I’ve got Aperol on my mind. Maybe it was flipping through an old copy of Italian Farmhouse Cooking at a garage sale. Or because it feels like 104F outside. Or because Ryan Maybee, Manifesto mastermind and cocktailian extraordinaire, mentioned it on the phone today. Whatever the reason, Aperol just sounds good. It was created in Italy in 1919, a bright orange liqueur infused with 16 herbs and roots, mostly from Italy’s Piedmont region, including bitter orange, gentian, cinchona bark and Chinese rhubarb, or so says Difford’s Encyclopedia of Cocktails. Think Campari, but friendlier. Dry with a pleasantly citrus bite, a refreshing aperitif after a long, hot week chasing the kiddos. The only dilemma is how to have it? Perhaps with sparkling wine, or club soda and lime. An ounce and a half of Aperol, 2 ounces of lemon juice and a 1/4 ounce simple syrup, shaken with ice and strained over fresh ice with an orange wheel is also quite nice. I can always experiment; at just 11% ABV, there’s little penalty for sampling several.
(Image courtesy of importer Palm Bay International)