February 27, 2015
I’m heading out to Italy again for a little vacation, and as usual when I start thinking every hour of every day about Italy (as opposed to just every day), I start thinking about when we lived in Italy, and the drinks I made and had when there. Yeah, I know, it’s a hard-a-knock life. To make up for all my musing about it, try the below drink. It’s freaky-delicious. If you can’t go on an Italian vacation this second, this’ll at least help cure a teeny bit of the ache.
The Stock-In-Trade
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Aperol
1 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 ounce Strega
1 dash Bitter Truth orange bitters
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the Aperol, orange juice, Strega, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktails glass, or a pretty wine glass if that’s what’s handy.
Tags: Aperol, Bitter Truth orange bitters, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Strega, The Stock-in-Trade, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
February 13, 2015
I believe that Valentine’s Day is tomorrow – be still my beating heart. If you’ve been planning a host of heart-y things for your sweetness tomorrow, then you are in fine shape. Unless you forgot to plan out the right drink for the evening. What’s that you say? You don’t have a special drink for that special somehow. Hope you like the couch. Though, since I have a warm feeling towards you (you are pretty neat), howsabout I help you out. Serve up the below, which is a tasty mix shading just a wee bit sweet, and watch the evening commence in the proper manner. Oh, you might want to whisper that Ti Penso Sempre means, “I think of you always.” That should help your cause as well.
Ti Penso Sempre, from Dark Spirits, Serves 2 naturally
Ice cubes
3 ounce brandy
2 ounces Aperol
1 ounce simple syrup
2 orange slices, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the brandy, Aperol, and simple syrup. Shake well.
2. Strain the mix equally into 2 cocktail glasses. Garnish each with an orange slice. Let the romancing commence.
Tags: Aperol, Brandy, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Dark Spirits, Friday Night Cocktail, Ti Penso Sempre, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Brandy, Cocktail Recipes, Dark Spirits, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
September 12, 2014
Let me start with an apology: you cannot get one of the main ingredients in this drink in the US. My bad, yo. The ingredient is the Italian amaro called Viparo, and I can’t believe with the many, many amaros now being imported that someone hasn’t brought it in, because it’s a delicious member of the amaro clan, one produced by the Morganti family since 1913, and like most, originally designed for medicinal purposes. So, pick up a bottle when you’re in Italy. Until then, you could, if you want, sub in another amaro, one that shades towards the sweetish middle of the amaro scale, something like Averna. It won’t have the same exact highwayman feel, but it’ll be close. Call it the Highwayman’s Bank Holiday.
Highwayman’s Holiday
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounce gin
1 ounce freshly squeezed clementine juice
1/2 ounce Viparo
1/2 ounce Aperol
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, juice, Viparo, and Aperol. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass.
A Note: Can’t find clementines? You could sub in orange juice instead. Call it Highwayman’s Parole.
A Second Note: You might want to strain this through a fine strainer to avoid citrus bits in teeth. But no real robber would care about that much.
Tags: amaro, Aperol, Averna, clementine juice, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Highwayman’s Holiday, Viparo, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
October 4, 2013
Buon giorno cocktail fans, and fans of cocktail videos, and Italian fans, and fans of good drinks, and fans of good translations, and welcome all y’all to another episode of the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, the world’s best cocktailunmentary show. This episode is extra special, as we have a guest who’s traveled all the way from Italy to share a special recipe with us. So, watch up, and ciao until next time.
PS: Special thanks to AK Translation Services for the immaculate translating.
Tags: Aperol, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Cocktail video, Cocktail Videos, Friday Night Cocktail, Prosecco, Spritz, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: aperitif, Aperol, Champagne & Sparkling Wine, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
August 23, 2013
It was recently my mother’s 75th birthday (yay mom!), and she had quite the wing-ding to celebrate, with oodles of friends and family in attendance, and lots of delicious edibles, and some piano playing, and some singing, and some toasting. I also made drinks for everyone, and we went with a little Italian-styled, or at least Italian-touched, menu of three drinks. One of those was the Portofino, a drink I hadn’t had since putting together the recipes for Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz. It ended up being the favorite of the evening, I think because, well, it’s a tasty drink, sure, but also because it’s such a fine, fine bubbly beauty for August, when the weather is hot. The Italian part of the drink comes out in the name (which is a small port city in Genoa), as well as the addition of Italian aperitif champion Aperol. The neat thing – I believe – is that the drink also has a dose of Pimm’s No. 1 Cup in it. That’s not only neat because it references the days when English sailors used to dock in the port city the drink’s named after, but also because the day before my mom’s 75th birthday party, I returned from a two-week sojourn in jolly old England, where Pimm’s, of course, is from.
The Portofino
Ice cubes
2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1 Cup
1 ounce Aperol
Chilled ginger ale
Orange wedge, for garnish
1. Fill a highball glass three quarters up with ice cubes. Add the Pimm’s and Aperol and stir briefly.
2. Fill the glass almost to the top with ginger ale. Stir again and garnish with the orange wedge.
Tags: Aperol, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, ginger ale, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Pimm’s No. 1 Cup, Portofino, summer drink, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
June 22, 2012
This is another summer favorite featured in Wine Cocktails (following up the Cactus Berry below), a continental number that’ll go down in a lovely manner while you sit outside under the bright bright sun. It’s also a drink that can be enjoyed year round and is a standard (many would say the standard) in the pre-dinner hour, the apertivo hour, the time when Italians gather at the bar for snacks and a little imbibing. It has been known to cause some disagreement (not too heated mind you, but friendly disagreement) due to the garnish. Depending on where you’re at, you might get a green olive, an orange slice or twist, or something else altogether. I go for the orange slice, but am friends with many who go other routes. There’s no need for tempers during the hot months. In the spirit of this friendliness, this recipe is for two.
Serves 2
3 or 4 ice cubes
3 ounces Aperol
6 ounces chilled prosecco
2 orange slices for garnish
1. Add 1 or 2 ice cubes to two flute glasses (skip this if your Prosecco is super chilly). Add the Aperol.
2. Fill the glasses with the prosecco and stir gently. Garnish with the orange slice.
Tags: Aperol, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Italian Cocktails, Italian spritz, Prosecco, What I'm Drinking, Wine Cocktails
Posted in: Champagne & Sparkling Wine, Italy, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Wine Cocktails
May 26, 2011
The ol’ Seattle weather recently hasn’t been what you’d (you or anyone, really, unless that other person is someone who revels in dreary wetness) call awesome lately (and by lately, I mean, to all reports, since last August). You might think this rain-cloud-rain pattern would drive me to drink only straight shots of rot-gut (or at least straight shots of almost-rot-gut). But no, fair friend, no. When the weather trots out its worst repeatedly during a time when the very month name should signal clear skies and sunshine (like May, for instance) I go for summertime mixes. A: I’m not going to let that weather tell me who the boss is. I know who the boss is (Tony Danza. And then me). B: I figure if I drink like there’s sun in the sky then maybe, just maybe, I’ll influence said weather to follow my lead. Here’s hoping, at least. Which is why I’m sipping the summertime queen of the jungle, the Ognam (which is straight of out Dark Spirits, don’t you know. Wait, you don’t? Well go buy the book and find out). It was created by wife Nat and has a tropical refreshing vibe (sure, I said vibe, what of it?), and can, if anything can, change the weather:
Ice cubes
1 1/2 ounces brandy
2 1/2 ounces mango juice
1/2 ounce Aperol
Chilled club soda
Lemon slice for garnish
1. Fill a highball or comparable glass with ice cubes. Add the brandy, mango juice, and Aperol. Stir well.
2. Fill the glass almost to the tippy top (Ognam insists on words like tippy top. Don’t infuriate Ognam.) with club soda. Stir again, well. Squeeze the lemon slice over the glass and drop it in.
Tags: Aperol, Brandy, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Dark Spirits, Ognam, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Almost Drinkable Photo, Aperol, Brandy, Dark Spirits, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
December 14, 2010
This vacationing vandal special is, in a big way, a liquid shout out to pals Markie B and Andy S. See, these two fine gentleman (and their wives) came with us the last time we were in Italy (way back in April 2009), and during that trip we discovered the somewhat illusive Viparo. You can read my plea for this Italian amaro here, and learn more about our adventures on that trip. On this trip, I was excited to try and track down this evasive elixir, and then when walking into some big new market/grocery/superstore a couple weeks back there it was, staring down at me–a whole display of new bottles of Viparo. Naturally, I picked one up and now it, along with Italian stalwart Aperol, features big in the below drink. The others players are gin (which starts the story behind the name, as I was picturing the drinker as a British stagecoach robber on vacation) and clementine juice (I found a bunch of clementine’s recently)—everything together equals a fine escape:
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounce gin
1 ounce freshly squeezed clementine juice
1/2 ounce Viparo
1/2 ounce Aperol
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, juice, Viparo, and Aperol. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass or little wine glass or flagon. Drink up.
A Note: Can’t find clementine’s? You could sub in orange juice instead. Call it Highwayman’s Parole.
A Second Note: You might want to strain this through a fine strainer to avoid citrus bits in teeth. But no real robber would care about that much.
Tags: Aperol, clementine, cocktail recipe, Gin, Highwayman’s Holiday, Italian drinks, Italian Liqueurs, Viparo, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Almost Drinkable Photo, Aperol, Gin, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, Viparo, What I'm Drinking
