Teenage Riot

A couple of weeks after Luke was born, my parents came up to Boston to help us out. We instituted a pretty regular cocktail hour in the evenings - much needed after a day of dealing with a crying baby. My Dad loves Manhattans and Boulevardiers, so I started suggesting some other cocktails for them to try. Before long, a definite theme emerged - we were working our way through all my recipes with gin or whiskey, vermouth, and an amaro. We made Little Italys, Black Manhattans, Negronis, and Montenegronis. The Lucien Gaudin slipped in. I wish there was a general name for this formula, because this combination - specifically with bourbon and sweet vermouth - is definitely my favorite sort of cocktail.

Eventually I thought we ought to switch it up a bit, and I suggested the Teenage Riot. I first heard of this cocktail when the folks at Tipple & Nosh posted their riff on the recipe on Instagram. I didn't have the Cynar 70 and Madeira to make their version, but the original sounded right up my alley - my favorite whiskey/vermouth/amaro combo with some Amontillado sherry and orange bitters to boot.

Sure enough, I loved this drink. It has a beautiful citrus aroma. When you sip, you first get the bite of the rye, then the rich fruity, nutty flavor of the sherry and the Cynar, which stretches into a bitterness at the end. It would be interesting with sweet vermouth, but using dry keeps it lighter and balances things out. It's a beautifully crafted cocktail, and it's going on my list of favorites.

History: The Teenage Riot comes from Tonia Guffey of Dram, Flatiron Lounge, and Lani Kai in New York City. She presumably named it after the song by Sonic Youth.

Teenage Riot

1 1/2 oz. rye whiskey
1 1/2 oz. Cynar
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. Amontillado sherry
2 dashes orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a coupe and garnish with a lemon twist.

Recipe from Gaz Regan's 2011 Annual Manual for Bartenders via Cocktail Virgin Slut.

Little Italy

Howdy from Texas! If you didn't already know, my day job is working as a postdoc in ornithology and evolutionary biology at Harvard. My lab is doing a little collecting trip near Lubbock this week to get some bird specimens and tissues for the museum. We're staying at a lovely ranch outside of town. No cocktails here, so all I can do is wistfully look at these photos. But we've seen some great birds. :-)

If I had to choose a cocktail to drink right now, it would probably be this one. Whiskey + sweet vermouth + amaro is one of my favorite cocktail combinations. The Boulevardier is the best known example of this I can think of, and every now and then I'll come across another "established" recipe that uses a similar formula, like the Black Manhattan. But for the most part it seems like a very DIY sort of thing. I love trying different amari with my favorite bourbon or rye and sweet vermouth. There's no perfect recipe, because the flavor is going to be different every time - I usually have to tweak the proportions a bit to get it right. So I do appreciate when someone else does the work for me, as Audrey Saunders did with the Little Italy.

Like my other whiskey/vermouth/amaro cocktails, the Little Italy is basically a riff on the Manhattan, this time with Cynar instead of the usual Angostura bitters (Cynar is an Italian liqueur, thus the name). Not too sweet or too bitter, Cynar adds a wonderful complexity to a classic cocktail. The flavor is reminiscent of a Manhattan but slightly smoother and more herbaceous. I'd personally prefer one of these any day!

History: The Little Italy was invented in 2005 by Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club in New York. Two other favorites of mine that she created are the Old Cuban and the French Pearl - she really has a way of developing simple, elegant recipes that are instant classics.

Styling Notes: the cocktail pick is from Muddle & Stir and the Nick & Nora glass is from The Boston Shaker.

Little Italy

1 1/2 oz. rye whiskey
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. Cynar

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a Nick & Nora glass and garnish with two* brandied cherries on a pick.

*I recently learned that it's an Italian superstition that an even number of garnishes is bad luck. But the Little Italy recipe specifies two cherries. Maybe it's tempting fate; add a third if you want to be sure.

Recipe from Imbibe.

Bottle Buy: Cynar

I am way behind on my bottle buy posts. It used to be such a rare thing when I would buy a new ingredient for my bar, but lately I've been doing it pretty frequently - probably far more frequently than I should! There's just so much great stuff out there. And while some of the best of it is quite pricey - I'm looking at you, Green Chartreuse and Amaro Nonino! - there are a lot of great bottles that are very affordable. One of these is Cynar.

If you're on a tight budget and can only buy a couple of new things for your bar, I think Cynar should be on your list. Cynar (pronounced "chee-NAHR") is an amaro flavored with artichoke and 12 other herbs and plants. It's different from anything else you've got in your bar, it's extremely versatile, and it's very cheap - around $20 for a one liter bottle. That's my kind of booze.

Cynar was created in 1952 by a Venetian named Angelo Dalle Molle. He sounds like pretty interesting guy. He's described as a philanthropist and entrepreneur who believed that technology would lead to a utopian world. Later in life, he invested heavily in research on artificial intelligence, setting up four research institutes in Switzerland. He died in 2001, over 90 years old.

Cynar is named after the genus of the artichoke, Cynar scolymus. It gained rapid popularity after it was introduced through a marketing campaign featuring Italian actor Ernesto Calindri with the slogan "Contro il logorio della vita moderna" or "Against the stress of modern life." In one TV spot, he was pictured sipping Cynar in the middle of traffic in Milan:

If an artichoke-flavored liquor doesn't sound up your alley, I encourage you to try a Cynar cocktail before you write it off. It doesn't really taste like artichoke. If anything, it tastes a bit like Campari, though sweeter and more vegetal. Like most amari, it's quite nice on its own as a digestif. But I also find it particularly versatile in cocktails.

Cynar

Price: $20 for 1 liter
Alcohol Content: 16.5%
Popular Cocktails: Presbyterian Revenge, Cynar Sour, Cynar & Soda, Little Italy

It seems like everybody likes to drink Cynar differently: straight as a digestif, on the rocks with soda or tonic, up with aged rum or tequila, with orange juice, a dash in a martini or Manhattan, or swapped out for another amaro in a favorite cocktail recipe. It's a liquor that's really fun to play around with.

While there are a ton of recipes out there that call for Cynar, few seem to be as widely known as the Presbyterian Revenge. It's a riff on a classic Scotch cocktail called the Presbyterian (Scotch, ginger ale, and club soda, so named because Scotland is largely Presbyterian). It's a good intro to a very vegetal and bitter spirit, as it's extremely drinkable while still showcasing Cynar's unique flavor. Refreshing and bitter, it makes a great summer cocktail, especially for Scotch lovers. It makes me think of a boozier, more bitter, whiskey-fied Aperol Spritz.

When you're making yours, don't skip the grapefruit twist! It really contributes a lot of flavor to the cocktail. If you don't have fresh grapefruit, try adding a dash of grapefruit bitters instead.

History: The Presbyterian Revenge was created by John McCarthy of Highlands in New York City. Here's a video of him making the cocktail.

Presbyterian Revenge

1 1/2 oz. blended Scotch (Black Grouse recommended)
3/4 oz. Cynar
1/4 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. simple syrup
Splash of club soda

Combine Scotch, Cynar, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Top with club soda and garnish with a grapefruit twist (I used a "nest" of grapefruit peel). Stir gently before sipping. Full disclosure: the cocktail pictured is a recipe and a half.

Recipe from Serious Eats.

Autumn Cocktail #2

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We're having one of the quietest ones we've had in a while. GarnishGuy is working a half day and we don't even have dinner plans yet. I've got a lot of work to do myself, so it doesn't really feel like much of a holiday. But I don't mind. We had our share of fun last weekend, when we went to New York with my sister and her husband. My travel companions let me drag them on a frantic quest to visit as many iconic cocktail bars as possible in three evenings. And we did a pretty decent job: Amor y Amargo, Death & Co., Dead Rabbit, Mother of Pearl, Mayahuel, Attaboy, PDT, and Dear Irving. Kind of a dream come true.

I think Attaboy was the highlight of the trip. From the hidden entrance and the atmosphere to the impeccable cocktails, it was just perfect. The drinks were even more impressive given that there wasn't a menu. I've had mixed success with that format at places like Drink in Boston, but our bartender at Attaboy was an utter genius; in the words of my sister, "He saw into my soul." For my first drink, I requested something bourbon-based with amaro, and he made me a drink called a Paycut with Fernet-Vallet, a Mexican(!) amaro I've never heard of. Every sip was heaven. I've got to figure out the recipe.

After drinks like that, my own offering for a fall cocktail feels a bit inadequate, but it's nice to have something to aspire to. Last year around this time I made my Autumn Cocktail #1, a fall-appropriate mixture of bourbon, apple cider, maple syrup, lemon, and cinnamon. For #2 this year, I kept the maple syrup and cinnamon and went with Laird's Applejack to bring in some apple flavor. The maple syrup makes this drink particularly special, because it's not just any maple syrup - it's Noble Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup.

Guys. This maple syrup. Oh my gosh. If you'd told me prior to tasting it that I'd be recommending a $27 bottle of maple syrup, I'd have said you were completely nuts. But this stuff is spectacular. Other maple syrup pales in comparison to its rich, deep flavor. It's incredible in cocktails, and as a big fan of all carby breakfasts I'd really like to try it on some pancakes. If you want to snag your own bottle, you can get it at Muddle & Stir. If you're in Boston, I also recently saw it at Boston General Store in Coolidge Corner.

After the Applejack, syrup, and cinnamon, I tried a few different ingredients in this drink, and I did not expect Cynar to be the one that worked. As I mentioned in my post on amari, this is a bitter, artichoke-flavored liqueur that's somewhat like a more vegetal Campari. It's surprisingly versatile, and I love the way it works with the other flavors, adding a wonderful bitterness and depth to the cocktail. It's a fragrant glass of apple, cinnamon, and spice - perfect for fall!

Autumn Cocktail #2

1 1/2 oz. Laird's Applejack or Apple Brandy
1/2 oz. Cynar
1/4 oz. maple syrup (preferably Noble Bourbon Barrel Aged)
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 cinnamon stick

Combine all ingredients, including the cinnamon stick, in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with an apple slice and a fresh cinnamon stick.