As soon as I began seeing Handshake Digestif Bitters round Portland, Maine, I couldn’t cease seeing it. Since its launch in early 2024, Handshake’s 500-milliliter service bottle now graces the cabinets of each bar price a rattling, from Puerto Rican scorching spot Papi to Evo, an elegant Center Jap restaurant. Portland Hunt + Alpine Membership has served it in a saffron Martini, a Persian Negroni and a 50/50 shot alongside one other Maine staple, Allen’s Espresso Brandy. Fried hen spot Crispy Gài serves Handshake in a tackle a Margarita. The brand new Leisure Time Cocktail Co. makes use of it for Fort Bravo, a killer play on a Nuclear Daiquiri, whereas glorious arcade bar Arcadia options it in a Bee’s Knees riff on draft. As a result of Handshake is an “alcoholic non-beverage product” topic to fewer restrictions on gross sales and distribution than different sorts of alcohol, sandwich store George and Leon’s in Westbrook has a particular vertical “Hand stand” stacked with 50-milliliter bottles for taking pictures like Underberg. Handshake has additionally rapidly turn out to be an ordinary all over the place from The Masonry in Seattle and HomeMakers Bar in Cincinnati to Stillwell in Halifax, Canada, and Los Angeles’ Tabula Rasa Bar, situated amid the most important Iranian inhabitants outdoors of Iran.
Arvid Brown, co-owner of Portland’s acclaimed Room for Enchancment, loves Handshake’s chamomile overtones. “I’m simply sort of a simp for chamomile,” he says, particularly when it’s paired with grapefruit, which is the place his variations of the Oaxaca Previous-Usual and the Paper Airplane come from. For the latter, he launched easy syrup and break up the citrus base, since Handshake isn’t as candy as the usual Amaro Nonino and grapefruit isn’t as acidic as lemon or lime. “What resulted was an excellent punchy and juicy rendition of the basic with a definite natural spine,” says Brown. Referred to as The Jetport, after the Portland Worldwide Jetport, the drink is “an important introduction to what Handshake brings to the desk by way of flavors but additionally showcases its versatility by way of enjoying off of different elements.” With an introduction like this one, the Handshake gained’t keep secret for lengthy.
