That’s Amaro

I’d been seeing recipes for cocktails using Amaro CioCiaro and finally got a bottle. The first recipe I rooted around and found was this Triborough cocktail in the PDT book.

For some reason there are all these borough-based cocktails. Manhattan — obviously. But there’s these Brooklyn and Bronx cocktails, too. In the David A. Embury book he quips that “Every borough of Greater New York has to have its special cocktail. . . .” That line is preceded by something called a “Westchester Special.” Maybe at one point people tasted the treacly Sweet Tart taste of maraschino and automatically thought “Brooklyn,” but it’s hard to discern what that might be. Whatever. And I actually like maraschino.

So anyway, the Triborough (not “Triboro”) is a recent creation from the PDT people*: Rye, kirschwasser, Punt e Mes**, Amaro CioChiara and Angostura bitters. Four parts, then one part for everything else: 3.5 ounces. Plus one dash. And . . . it’s good!

This, by the way, seems like a nice primer on the matter of Italian bitters.

*It’s Nate Dumas, who now is part of New York Distilling Company, an all-star dream spirits team who, as far as I know, have been doggedly trying to open the first distillery in the New York area for like a gazillion years.

**And, we don’t have Punt e Mes, but apparently you can recreate this by combining two parts sweet vermouth with one pat Campari).