- 3/4 ounce Campari
- 3/4 ounce scotch, or maybe Buchanan’s Pineapple Drink (see below)
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
- 1/2 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 ounce super-sparkling wine, like prosecco, to top
On the face of it, the recipe is fairly daunting.
For one thing, a lot of scotch drinkers would look at the whole idea of putting Scotch whisky in a cocktail as pretty blasphemous to begin with. Scotch is supposed to stand on its own – maybe with ice. That would be like using, I don’t know, Champagne in a cocktail.
You mean, like a Champagne Cocktail?
Oh, right.
But equal parts scotch and Campari? The bitter, red, Italian liqueur? That seems like a lot of intensity in one place. Sure, there’s simple syrup and lemon juice to drag the mixture back to civilization, but still.
On the other hand, you’ve been looking for something a little outside your comfort zone, and this sounds like it would be far enough outside it to send it a vacation postcard.
So you drop a handful of ice into a mixing glass and add everything but the bubbly. You break out your special long-handled spoon and mix and chill it thoroughly, then strain it into a coupe glass. You top it with an ounce of prosecco.
Wow, that is red. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. “To your very good health.”
Yeah, that’s a choice, right there. It is, as expected, PDB (Pretty Damn Bitter), but nuanced, with a complexity under the bitterness. You can see how this might become somebody’s go-to drink. But golly, that bitterness sure goes on and on, doesn’t it?
So, let’s try this: Set it down on the counter. We can come back to it; it’s not going anywhere. Let’s try swapping out the scotch for something scotch-adjacent. Buchanan’s Pineapple Drink is made from scotch, with a few tropical ingredients added in. Maybe, without the scotch and the Campari ramming into each other like big-horn sheep, this will be a little less bracing.
Let’s try that again.
**Sounds of rinsing mixing glass, the clatter of fresh ice, and a hum of concentration as new Campari, Buchanan’s, lemon juice and simple syrup are poured. The rattle of everything being stirred, the strained. The fizz of the sparkling wine.**
Hmm. That looks very much the same as the first one. Taking a tentative sip.
The first thing you notice is the fizziness on your tongue from the prosecco. And then, yes, this is a little sweeter, slightly fruitier. Less, “I’d like to speak to your manager!” It’s still bitter and red, though. There’s still some complexity there.
And yet.
The first version sits on the counter where you left it, openly mocking you. “Oh, good! I hope you have fun with Little Miss Country Club Over There! Go on! You were made for each other!”
(Of course, it’s bitter. It’s half Campari.)
Sometimes you want a drink that challenges you. On the other hand, sometimes you just want a drink.
And somewhere, a devoted scotch drinker stokes their sense of righteous indignation that you’d put scotch in a cocktail in the first place.
Featured photo. Photo by John Fladd.
