Beverages Archive

L’Americana – a Cocktail for Amanda Knox

Posted October 3, 2011 By Adri

Amanda Knox L'Americana Cocktail
Oh, how I waited on this one.  Don’t confuse this with the classic cocktail, The Americano.  No, I did not misspell anything.  For four years I have followed the saga of Amanda Knox, the young American student jailed in Perugia, Italy for the November 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.  I followed Amanda through her original trial, her incarceration and appeal, and finally through this last most excruciating weekend.  I emailed with friends halfway across the globe.  We agonized for Amanda, her co-defendant Rafaelle Sollecito and especially for the Kercher family.  Lady Justice, as they say, grinds slowly, but she grinds finely, and she freed Amanda Knox.  Even now, Amanda is most likely on her way back home.  Amanda’s home now. Read more… »

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Solerno – Sicilian Blood Orange Liqueur

Posted September 5, 2011 By Adri

Solerno
Who said you couldn’t get blood oranges in August? Trust me. You can. But first, if I gave awards for the best packaging, this decanter-like bottle from William Grant & Sons would take the Blue Ribbon. The bottle is a clear light red at its squat base, slowly darkening to a smokey red hue that travels up and over the rounded shoulders darkening even further along the thin neck up to the lip at the top. But it’s the punt, the depression in the bottom of the bottle, that wins the “How cool is this award?” Read more… »

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Aperol Drink

Call it a cooler.  Call it refreshing.  And call our weather hot, hot, hot.  For the last few days I have been looking for cool, but not too sweet drinks, and I came up with this one.  In our house watermelon defines summertime, and since it’s still watermelon season, I thought I would use it in a beverage. Read more… »

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Acqua di Cedro – a Drink and a Panna Cotta

Posted August 14, 2011 By Adri

Acqua di Cedro Citron

Acqua di CedroMove over Limoncello. Acqua di Cedro has arrived. This clear liqueur is made with citron, cedro in Italian (botanical name – Citrus medica.) Poor unattractive and underused citron, aside from its candied peel used for Christmas baking, it is pretty much ignored in my kitchen. Not so however on my dressing table where its essential oils form the base of many of my favorite perfumes. This most ancient of citrus with its gnarled and bumpy skin is said to have flourished in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and was brought to Italy by Alexander the Great – this baby’s got some history behind it. Read more… »

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Negroni sbagliato

Posted August 5, 2011 By Adri

Negroni Sbagliato

 

Looking for Bar BassoI’m such an Armchair Traveler. Take one look at my Passport, and you’ll know I haven’t been anywhere in years. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy my virtual peregrinations, brimming as they are with a wonderful combination of memories, true nostalgia and the discovery of the new. In the realm of memories and possibly even more of nostalgia are the many cocktails that have as their base that quintessential Italian beverage, Campari. The Campari cocktail with the most character is unassailably the Negroni (nay-GROW-nee), an aperitivo with a distinct point of view – herbaceous, botanical, Italian and pure alcohol. These days it seems everybody talks Negroni, but not everybody drinks Negroni. And I think it’s the gin that stops them. Ah, but drinkers walk the walk where Prosecco is concerned. Everybody drinks Prosecco. Want the allure of a Negroni, but don’t want the gin? When is a Negroni not a Negroni? Read more… »

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The Americano Cocktail

Posted July 30, 2011 By Adri

Americano Cocktail

Well, I’m back to James Bond again. I’ve come to him late in life – or is it just that Daniel Craig came to Bond late in my life? Either way, it is time for L’Americano – the first cocktail 007 ordered in Casino Royale. This cocktail, originally known as a Milano-Torino – for the Campari which came from Milano and the Cinzano vermouth that came from Torino – underwent a name change when it became a favorite of American tourists escaping the deprivations of the Volstead Act. Sort of a Campari cocktail with training wheels, it is composed of 1 ounce each of Campari and sweet vermouth over ice in a Rocks glass topped off with club soda (the training wheels.) Read more… »

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