Alabama’s Grapico Gets the Cocktail Treatment

Eric Bennett has something of a soda obsession. At The Louis, the bar he manages inside Birmingham’s new Pizitz Food Hall, there are sixteen different choices, including a pair of north-Alabama favorites: Buffalo Rock, a super-spicy ginger ale, and Grapico, a century-old deep-purple grape soda that’s been a favorite of Bennett’s since he was he was a kid. “I love the stuff,” he says, “but the whole thing about Grapico is that it’s crazy sweet.” Bennett’s The Land of G… features a set of strong flavors that can hold up to Grapico’s sugary punch, including Cynar, a bitter Italian liqueur flavored with artichokes of all things. (Oh, and that name? It’s in honor of a promotional song from 1916 called “Meet Me in the Land of Grapico,” for which the brand actually gave away free copies of sheet music.)