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Negroni Float – Barman meets Soda Jerk
Blood Orange-Campari Sorbetto in a Negroni splashed with Prosecco
The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other.
– Orson Welles on the Negroni
The Negroni (nay-GROW-nee) is perhaps the quintessential aperitivo – one part gin, one part sweet vermouth, one part Campari, all of it over ice, with an orange round. Classic cocktail lore tells us the Negroni is a direct descendant of the Milano-Torino, a drink now known as the Americano. It happened like this: in 1919 at Florence’s Caffe Casoni Count Camillo Negroni asked barman Fosco Scarselli to add a bit of fortification, un ‘po piu robusto, to his Milano-Torino. Sig. Scarselli acquiesced to his patron’s wish, adding gin in place of seltzer. The deed done, Sig. Scarselli realized the two drinks looked quite alike. With a barman’s panache he substituted an orange garnish for the Milano-Torino’s lemon… Read the remainder of this entry »
The Hanky Panky – Happy Valentine’s Day!
What do you get when you combine gin, Italian vermouth and Fernet Branca? As the British actor Sir Charles Hawtrey remarked after he drained his first glass “By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!” The name stuck. And luckily for those who imbibe, so did the drink. Read the remainder of this entry »
Zucca – The Mezzo Piano
Think hip, very hip and wearing Prada or Dolce & Gabbana, maybe Armani. Now add Milano’s famous bar Camparino (formerly known as Zucca in Galleria and birthplace, by the way, of the famous Americano cocktail.) Enter the bar to see patrons partaking of Zucca. Zucca is Italian for pumpkin, but this is no vegetable smoothie. It is Rabarbaro Zucca, an amaro, whose principal and most noteworthy ingredient, the ingredient that puts it squarely in the spotlight, is Chinese rhubarb. This complex libation was invented in 1845 by Ettore Zucca, and has been at the top of its category ever since. It is manufactured today by I.L.L.V.A. Saronno, of Disaronno Originale (amaretto) fame. New to our shores, Zucca is becoming a favorite of envelope pushing barmen and mixologists across the U.S. as the bitter component in many new cocktails. Zucca is hot.
I have written about amari before, and I admit that I occasionally still get “the look” when I lift an unfamiliar bottle from the liquor cabinet. A napkin quietly brought to the edge of a guest’s mouth, a slight downward tip of the head coupled with a quiet sidelong glance. You see, many in the U.S. still view amari as “the other.” However, change is coming as more companies import their products. That can only be good news for those of us who imbibe. And for our digestion as well. Read the remainder of this entry »
The Boulevardier
Boulevardier – A sophisticated, worldly, and socially active man; a man who frequents fashionable places; a man-about-town.
Are you in the mood for a cocktail? A Negroni, perhaps? Ah, what say you? You have had too many Negronis of late? What, they are just everywhere, too trendy? Oh, but you still want one, or maybe some thing with an even bigger punch. Running with the big dogs, are you? Well, then try a Boulevardier. Mais oui, ma certo, a Boulevardier – like a Negroni but lose the gin (I’ve said that before) and replace it with (get ready) bourbon. Yes, bourbon. The bourbon lends the drink a voluptuous smoothness that was a complete surprise to me. You simply have to try it. I am thinking this is not a cocktail for every woman, but it is surely a cocktail for every man. Read the remainder of this entry »
The 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 the remainder of this entry »