Time for a Drink: Agavoni
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
While the weather in much of the country seems determined to deny that spring is here—snow in Seattle in April, really?—the calendar doesn’t lie, nor do the ambitious daffodils in the yard that are biding their time until warmer weather comes.
Even though I have to don my heavy coat just to go outside and check the mail, my palate knows that spring is here. And along with the asparagus and spring onions that will soon be popping up in the farmer’s markets, one thing I’m yearning for as the season starts to change is a crisp, bitter brightness in my cocktails.
Sure, you can drink Campari at any time of year, but for me there’s something about spring and early summer that makes the garnet Italian amaro exceptionally appealing. A Negroni is a standard go-to Campari cocktail; here’s a variation on the Negroni that also makes a lot of sense. Developed by German bartender and drinks writer Bastian Heuser, the Agavoni replaces the Negroni’s gin with the bright spark of a silver tequila. Accenting the Campari’s citrus notes with a couple of dashes of orange bitters, the Agavoni breathes new life into the venerable classic.
To me, it simply tastes like spring. Even if you have to turn up the heat and put on a sweater to ward off the arctic chill while retrieving the ingredients from the liquor cabinet, mix an Agavoni this weekend and reassure your palate that sunny days are indeed ahead.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
Agavoni
Adapted from The Essential Bartender’s Guide by Robert Hess.
Ingredients
3/4 ounce silver tequila (Heuser recommends Tapatio Blanco)
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth (Heuser recommends Carpano Antico)
3/4 ounce Campari
2 dashes orange bitters (The Bitter Truth is a recommended brand)
Procedure
Fill a Delmonico or Old Fashioned glass with ice and add ingredients. Stir briefly to mix and chill, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.
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4 Comments:
This is what Im talking about, I have worked in the liquor industry for 10 years in nearly all facets. I love the fact that you recomend a brand but by recomending a brand that 99.9% of the country can not find in their liquor store you do noone a service. After reading this and becoming a little frustrated I did some research and found that both Tapatio tequila and Carpano Antico vermouth can not be purchased in the state (NJ) through a liquor store. The only way to get these products would be through the internet from another state, which is ILLEGAL in NJ. Upon further research these brands are not available in NY, PA, or DE either!!! So how about we stop trying to impress everyone with brands that only you seem to be able to find and recomend something that people can possibly find! Recomendations like this only anger retailers and frustrate customers, but in a sick twisted way I guess it makes you feel special to get one of the 200 bottles or so produced yearly of some specialty liquor imported only for food and drink editors/bloggers/what ever you are!!!
Fellow SE'ers sorry for the rant, this is just a hot button issue for me..
twoojoe at 8:25PM on 04/03/09
it's a recommendation - not a necessity. not all SE eaters live in those 4 states. I for one love to learn about and collect interesting, exotic, and hard to find liquors - it makes it even cooler when you do happen to come across one.
mcswain27 at 10:14PM on 04/03/09
Another reason it sucks to be on the east coast! ;-)
Without much looking these brands are available in CA, WA, and OR AND our states allow for internet booze deliveries (in case we can't find anything). Guess it's time for twojoe to move!
Oh, and by the way, if Paul just suggested spirits that were available in every state, it would be a very, very poor selection of crappy spirits.
JamieB at 10:35PM on 04/03/09
Twoojoe,
Take a deep breath. It's only a cocktail. Get yourself to Shopper's Vineyard in NJ for Carpano Antica: http://www.shoppersvineyard.com/search.asp?s=carpano&GO.x=8&GO.y=11
As for Tapatio, can't help you there, but substituting one silver tequila for another is probably not as noticable as using something other than Carpano Antica.
marty mccabe at 4:32PM on 04/04/09