Archives for posts with tag: aperol

Sugar, Spice and Citrus Play Nice Cocktail

November 30, 2012 //
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Occasionally while I’m looking through cocktail books, I’ll make a list of liquors and ingredients I want to purchase to use in the future. Then I buy them. And they sit on my liquor shelf. For ever.

I picked up a bottle of Canton awhile back, but I wasn’t really head over heels in love with it when I tried it. I figured it was best mixed in to something, however I had some serious failures the first couple times until I hit upon this drink.

Remember those roasted oranges from last time? I put some brown sugar on a couple when I roasted them and decided to muddle them here.

1-1/2 oz. Broker’s Gin
3/4 oz. Domaine de Canton
3/4 oz. Aperol
3 slices of roasted brown sugar orange rounds (reserve the nicest for garnish)
3 dashes of Scrappy’s Aromatic Bitters

Muddle the orange slices with the Canton in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add ice to about half way up the glass, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a twisted, brown sugar coated orange wheel.

The very syrupy Canton evens out here and the drink is quite light and refreshing. There is a nice bite from the ginger and aromatic bitters with subtle orange notes. The garnish also repeats the citrus nose with a wonderful sweetness and in the back somewhere a sharpness from the browned sugar.

Side note: I recently went nuts at Bar Keeper here in Los Angeles and picked up a bunch of bitters to play around with. It’s my goal to feature all of the bottles here in a recipe in the coming months. This bottle of Scrappy’s Aromatic Bitters I got in a sampler pack is quickly becoming an occasional substitute in Manhattans. It has a nice level of spice that works well if you are using Carpano Antica for sweet vermouth.

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The Aquavit Solution

November 20, 2011 //
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I’m starting to amass a collection a liqueurs that I don’t know what to do with. Part of the problem is that for months now I’ve wanted nothing more to drink than champagne and Manhattan’s night after night. That tends to leave bottles of things like Aquavit lying around looking sad. But today I couldn’t take that sad little Scandinavian face any longer and decided to try it. Hey, I’m half Scandinavian myself and caraway and I go way back.

A bit stumped I looked at all the other bottles hanging out with it and decided just to think about flavors and smells. There’s a lot going on in the flavor department with Aquavit, but at the same time I thought it could use a little sweet and citrus. So I grabbed Aperol. And rounded out the spice with Angostura.

When using any kind of bitter aperitif like Aperol, a little goes along way. But I like that smack of bitterness you get, so I use more. If you’re not a huge lover, just add less. You should enjoy what you’re drinking after all.

1-1/2 oz Aquavit
1 oz Aperol
2 dashes Angostura bitters

In a mixing glass filled with ice combine all of the ingredients. Stir to chill and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Even though this is a cold drink, there is something very warming about all the spiciness you get from it. Underneath the Aperol, the Aquavit provides layers of fennel and caraway.

I think that I might just go through all the weirdo random bottles I have accumulated in the past two years. Half a bottle of Ouzo? Check. Goldschläger? Really? Check. Be prepared folks.

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Aperol G&T

April 28, 2011 //
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I enjoy Gin and Tonics like some people enjoy water, or cocaine. They go down pretty easily and are light enough that I can have them with the heaviest of meals. Occasionally though they get quite dull and an extra oomph of something is needed. I like to think that many cocktails are given birth with that thought process. Foul, rancid water? Hey, let’s add some beer to that! And so forth.

So a week or so ago we went over to BevMo and stocked up on some more items for the bar. On a recommendation we found and picked up a bottle of Aperol. Aperol is another of those Italian aperitifs… slightly bitter, slightly sweet. This one tastes of oranges.

The syrupy nature of this liqueror made me think that it needed a couple of ingredients to cut that down.. and so I thought of a gin and tonic. And the conclusion? So. freaking. tasty. I need to make a barrel of my own tonic water because I think this concoction might just become my new summer drink.

2 oz Beefeater Gin
1 oz Aperol
Tonic water

Fill a Collins glass 2/3rds with ice and build up with gin and aperol. Top glass with tonic water.

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