An Italian Explosion
July's Cocktail of the Month is so Italian that it calls soccer calcio and sips espressos in piazzas in the middle of the day
The Cocktail - Rosa Forte
I’m going to Italy soon-ish. I haven’t been in 11 years. It’s occupying a lot of my free brain space these days, and it’s activated an urge to make Grappa work in a cocktail. I have failed at doing this more times than I can count, but, dear reader, I’ve done it now and I am excited.
Most popular Italian drinks are wildly successful in the States. Limoncello is in the midst of a resurgence, many amari have doubled in price and still don’t last on the shelf, prosecco is everywhere, and Aperol reigns queen. Even Peroni is making more tap lists again. But grappa…grappa is nowhere to be found. But it will now be in your liquor cabinet, and you’ll be glad to have it. Because this drink rocks.
The Rosa Forte doesn’t succeed because it hides the grappa, that wouldn’t be an effective use of the ingredient. If all you do is hide something so you can say it’s there, that doesn’t count. This drink highlights the grappa, but it does help soften some of its hard edges. And it’s bolstered by other super-Italian ingredients, so we’re in full grows-together-goes-together territory on this one. It works, and it truly and honestly tastes like Italy.
What You Have - Aperol, Salty Lemonade
To be fair, you probably don’t still have that same batch of lemonade. It wouldn’t hold that long, but even if it could I expect you drank it all quickly because it’s so damn good. So, make another batch - I’m pretty much making it weekly so far this summer.
You may also need another bottle of Aperol if you, like me, made several simple spritzes last month.
What to Buy - Grappa
You’re going to have to trust me here. This is going to work. And I’m not going to dive too deep here, because I’m going to be talking about Grappa for 2 months coming up. There will be a Deep Dive later :)
For now, let’s focus on the basics: Grappa is not brandy, but it’s close. It’s not made with fruit juice directly, but rather from pomace (the solids left over once a fruit is juiced). You also can’t add any water to the pomace, so fermentation has to occur on the solids directly. That makes it funky and variable, much more so than just about any other spirit, which was the idea - the whole enterprise exists to minimize the waste of winemaking.
Grappa also must be Italian (or at least historically Italian, it’s complicated). It doesn’t have to be clear/unaged, but it usually is. It also doesn’t have to clarify what kind of pomace it was made from, but it often does. The grappa I used for this drink is made from Brunello, but the same producer also makes grappa from Chianti and Nobile (Montepulciano).
Basically, grappa is a hard alcohol made in Italy with the leftovers once the wine is made. Because the details can vary so greatly from bottle to bottle, so too can the taste. But you can expect fruit, funk, and bite. It’s…an acquired taste..
What to Make - Aperol Syrup
Is this cheating? This might be cheating. Regardless, the idea here is to pump up and concentrate the orangey sweetness in Aperol so that you can get more punch with less juice.
To do that, start with a 1:1 simple syrup (equal parts liquid and sugar). But don’t use exactly the same amount of water as sugar; 25% of the liquid you use should be Aperol. Then, add in several good dashes of orange bitters (if you have them, which you should) and some orange zest.
Heat it all together until the sugar dissolves and the liquid is clear, and then strain and store in the fridge! It’s a normal simple syrup, but it’s a beautiful pink color and it tastes like an orange tree.
The Recipe
Unlike last month, this isn’t a long drink. It’s ~4 ounces after dilution, and it packs a punch even though it’s light on the true booze and certainly still low-proof overall:
2oz salty lemonade
0.5oz Aperol
1 oz Grappa
0.25oz Aperol Syrup
You could build this all in the glass, but I actually think this one works better if you shake everything but the lemonade together first to get some more air into the grappa. Then, strain it into an ice-filled glass, top with lemonade, and be transported to your favorite Italian square.
The drink is musty from the grappa, giving it much more depth than you expect from the recipe. The orange and lemon soften that bite, and the finish is a perfect blend of depth and brightness heightened by the salt. It’s really, really good.