Lonkero to the left of me Pulu to the right, here I am.

Pulu + Lonkero.

A Finnish friend, knowing me to be of the cocktaily persuasion, once told me of a drink that was popular in her youth that was called a lonkero. Upon hearing that this “cocktail” came in a can I likely lost interest and forgot about the lonkero. Until she returned from a trip home toting a 6-pack of lonkeros (or perhaps lonkeri for all I know). It being a hot day and the proffered can being ice cold I partook of the Finnish alcopop and damn if it wasn’t pretty damn tastily refreshing. It might be a little harsh of me to call it an alcopop as it does contain proper gin mixed with what appears to be white grapefruit soda. Other flavours exist but I am reliably informed that the grapefruit version in the blue can is the original. OriGINal. See what they did there? The full name on the tin is Hartwall Original Longdrink but the Finns just call it lonkero which just means longdrink and it should be ordered as such as complicating the ordering process at a Finnish bar is a big no-no*. Predictably enough I decided to reverse engineer the lonkero in proofy fashion into a long drink we can enjoy without a trek to Helsinki. It is immediately apparent that the lonkero is at heart simply a pre-made gin Paloma and thus this is not a particularly troublesome exercise. White grapefruit juice, gin, sugar and sparkling water aside, the one tweak I used to balance it to my liking was a tiny amount of citric acid crystals (themselves a common ingredient in canned drinks) but if you lack those a teaspoon of lemon juice will serve the same purpose. Tehtävä valmis! All that remains is to name the drink. Since it is similar to the Paloma which is Spanish for dove I first thought to give it the same treatment in Suomi. According to Google translate that is Kyyhkynen. Yeah, no. Upon informing my tame Finn of the problem she suggested using the Finnish slang for pigeon. Happily Pulu doesn’t sound a million miles from Paloma either. So there we have it: A simple and refreshing gin drink for a summer afternoon. Kippis!

Pulu.

1.5oz / 45ml dry gin (Finnish if you have any!)

1.5oz / 45ml white grapefruit juice (bottled is fine here).

1oz / 30ml simple syrup (1:1).

1/8 tsp of citric acid or 1 tsp of lemon juice.

Shake with ice and pour unstrained into a Collins glass. Top up with soda water and stir gently.

Malja suomalaisille – kansalle, joka ottaa juomansa vakavasti.

*The Finns are not big on unnecessary chit-chat, especially in bars.