This cocktail might become Nevada’s official state drink

Beyond the hills and the sage and pinyon pines in the golden West, the desert bighorn sheep and desert tortoise are symbols of Nevada, receiving official status as the state’s animal and reptile.

A state drink could soon be added to that list, thanks to a bill an Elko assemblyman hopes to push forward in the 2025 Legislative Session.

Assemblyman Bert Gurr, R-Spring Creek, is sponsoring a bill draft request designating Picon Punch as the official state drink to commemorate the Basque heritage of the state.

“This is kind of to honor their culture more than anything,” the 76-year-old assemblyman said.

Picon Punch is a bittersweet and aromatic cocktail created by Basque immigrants in the American West. The drink was first served in Basque-owned boardinghouses in the San Francisco Bay Area. As the Basque population migrated northeast to Nevada and other Western states, so too did the punch.

Like any popular cocktail, bartenders take their own variations on the drink. Its original ingredient, the liqueur Amer Picon, isn’t sold in the U.S., so mixologists opt for similar orange and bitter flavored liqueurs, such as Torani Amer or Vecchio Amaro del Capo Riserva.

Often served in a tulip-shaped glass, the drink is made with grenadine, club soda, a lemon peel for garnish and then “you bless it with a little bit of brandy on top,” when following the directions of Louis and Lorraine Erreguible, former owners of the well-known Louis’ Basque Corner in Reno.

Perhaps as its name suggests, the drink is known for packing a punch. Typically, people keep the same glass for refills, and each refill comes with another lemon peel so you can keep track of how many you’ve had, Gurr said.

“If you hit three, it’s about time to stop,” Gurr said. “If you go past that, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get up from the stool.”

The Erreguibles used to say that first-timers were only allowed two Picons “because the third one is the Punch.”

Where Picon came from

Traditionally, Picon Punch is served as a single drink before dinner and wasn’t intended to induce drunkenness, according to Xabier Irujo, chair of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Instead, Picon Punch fostered “connection and camaraderie, emphasizing its role as a celebration of community rather than a means of individual escape,” Irujo wrote in an article he sent to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

While the cocktail is believed to have come from Basque boardinghouses in the Bay Area, the original liqueur — Amer Picon — comes from France, according to Iñaki Arrieta Baro, head of UNR’s Jon Bilbao Basque Library, leading academic library on the Basque Diaspora.

The Frenchman Gaëtan Picon created the liqueur in 1837 as a medicinal tonic to battle malaria. Picon served in the French army and gained inspiration while stationed in Algeria. He crafted a 78-proof liqueur by blending quinine, cinchona bark, gentian root and other herbs, according to Irujo.

“These ingredients not only provided medicinal properties but also imparted a rich, complex flavor that would define the liqueur,” Irujo wrote. “Its bitterness was tempered by the addition of sweet and aromatic elements, making it not only effective as a tonic but also enjoyable as a drink.”

It gained popularity years later when the government decided to have a contest to come up with an alternative to absinthe, and Amer Picon won, Gurr said.

When it was still available in the U.S., Amer Picon was marketed as a medicine in which ingredients like soda water or grenadine could be added to make it easier to drink, and then bartenders began concocting cocktails with the liqueur.

Basque immigrants started arriving in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1850s during the gold rush, Arrieta Baro said. In California, Basque-Americans owned boarding houses and restaurants, where Picon Punch was served and became the cocktail of preference in the late 1890s.

The Basque community migrated to places like Bakersfield, California, and Northern Nevada, particularly in what is now Elko County, to herd sheep and cattle, Arrieta Baro said.

Northern Nevada popularity

Picon Punch became a signature drink of Northern Nevada — alongside the Winnemucca Coffee (a cocktail consisting of brandy, anise liquor and coffee) — and is found on many bar menus from the famous Louis’ Basque Corner in Reno to the Star Hotel in Elko.

Las Vegans, however, could have a more difficult time finding the drink. It’s hard to find on a menu, but bartenders may have the necessary ingredients.

The Golden Tiki, whose creator is from the heavily Basque-populated Bakersfield, has for years served Picon Punch on their secret menu using Calabrian amaro and creole bitters, according to the bar’s mixologist Adam Rains. It also adds pomegranate for more tang, as well as lemon zest and lemon juice, giving the cocktail a “refreshing and complex” flavor, Rains said.

Atomic Liquors can also make the iconic cocktail, serving theirs with an orange twist in a tulip shaped glass.

Renewed legislative efforts

If Gurr is successful, Nevada would join a list of about 30 other states that have official drink designations — though milk is named as many of the states’ official drinks.

Very few officially designate an alcoholic beverage. Ohio’s, for instance, is tomato juice, and New Hampshire’s is apple cider. A couple states have a specific state cocktail (Wisconsin’s is a brandy old fashioned).

Gurr’s not the first lawmaker to attempt to make Picon Punch’s status as Nevada’s state drink official.

In 2013, then-Democratic Assemblyman William Horne added it as an amendment to a bill setting up a fund for donations to the state Parks Division but was struck down by lawmakers who considered it as “downright silly,” generally viewing similar state designation legislation as a waste of time.

It was attempted again in 2015 by Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno, which was also unsuccessful.

Gurr said in the other attempts, it was attached to other larger bills that never made it to the discussion phase. He hopes this time there will be success as a single, standalone bill.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.