Three Suggestions for New Year's Cocktails

Italians have made many noteworthy contributions to the world: art, architecture, the Renaissance, the Roman Empire, Madonna, Paolo Maldini, pizza, and too many others to list here. But order a cocktail in Italy, and on top of having to explain to the bartender how to make your desired drink, you'll likely be handed a stiff, undrinkable beverage with an exorbitant price tag. There are a few exceptions to this rule, and I have done my best to suss them out during my Italian travels. Here are my top three picks, any of which are fun and festive enough to incorporate into your New Year's celebration:

1. Aperol Spritz: Aperol is a softer, kinder herbal infusion than Campari. This cocktail became my runaway favorite while traveling around Italy this summer.  Despite having spent almost two years in the bel paese, I hadn't tried an Aperol spritz until this summer. Sadly, I wasn't even aware of Aperol's existence. Suddenly everywhere I looked, everyone had bright orange iced beverage in one hand, cigarette in the other.   

2. Negroni: A bitter aperitivo, the essential ingredient being Campari, for more sophisticated palettes. The first time I tried one, fifteen years ago in Milan, it made my mouth pucker so much that I couldn't finish it. It's now one of my favorites. Not that that makes me sophisticated...

3. Bellini: Peaches and prosecco, the quintessential Italian wine cooler. Originated at Harry's Bar in Venice, where they charge you ten euro a pop for the pleasure of enjoying one in their establishment. I was surprised to learn that they use a frozen puree to make this concoction (as revealed in the Harry's Bar Cookbook). Subsequent to the publishing of his book, Arrigo Cipriani has come out with a canned Bellini mixer that does the trick just as well. You can find it in upscale Italian grocery stores.

Now for the recipes.

Aperol Spritz

Ingredients:
1/2 ounce Aperol
2 ounces dry, sparkling wine
Club soda
Orange slices

Directions:

1. Pour Aperol, sparkling wine, and a splash of soda into a wine glass filled with ice. 

2. Garnish with half orange slice.

Recipe credit: Aperol


Negroni

Ingredients:
1 ounce gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Campari bitters
Orange slices for garnish

Directions:

1. Pour all ingredients directly into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Stir gently.

2. Garnish with half orange slice.

Recipe credit: International Bartenders Association


Bellini

Ingredients:
3 ounces prosecco
1 ounce frozen peach puree

Directions:

1. Refrigerate the puree until it is very cold.

2. Mix it with very cold, dry prosecco in the proportion of one part peach puree to three parts wine or, for each drink, one ounce peach puree and three ounces prosecco.

3. Pour the mixture into well-chilled glasses.

Recipe credit: The Harry's Bar Cookbook, Arrigo Cirpriani, 2006

What's your favorite cocktail? Let me know.

--StellaCadente*

Comments

[geruchloser knoblauch on December 29, 2009 at 05:07 AM]

Hello
All my friends like different types of cocktails and they always try different one.I will try to make all these for my friends..I hope they like it.Thank you very much for giving such recipes of cocktails.

[A.J. Rathbun on December 29, 2009 at 11:30 AM]

These are all great, great drinks. The Spritz actually became uber popular in Italy fairly recently, thanks to a country-wide ad campaign promoting it. One thing to watch for: in Venice (where it's referred to as a Venetian Spritz) and spots near it, the garnish is always a green olive. I'm an orange slice proponent myself, but many love the olive, so you might give it a try. You probably know this already, but the Negroni comes from Florence, so I wanted to give that lovely city a shout out, too. Finally, while the frozen peach puree is dandy, making your own I think is even better. Just be sure and add a little lemon juice to your peaches (white peaches if possible, to match how the drink is made in Italy) when blending them up. A regular blender works fine for this.

Cheers-
A.J.

[StellaCadente* on December 29, 2009 at 12:24 PM]

Thanks for your input A.J. The Aperol campaign seems to have done the trick. I actually had a quite a few Aperol Spritzes in Venice, but, curiously, they always came with an orange slice...I like the idea of the olive as I usually like the sweet/salty.

If you *do* make your own peach puree for the Bellini, Cipriani suggests using "...a food mill or meat grinder to make the pulp and then force it through a fine sieve" and to "never puree the peaches by machine." However, I am sure a blender works fine for the average Joe. If it's not peach season, I usually buy peach nectar in a bottle and use that.

Salute!

StellaC*

[Yiwu Futian Market on September 11, 2010 at 08:25 AM]

These are all great, great drinks.