New Friend

 

Story:
The Old Pal is a classic cocktail that first appeared in print in its current form (2:1:1 rye, dry vermouth, Campari; lemon twist) in 1929.  It’s a very dry, austere drink that I want to love, but I just don’t dig the lingering dry vermouth notes.  Enter the New Friend, a variation of the Old Pal that keeps the rye, swaps in Aperol in place of the Campari, and uses Cocchi Americano instead of dry vermouth.  The drink was developed by Nick Caruana, a student of classic cocktails who writes for Serious Eats and The Straight Up.  It’s still got bitterness in there but it’s much more approachable than its older brother. In addition, there are now intriguing layers of citrus and spice.  I've seen other versions of this same cocktail in one or two other places with different names (like the Pulitzer), but I'm sticking with the New Friend title because of its link to the classic. 10/10, would make it for friends.

Recipe:

1 oz rye whiskey (something lower proof, 80-90)
1 oz Aperol
1 oz Cocchi Americano
orange twist
-stir in a mixing glass with ice until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or Nick & Nora glass.
-express orange twist over the drink and use it as a garnish

Amsterdamage

 

Story

The original cocktail was created by prolific cocktail dude Lee Clarke during a trip to Amsterdam.  It was a variation of a vodka martini with vodka, dry vermouth, and triple sec (1:1:1).  Nigella Lawson featured it in Nigella’s Amsterdam Christmas Special in 2023.  Either Nigella or Simon Difford (of Difford’s Guide) swapped out the vodka for genever, a classic Dutch spirit.  While genever is an ancestor of modern gin, they don’t taste the same and can’t really be substituted for one another.  Genever is a combination of malt wine (distilled corn, wheat, and rye) and a juniper-infused spirit.  It’s kind of a cross between whiskey and gin, and it tastes like it.  The Amsterdamage is reminiscent of a daquiri made with orange instead of lime, but with more complexity from the vermouth and the genever.

Recipe

1 oz genever (Bols)
1 oz  dry vermouth
1 oz Cointreau
1 dash orange bitters
-stir in a mixing glass with ice until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or Nick & Nora glass.
-no garnish

Sidearm

 

In the early 2000’s, San Francisco bartender Jon Santer created a drink called the Revolver.  It was a Manhattan variant that swapped out the sweet vermouth for coffee liqueur.  I got ahold of a bottle of J.Rieger Caffe Amaro (thanks, Brad!), which crosses coffee liqueur with some of the herbal and botanical flavors that make up an amaro.  The Revolver recipe didn’t showcase the amaro to full effect, so I dialed down the bourbon, upped the amaro, and added a little amaretto to bring out the coffee and almond flavors.  Some chocolate bitters rounded things out.  Now we have a Revolver variant with a much different balance and focus – the Sidearm.   
 
Sidearm
1.5 oz bourbon
1 oz  J. Rieger Caffé Amaro
0.5 oz Amaretto
2 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
-stir in a mixing glass with ice until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or Nick & Nora glass.
-no garnish
 

Silvio's Algorithm

 

Story:

I love trying vintage cocktails, modern classics, and new signature drinks dreamed up by amazing bartenders.  This week’s cocktail is none of those things.  This is recipe I found on the Kindred Cocktails website, with no background or explanation.  It caught my eye because it shares some DNA with the Sharpie Mustache – the split base of gin and whiskey, sweetened/flavored by Amaro Meletti, with some additives to bring a little bitterness.  In this case that’s the Aperol and the Fernet.  I guess you could call it a distant relative of the Old Fashioned (whiskey, sugar, bitters, water), but you’d never mistake one for the other.  And why the name?  I’m guessing it’s named for Silvio Micali, an MIT professor and cryptographer whose work is the foundation of blockchain.  Who knows? 

Recipe:

1 oz gin (I used Old Tom gin)
1 oz bourbon
1 oz Amaro Meletti
0.5 oz Aperol
0.25 oz Fernet Branca
Garnish: lemon twist
-stir in a mixing glass with ice until chilled.

-strain into a chilled coupe or Nick & Nora glass.
-express lemon twist over the drink.