The quarantini seemed to come out of nowhere. A Frankenstein cocktail born in the time of Covid-19, it appeared three weeks ago and initially found traction on the social media platforms Instagram and Tik Tok, then somehow made its way to the bar — before those bars closed, anyhow — and then went absolutely global.
In its original form, the quarantini seemed to be some mix of vodka and Emergen-C, an effervescent powdered vitamin C supplement that’s manufactured by Alacer Corp. and meant to be mixed with water and consumed at the onset of a cold. The thought among the influencers originally driving the trend was that the Emergen-C would bulk up the vitamins one needed to fend off the dreaded Covid-19, and the alcohol would blunt the pain of our current predicament.
Alacer Corp. was not pleased and issued a formal statement requesting these social media personas to please for the love of God stop promoting mixing their vitamin supplements into cocktails. The company also went on to state that there was no evidence the drink prevented Covid-19. (Aviation Gin sort of disagreed.)
The result of Alacer Corp.’s statement was not the death of the quarantini, though. Instead, the quarantini evolved. After that announcement, the #quarantini became anything one was consuming that included alcohol and some sort of citrus juice: Screwdriver? Yep, that’s now a quarantini. Mimosa? Of course! Cosmopolitan? Carrie would definitely approve, as would Ina Garten.
All over social media, even a drink with a simple twist of lemon or a squeeze of lime became a quarantini — classic Martinis, Margaritas, Daiquiris, even Gin and Tonics — you gotta love the addition of the quinine and its malaria-fighting abilities, after all.
The quarantini continued to progress from there. At this point, the drink has basically become whatever you are currently drinking, as long as said drink contains alcohol, and you are posting that drink on social media with the hashtag #quarantini. If you’re drinking said drink alone — as in, actually in quarantine — even better. There is no official recipe, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s a drink for our times: whatever you or I need to get through this.
