June 8, 2018
Recently, I was on a trip – the actual physical kind, mind you – that took me away from my home bar and home region, and led me, let’s just say, to a different state, and while there I was really craving Brancamenta, and couldn’t find any anywhere. Anywhere! What kind of place or region or locale or spot doesn’t have this Fernet Branca sibling, which adds Piedmontese peppermint oil and a little sweetness to the legendary bitter-and-herb digestif?
Well, I was missing the minty mint-ness indeed by the time I got back, especially as we’re heading into summer and Brancamenta is a summertime hit of special proportions, especially with soda, and even moreso when mingled with dark rum (another summer fav) and a few other choice choices in the below drink. Try it and see! And if you have to travel anywhere that might not have Brancamenta, even just maybe might not have it, take your bottle with you. You don’t want to run into the situation I did, believe me you.
The Mint Meridian
Ice cubes
2 ounces dark rum
3/4 ounces Brancamenta
1/4 freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Chilled club soda
Mint sprig, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway up with ice cubes. Add the rum, Brancamenta, lemon juice, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Fill a highball or closely comparable glass up with ice cubes. Strain the mix from Step 1 into the glass through a fine strainer.
3. Top with 3 ounces club soda. Stir. Garnish with the mint spring. Enjoy your afternoon.
Tags: #brancamenta, Branca Menta, club soda, cocktail, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, cocktails, dark rum, Friday Night Cocktail, lemon juice, Mint, Peychaud's bitters, Rum, The Mint Meridian, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Recipes, Rum, What I'm Drinking
June 20, 2014
Welcome back Brancamenta lovers! Wait, you say you don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, then go read my first post about the Brancamenta Mint Challenge (#brancamenta) and The Better Days cocktail. Neat, right? Remember in that post I said I made a second drink? Well, the Mint Meridian is that very drink.
But first, I realized I didn’t say much about Brancamenta in that earlier post, and maybe some folks still don’t know about it – which is a crying shame. It’s made from the same herb-and-spice set up as its older sibling, Fernet Branca, with the addition of Piedmontese peppermint oil. It’s super minty, a bit less of a digestif than Fernet Branca, and fantastic (I think) with soda over ice and in drinks. And it was inspired by opera singer Maria Callas. Neat, again, right? For my second ‘menta (I sometimes shorten it suchly) drink I wanted to hit the refreshing route more heavily, to help y’all out with summer. But I still wanted to get creative with it – hence building on another summer favorite, rum. Really!
The Mint Meridian
Ice cubes
2 ounces dark rum
3/4 ounces Brancamenta
1/4 freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Chilled club soda
Mint sprig, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway up with ice cubes. Add the rum, Brancamenta, lemon juice, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Fill a highball or closely comparable glass up with ice cubes. Strain the mix from Step 1 into the glass.
3. Top with 3 ounces club soda. Stir. Garnish with the mint spring. Enjoy your afternoon.
Tags: #brancamenta, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Peychaud's bitters, Rum, super refreshing summer cocktail, The Mint Meridian, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Recipes, Rum, What I'm Drinking
June 6, 2014
Recently, I ended up with a bottle of Brancamenta via the post. Yeah, I have a good life. I did feel sort-of bad about it. See, it was part of the Brancamenta Mint Challenge (#brancamenta), where the fine folks at Fratelli Branca (perhaps best known for Brancamenta’s sibling Fernet Branca – hey, why not read about my Branca tour) send around some bottles to folks who like to make up drinks – like me! – and then we cut loose and see what happens. None of that was bad, however. The bad part was that after the bottle showed, I realized I already had a bottle of Brancamenta on the shelf. But, I suppose, as Shakespeare said, you can never have too much of a good thing.
And I did come up with not one, but two swell drinks using the minty-herbally-goodness that is Brancamenta. I’ll post the second one later, but first The Better Days cocktail. When I heard “challenge” I took it a little literally, and challenged myself to make a drink that would make people say “what, that can’t be right” when they saw the ingredients list, but then say “jump back! that is awesome,” when they took the first sip. I also wanted to keep the ingredients list slim, as a secondary challenge for myself. And have a drink that you could have early in the day. And yes, I managed to deliver on all three, if I can be so bold, cause The Better Days is tasty, good before noon, and deceptively simple.
The Better Days
Cracked ice
2 ounces gin (I used Voyager – stick with a nice juniper-y gin)
3/4 ounce Brancamenta
3/4 ounce Borghetti coffee liqueur (also made by the fine folks at Branca and a fantastic coffee-lover’s dream)
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add everything. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass.
Tags: #brancamenta, Borghetti, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, The Better Days, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Italy, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
