Hope You Like Artichokes
The Bitter Giuseppe.
When I want a summery grapefruit refresher, a warming nightcap, or a fun replacement for aperitif liqueurs like Campari or Aperol, there’s one bottle I always know I can reach for. And it has a bright-green artichoke on the label. I’m talking about Cynar, the Italian bitter liqueur that’s one of my absolute favorite bottles — and one of the key bottles to Beta Cocktails. Cynar shows up in 13 of the book’s 55 recipes, second only to Angostura bitters by my count. If one bottle is synonymous with the idea of a rogue cocktail, it’s this one.
Cynar is the most famous carciofo liqueur, a class of Italian bitters, or amari, that counts artichoke among their botanicals (13, in Cynar’s case). It doesn’t taste obviously of artichoke — it’s bittersweet and vegetal, with notes of herbs, licorice, cough drops, coffee, and chocolate. But even that description falls short, because it’s such a wonderful mindfuck of a flavor that I honestly can’t describe. It’s key to some modern classic cocktails, like the Little Italy, a Manhattan riff with Cynar that’s one of my absolute favorite drinks.
If I were introducing someone to Cynar, I might make them a spritz with prosecco and grapefruit soda. After all, it’s one of the more bitter amari, and will probably take some easing into. But if I had to pick a cocktail to spotlight Cynar, it’d be the Bitter Giuseppe. This cocktail comes from Stephen Cole, who developed it for an early menu at the Violet Hour, that Chicago bar where Kirk Estopinal worked for a time. It’s pretty much a Manhattan that swaps in Cynar for whiskey, but with a little more rule-breaking along the way. That’s because it uses a cheek of lemon with some flesh on it, spritzed over the glass so that a few drops get into the cocktail. Usually, any drink with citrus juice gets shaken, for aeration, but that trick makes the Bitter Giuseppe a rare stirred drink with citrus. (There are more of those to come in Beta Cocktails.)
A few notes on ingredients: This cocktail is one of quite a few in Beta Cocktails that specifically calls for Carpano Antica Formula, a robust sweet vermouth with strong vanilla notes. And while the recipe in the book only calls for two dashes of orange bitters, most of the other recipes I’ve seen call for six. I imagine that’s a later revision to Cole’s recipe, but I can’t be sure.
Bitter Giuseppe1
2 ounces Cynar
3/4 ounce Carpano Antica
2 dashes Regan’s Orange bitters
Slice of lemon with a little meat
Build in rocks glass; Slice lemon and squeeze over glass with oils spraying over top and about 11-15 drops of juice going into the glass. Stir. Garnish with same lemon slice.
By Stephen Cole
I tend to mix with Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, which is a bit less rich than Carpano, and I’ve made serviceable Bitter Giuseppes with it before. But the first thing I’m struck by is how decadent this cocktail becomes with the vanilla notes from the Carpano. The vermouth brings a raisiny sweetness out of the Carpano, on top of a licoricey-minty herbal note from the Cynar. Without thinking, the first version of this drink I made had six dashes of bitters, which gives the drink a subtle orange candy flavor along with the lemon. But when I went back and made the drink with only two dashes of bitters, the dark chocolate and coffee notes of the Cynar came out more, only cut by a hint of sourness from the lemon. I honestly might like that version more! But truthfully, I like any Bitter Giuseppe — it’s one of my all-time favorite drinks.
Next week, I’ll tell you about another of my favorite Cynar cocktails.
From Beta Cocktails by Maksym Pazuniak and Kirk Estopinal, 2011.