Friends, I’m excited to announce that I found my drink for the summer. A few weeks ago, my signif brought home a bottle of juice — tart cherry something or other — and suggested I make a cocktail with it.
“Yeah, OK, I’ll get right on that.”
And so the bottle sat, lonely, in my refrigerator door — for weeks. Fast forward to this week: Boo and I are in the middle of a Netflix-and-chill session, which was high on the Netflix and low on the “chill,” when she asked me to make her a beverage. After several requests that went unanswered, she hit me with, “C’mon, you can use that cherry stuff.”
I finally obliged.
“That cherry stuff” is tart cherry concentrate, and it’s really good but really intense. Challenge accepted. (Note: I don’t know where you can find the juice I got my hands on. It isn’t at my neighborhood grocery store, but I saw plenty of non-concentrate options. If you go with the regular kind, simply double the following recipe’s amount of juice from 1/4 ounce to 1/2 ounce.)
At first, I thought the juice would pair well with amaretto, and it does. Good flavor, yet it also kinda tastes like cough syrup.
“It needs bourbon.”
Second experiment: bourbon, amaretto and tart cherry concentrate. Good flavor, but still tastes like cough syrup.
“Maybe it’s the amaretto ruining this?”
My third crack at the cocktail called for bourbon, Amaro Montenegro and the concentrate. How was it? Yep, you guessed it — cough syrup.
I was about to give up on the juice when curiosity struck.
“I wonder how it pairs with an Italian bitter.”
I’d picked up a bottle of Riserva Speciale Bitter a while back. The stuff is Martini & Rossi’s attempt at dethroning Campari as the premier bitter Italian aperitivo. Riserva Speciale Bitter piqued my interest because a description of the aperitivo said it’s aged in oak.
Fuck. Yes. We have a winner.
Somehow the drink went from NyQuil to an incredible combination of flavors. Yes, this week’s cocktail is low ABV — it’s an aperitivo, after all — so it’s meant to be a day drink. I could down this one by the pool all day. I bet you could, too.
Ciao, Cherry
Makes 1
1 1/2 ounces Martini & Rossi Riserva Speciale Bitter
1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce tart cherry concentrate (or regular cherry juice)
Tonic water, to top
Add your Riserva Speciale Bitter, sweet vermouth, and tart cherry concentrate to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until well-chilled. In a rocks glass filled with ice, strain in your cocktail. Top with tonic water and garnish with an orange twist.
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