Following up to this and this. One fine afternoon in April of 2023, some chump behind a bar added some unwashed, organic strawberries from the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market to a jar with some Aperol, forgot about it, and then opened the jar to a surprising but familiar little pop and fizz. The result: Strawperol. If we look back through history, many other life changing chemicals were also created by accident. Gunpowder, quinine (yum!), Viagra (yeah!), insulin, penicillin (the antibiotic, not the cocktail), LSD, vulcanized rubber (for tires, not Spock’s prophylactics), to name just a few.

I had forgotten this had even happened until I got a call from our PR person about how someone wanted to do a write up on this. Huh? Ok. Seemed sooooooo early 2023, but sure.

I do have a confession: I thought this was a one off. So when Punch wanted to do a write up on it, I got nervous that although this happened once, it wouldn’t happen again, or that maybe it never happened and I either dreamt it or imagined it. I don’t know. I don’t trust myself sometimes. So, I went to the farmer’s market here in Larchmont, but since it’s September, not April when the really really good berries are around, the only organic strawberries available were these little shitty, not so good ones. I got a little nervous but praise be to the tiki gods, the little suckers still did the trick.

I’m probably not the first to have tried this, but there are reasons it hasn’t happened to other bartenders. 1. Most people in general wash their fruit. 2. Most don’t buy organic. 3. Even if they buy organic, they still wash it. 4. If you buy organic fruit at the supermarket, chances are there’s not going to be any of the precious yeast still intact. 5. There’s also a slim chance no one put strawberries in their Aperol because you don’t really need to and most people put strawberries in their Campari which is higher in alcohol and is the chosen method and thing to do.

I don’t know much about why it works, but it’s all about the yeast. There’s some fruit from the farmer’s market, like quince, that have a crazy blanket of yeast over the skin. Most aren’t so pronounced. With any tepache making I’ve done in the past, I’ve only had success with organic, unwashed pineapples, kiwi, and guava. Yeah, it’s pretty gross to not wash fruit, but again, there’s alcohol involved and we do strain everything twice. There’s not supposed to be pesticides and all the creepy crawlers on there will die when they’re immersed in alcohol. What they will do is add a little extra protein to your drink.

So, they do this with champagne, that’s the first thing I thought about. There’s a whole process involved. Read more about it here.

The real question on my mind is: Will this work with other liqueurs? I don’t know. I can only guess. There’s few out there made from grain spirit that are the same low ABV as Aperol. That’s the first hurdle. Also, strawberries are just plain delicious in the spring and they match so well with our favorite Italian ketchup.

If you want to do this yourself, it’s quite easy. One liter Aperol, 500 grams unwashed organic strawberries from your local farmer’s market. Slices the berries up and throw them in. I don’t even take the green tops off. It starts getting pretty active in just a day, after week you’ll have full on sparkling strawberry flavored Aperol. Save your bottle. Strain the Strawperol first through a chinois to get the big chunks out, then stick a funnel on top of the Aperol bottle you saved, stick a big coffee filter in that, and then strain your liquid in there. If you have a dehydrator, stick your leftovers in there and after two days grind it all up into a nice powder.

More coming down the pipe…