Macuá
Encyclopedia
The Macuá is a cocktail
made with white rum
and fruit juices, usually lemon
and guava
juice. The Macuá is noted as the national drink of Nicaragua
. The drink is named after a tropical bird native to the country.
, a small and historic city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua
. Miranda enlisted the help of his immediate family, including his wife, daughter and son-in-law, to perfect the recipe.
The Nicaraguan Tour Operator Solentiname Tours and the Association of Restaurants in Nicaragua recognized a need for a national drink. Both invited hotel and restaurant owners across Nicaragua to come together and enlisted the help of CEM-JWT Communications, a Nicaraguan advertising agency, to turn the idea into a reality.
The drink rose to fame in October 2006, when it was entered in a competition to choose a national drink of Nicaragua. The competition, sponsored by Flor de Caña, a Nicaraguan rum
manufacturer, involved more than twenty different drinks based on the company's products. The judges, including the French
ambassador
and a cocktail connoisseur from a Swedish
development agency, chose the Macuá over other combinations of local ingredients including pineapple
, tamarind
and even coffee bean
s. More adventurous entrants made use of some of Nicaragua's most obscure flora
such as the mamoncillo
, the extract of which is used as a local
cure for stomachache.
and Solentiname, which make the lake a unique destination in the world.
The Contest, called "The Nacional Drink Contest", (El Trago Nacional), was sponsored by Flor de Caña
, Hotel Intercontinental, Solentiname Tours, Morgan's Rock, Canatur, INTUR, and Radio Tigre. The presence of the INTUR (National Tourism Institute) validated the contest as an "official" selection, even if organized by private investors, not the government.
The contest was divided in two parts; first the selection of the recipe, and second the selection of the name.
However, El Nuevo Diario
criticized the theme of the contest for selecting only a few regions of the country for defining the national identity (Lake Cocibolca and Granada), and that the selected winning recipe for the contest required to contain a minimum of 50% Flor de Caña rum, the sponsoring liquor company.
Cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...
made with white rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
and fruit juices, usually lemon
Lemon
The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
and guava
Guava
Guavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium , which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America...
juice. The Macuá is noted as the national drink of Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. The drink is named after a tropical bird native to the country.
History
The Macuá was invented by Dr Edmundo Miranda Saenz, a pediatrician from GranadaGranada, Nicaragua
Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department. With an estimated population of 110,326 , it is Nicaragua's fourth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically...
, a small and historic city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada or is a vast freshwater lake in Nicaragua of tectonic origin. With an area of , it is the largest lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world and the 9th largest in the Americas. It is slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca. With an elevation...
. Miranda enlisted the help of his immediate family, including his wife, daughter and son-in-law, to perfect the recipe.
The Nicaraguan Tour Operator Solentiname Tours and the Association of Restaurants in Nicaragua recognized a need for a national drink. Both invited hotel and restaurant owners across Nicaragua to come together and enlisted the help of CEM-JWT Communications, a Nicaraguan advertising agency, to turn the idea into a reality.
The drink rose to fame in October 2006, when it was entered in a competition to choose a national drink of Nicaragua. The competition, sponsored by Flor de Caña, a Nicaraguan rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
manufacturer, involved more than twenty different drinks based on the company's products. The judges, including the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
and a cocktail connoisseur from a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
development agency, chose the Macuá over other combinations of local ingredients including pineapple
Pineapple
Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
, tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
and even coffee bean
Coffee bean
A coffee bean is a seed of a coffee plant. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a cherry. Even though they are seeds, they are referred to as 'beans' because of their resemblance to true beans. The fruits - coffee cherries or coffee berries - most commonly contain two...
s. More adventurous entrants made use of some of Nicaragua's most obscure flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
such as the mamoncillo
Mamoncillo
Melicoccus bijugatus, commonly called Spanish lime, genip, guinep, genipe, quenepa, mamoncillo, or honeyberry, is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalised over a wide area of the tropics, including South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts...
, the extract of which is used as a local
Home remedy
A home remedy is a treatment to cure a disease or ailment that employs certain spices, vegetables, or other common items. Home remedies may or may not have medicinal properties that treat or cure the disease or ailment in question, as they are typically passed along by laypersons...
cure for stomachache.
Criticism
This drink was created for a contest looking to creating a symbol that inspires national identity, such as Lake Cocibolca and the archaeological sites in Isla Zapatera, OmetepeOmetepe
Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua in the Republic of Nicaragua. Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ome and tepetl , meaning two mountains...
and Solentiname, which make the lake a unique destination in the world.
The Contest, called "The Nacional Drink Contest", (El Trago Nacional), was sponsored by Flor de Caña
Flor de Caña
Flor de Caña is a brand of rum distributed by Compañía Licorera de Nicaragua which is headquartered in Managua, Nicaragua.-History:...
, Hotel Intercontinental, Solentiname Tours, Morgan's Rock, Canatur, INTUR, and Radio Tigre. The presence of the INTUR (National Tourism Institute) validated the contest as an "official" selection, even if organized by private investors, not the government.
The contest was divided in two parts; first the selection of the recipe, and second the selection of the name.
However, El Nuevo Diario
El Nuevo Diario
El Nuevo Diario is a Nicaraguan newspaper, with offices in the capital Managua. El Nuevo Diario was founded in 1980 by a breakaway group of employees of La Prensa sympathetic to the Sandinista cause, that included 80 percent of the staff and the editor, Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, who opposed the new...
criticized the theme of the contest for selecting only a few regions of the country for defining the national identity (Lake Cocibolca and Granada), and that the selected winning recipe for the contest required to contain a minimum of 50% Flor de Caña rum, the sponsoring liquor company.