start with a taster set of each for 37 euro. Go one step further and order a box of delights, including Peter in Florence drinks, from Ristorante Al 588. The Aperibox (40 euro) will score you two PiF drinks, Pecorino cheese from Palagiaccio, a small bottle of the restaurant’s own organic EVO and a few other curated snacks.
Order pre-mixed, Italian-produced Nio Cocktails or cocktail-making kits using the popular Winelivery app or try the Timelivery app for iPhone or Android, designed by Time Lounge Bar in Calenzano, to have vacuum-packed cocktails—Spritz, Mojito, Americano, Negroni and Moscow Mule—sent to your home seven days a week. Delivery service Glovo is well placed to bring some fresh shakes from Dragonfly, Colle Bereto and The Speakeasy, in addition to aperitivo kits from Red Garter and Gosh*.
Don’t forget your local!
Red, orange or yellow, whatever shade Tuscany’s in this winter, bars can still serve your favourite drinks to take away.