Category: Featured Content

News & Notes 21/04/22

Covid-19 updateAs of April 12As of April 19
Total cases statewide89,22991,783
Total current infections statewide3,3843,329
Total deaths statewide1,2571,270
New cases3,104 (April 6 to April 12)2,554 (April 13 to April 19)
Current infections: Hillsborough County1,0021,002
Current infections: Merrimack County297270
Current infections: Rockingham County846746
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Covid-19 news

During the state’s weekly public health update on April 15, Gov. Chris Sununu announced that he would not be renewing the statewide mask mandate, citing a more than 95 percent drop in seven-day average daily deaths from Covid-19 from Nov. 1. The mandate, which required everyone over the age of 5 to wear masks in both indoor and outdoor public spaces where social distancing wasn’t possible, was originally issued on Nov. 20 and extended twice before it expired on April 16. Despite the lifting of the statewide mandate, those in several cities and towns remain in effect. Concord’s citywide face covering ordinance, for instance, is still valid through at least June 1, while Nashua’s will remain in place “until further notice,” according to an April 16 press release. Private businesses such as retail stores also reserve the right to continue enforcing masks or face coverings when entering their establishments.

On April 16, Sununu issued Emergency Order No. 90, an order extending Emergency Order No. 52 regarding public health guidance for business operations and advising Granite Staters they are safer at home, through at least May 7. During the press conference, Sununu said that the restrictions outlined in the guidance “will transition from required mandates to universal best practices” beginning May 7. “Whether you’re talking about the restrictions we have in a retail store or a restaurant, or a large venue, all of that stays in place until May 7,” he said.

Also on April 16, Sununu issued Executive Order 2021-6, extending the state of emergency in New Hampshire due to the pandemic for another three weeks through at least May 7.

According to an April 18 report from WMUR, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said he expects there will be “a resumption in some form” of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine by Friday. State health officials had announced April 13 that they would pause the use of the vaccine based on a recommendation from the federal government, following six reports nationwide of a blood clot disorder.

School support

Schools, students and families will get a little extra support with two programs launching this summer, both of which are efforts to address the negative effects that the pandemic has had, according to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Education. The first is ReKINDling Curiosity: Every Kid Goes to Camp, whichwill give children the opportunity to attend approved overnight and day youth recreation camps, with a focus on promoting social, emotional and mental wellness. The program will be run by the state and will pay up to $650 for camp fees at approved recreation facilities for qualifying students. DOE is also offering grants to school districts to create District Learning Pods this fall through a program called Recovering Bright Futures, the release said. The Learning Pods are designed for five to 10 students and follow a trauma-sensitive instructional model, providing students with in-person learning and peer interaction outside of traditional school. DOE will also support the creation of Community Learning Pods, especially for families who do not have a District Learning Pod available to them.

Ethical issues

The Center for Ethics in Society, whose mission is to encourage constructive conversations surrounding ethical questions, is the new name for the Manchester organization formerly known as the Center for Ethics in Business and Governance. The Center, which is located at Saint Anselm College, wanted to expand ethical issues pertaining to business and corporate governance. Its advisory board includes 18 leaders from New Hampshire’s business, nonprofit, and public policy communities and is a partnership between Saint Anselm and the people who live and work in New Hampshire. The Center has been involved in the housing crisis, having assembled a task force to provide recommendations for the state’s housing action plan, and its housing research has impacted advocacy in the field, the release said. It is also hosting a new series called Corporations and the Common Good: How Should Businesses Respond to Social Issues? Upcoming programs include an April 22 Ethics Lab on Ethics and Economics of Health Insurance and an April 27 Honorable Business webinar and panel discussion with Notre Dame professor James Otteson.

Humane treatment

The Governor’s Commission on the Humane Treatment of Animals has been reestablished after Gov. Chris Sununu issued an executive order April 19, charging the commission with preparing a report that includes the number of animal cruelty-related convictions; the number of animal cruelty-related cases; relevant proposed or enacted legislation; and suggested legislation as necessary to ensure the safety and welfare of domestic animals and New Hampshire citizens, according to a press release.

The Warner Historical Society presents “Social History of the Mink Hills,” a virtual talk about the history of the 15,000+ acres of land in Warner that once encompassed 10 independent school districts, 13 burial grounds and several small mills, according to a press release. The presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28, at 7 p.m.; register for the Zoom link at bit.ly/3rerX7O.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services recently issued two registration certificates for new therapeutic cannabis dispensary locations, according to press releases. One allowed Prime Alternative Treatment Centers to begin operations in Chichester, and one allowed Temescal Wellness to begin operations in Keene. At the end of 2020 there were 11,161 qualifying patients and 564 designated caregivers participating in the state’s Therapeutic Cannabis Program, according to the release.

Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to visit New Hampshire on Friday, April 23, according to a report from WMUR. The April 19 report said a source has confirmed that Harris will discuss the American Jobs Plan at the IBEW headquarters in Concord.

National Drug Take Back Day is Saturday, April 24, in towns and cities across the state, coordinated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to allow people to properly dispose of prescription medication. In Manchester, the event will be held between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Elliot at River’s Edge at 175 Queen City Ave. The DEA will accept pills and patches and vaping devices and cartridges but no liquids, needles or sharps, the release said. Check with your town for similar events on that day.

Getting back to normal

New Hampshire took a huge step a few days ago, announcing that it would lift its statewide mask mandate and start to relax other Covid safety measures. Gov. Chris Sununu attributed the moves to New Hampshire’s high rate of vaccination.

New Hampshire leads the country in the percentage of people who have received at least one dose — almost 60 percent as of April 18, according to NPR. Sununu cited New Hampshire’s vaccination rate and our decreased fatality rate as the factors behind his decision to lift the mask mandate, according to media reports.

New Hampshire’s success has been a marriage of good governance and our good sense. State government has acted with urgency to make it easy for anyone who wants to be vaccinated to be vaccinated. And the people of New Hampshire have responded by taking the state up on its offer. I was at a vaccine distribution center last week and was able to get vaccinated in just a few minutes.

Though we’re moving in the right direction and estimates are that by mid-July 85 percent of Granite Staters will be fully vaccinated, this won’t happen unless people continue to make the personal decision to get vaccinated. I do see a fair amount of vaccine hesitancy. And I understand it. These are new vaccines. However, just in the United States 212 million doses of the Covid vaccines have already been administered with few side effects. Former President Donald Trump and his wife were vaccinated before leaving office as was Vice President Mike Pence. President Joe Biden and his wife, Gov. Sununu and all the Congressional delegation have been vaccinated.

My point is that the vaccines are exceedingly safe. The faster we get vaccinated the faster we can expect life to return to normal. But this is one of those times when we need to support our neighbors and rely on them. Just you or me getting the vaccine isn’t enough. Seventy to 85 percent of people in the country need to be vaccinated for the disease to essentially die out. And while you may be young and healthy and the virus may not harm you (though it surely might) you’re doing this for those whom Covid does have a greater chance of harming. We’re asked every day to do things that are not only good for us but benefit our society. This is one of those things. Go to vaccines.nh.gov to find a place near you to get vaccinated. Do your part to return us to normal.

Ready to rock?

Live music returns to big venues — carefully

Fueled by rising vaccination rates and the tantalizing promise of herd immunity, the live music industry is more optimistic than it was a year ago. Around the region, however, a haze of uncertainty remains, and a survey of regional venues seating 500 or more patrons reveals varying plans to offer shows in the coming months.

In Manchester, the Rex and Palace Theatres are ambitious, almost booked solid from June through December. There’s more caution at Concord’s Capitol Center for the Arts and its sister room Bank of NH Stage, with only outdoor events planned — at least until New Hampshire eases its social distancing rules for venues like theirs from 6 to 3 feet.

Portsmouth’s Music Hall is taking a hybrid approach, re-launching 2020’s successful Music Under the Arch outdoor concert series while booking regional acts for its Historic Theatre. Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach is selling tickets for nationally touring acts, though it’s aware that those shows might get canceled or postponed.

That’s also somewhat true for Bank of NH Pavilion; the Lakes Region shed is bullish on its plans for national acts like Toby Keith, Dave Matthews Band and Chris Stapleton, betting on New Hampshire plans to allow 100 percent capacity there by July 16, “assuming self-attestation of vaccination” by fans when they purchase tickets.

At SNHU Arena in downtown Manchester, the state’s largest indoor facility, tickets for Nickelodeon star JoJo Siwa are still being sold, but the July 24 date, rescheduled from last summer, might move again. The arena’s next listed concert is Eric Church on Dec. 3; the country singer’s 55-city Gather Again tour is scheduled to kick off in mid-September.

“The chicken/egg situation is still true no matter what confident venue people say,” Tupelo Music Hall CEO Scott Hayward said on April 5. “Unless artists are ready to organize tours through several states and be confident that it’s safe everywhere, they’re not going to mount tours.”

The question of how to ensure the safety of audience members lingers. New Hampshire state guidance makes no mention of a so-called vaccination passport or other form of proof. Verifying such a document was deemed “impossible to do” by Capitol Center Executive Director Nicki Clarke in an April 6 phone interview. “If some other authority issues something” defining enforcement, she said, it might have a chance of working, “[but] we just think it’s a problem on so many levels.” (Clarke, also a member of the Governor’s Economic Re-Opening Task Force, announced her retirement from the Capitol Center after 14 years at the helm on April 9.)

Two efforts born of necessity last year are returning, each bringing a different mindset.

Tupelo Drive-In in Derry was a pioneer in parking lot concerts, garnering national press for its quick pivot from indoor to outdoor shows. It will be back exactly as it was in 2020, with only minor tweaks. That said, Hayward sees an end in sight as he eyes indoor shows for the fall, albeit cautiously.

Not so for Northlands, launched last year as Drive-In Live by the agency that books Plymouth’s Flying Monkey Cinema. With a capacity more than double Tupelo’s, it can book bigger acts. The rebranded venue now has five-person audience pods instead of parking spaces, and its founders envision a life well beyond the pandemic.

Here’s what venues around the region are doing in the coming months. Fans need to be aware that everything is a moving target. Tickets bought for an event in May or June might end up unused until September or October — or even 2022. It’s essential to frequently check websites and social media pages — the latter option seems to be the most reliably up to date.

Palace Theatre & Rex Theatre, Manchester

The wall calendar in Palace Theatre CEO Peter Ramsey’s office is filled with shows.

“We have some 200 events scheduled between June 1 and the end of the year, which is a lot,” he said. “I’ve only got maybe six or seven days free from Labor Day to the end of the year and most of them are Mondays.”

Many are shows that were postponed in 2020, like Linda Ronstadt Experience and KT Tunstall. “From the beginning, we were committed to not treating any artist in an unethical or bad way, so we guaranteed we’d rebook them out,” Ramsey said.

Those include Paula Cole, The Fools and Billy Joel tribute act David Clark’s Songs in the Attic.

Ramsey’s big hope is a five-week run of Mamma Mia! in the fall, at full capacity.

“We were running Mamma Mia! when we shut down and we ended up canceling 15 sold out shows,” he said.

Manchester’s newest venue was sent reeling when the pandemic shut it down mere months after opening. Rex Executive Director Chuck Stergiou promises three months of regular Friday night comedy shows, along with a solid mix of music, from locals like Ally Beaudry and the Spain Brothers to Adam Ezra, Susan Werner and Max Weinberg’s Jukebox, a side project of the E Street Band drummer due to hit town on Nov. 11.

Capitol Center for the Arts & Bank of NH Stage, Concord

While the space was shuttered for the year, indoor air treatment capabilities were improved, hands-free restroom equipment was added and other pandemic-related enhancements were done, so both the Chubb Theatre and Bank of NH Stage are ready when the State of New Hampshire green-lights larger audiences.

For Clarke, reducing the social distancing minimum from 6 to 3 feet would be a critical step.

“Depending on what happens with the guideline situation, if it loosens up a little bit, getting another 25 or 30 people into the Bank of NH Stage makes a difference for us,” she said. “Nothing’s going to change in the big theater until we really can be at full capacity, because of the fees we pay artists.”

Rather than plan indoor events that currently aren’t economically viable, there are plans for an 11-show Sunday in the Park outdoor concert series in nearby Fletcher-Murphy Park, beginning on June 16 with guitarist Joe Sabourin.

Tupelo Music Hall, Derry

After inventing a new business from scratch in three weeks last year, Hayward will again transform his parking lot into Tupelo Drive-In — he hopes for the final time.

“The question is, how long are we going to be outside? We’ve booked through the end of July, but from everything I can see … we’ll be outside in August. I’m hoping I can get back indoors by October, but who knows?”

An eclectic mix of talent is booked, from national acts like Dar Williams, Tiffany and Popa Chubby to local favorites like Truffle, Entrain and guitarist Tim Theriault, who opens the season on Friday, April 30. A May 29 Jon Butcher Axis show will include a guest appearance from Stompers front man Sal Baglio.

Doppelgänger acts appear frequently, beginning with Foreigners Journey May 1 and May 2.

“The tributes attract a lot of people because they are generally bands that have been around a very long time, like the Eagles,” Hayward said. “People like the music … it appeals to parents and kids alike, and they will bring the families.”

Northlands, Swanzey

After a switch from cars to pods inspired by European festivals, the novel venue can sell even more seats for big-name acts like Indigo Girls, Allman Betts Band, Dinosaur Jr. and Smith & Myers, the latter an acoustic side project from Shinedown front man Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers.

The switch was made to improve audience experience, Northlands Director of Operations Mike Chadinha explained in a phone interview. “The drive-in was cool in a lot of ways because you’re tailgating at instead of before the concert,” he said, but other issues, such as sight line and sound, negated the benefits. “Someone has a giant truck and the person behind them has a Honda Civic, that’s a little tough. On top of that, I don’t think artists generally want to play to a parking lot.”

Bank of NH Pavilion, Gilford

Beginning with Thomas Rhett on June 3 and June 4 and ending with Toby Keith in early September, there are 17 shows scheduled at New Hampshire’s biggest outdoor concert facility that require fully relaxed guidances. “We expect to be back to full capacity by midsummer, so a very good chance,” the venue responded on its Facebook page when fans asked about whether their tickets would be used.

That said, four “reduced-capacity, socially-distanced” shows are bet-hedgers for the LiveNation property. Country singer Jake Owen appears May 29, followed a month later by an Independence Day weekend run from by Nashville band Old Dominion.

The Music Hall, Portsmouth

The historic downtown theater will take its mixed approach of indoor and outdoor events a step further, with livestreams of socially distanced concerts now available. The focus of those concerts continues to be regional talent that would appear at the smaller Music Hall Loft in different times.

Music Hall CEO Tina Sawtelle is especially pleased with a three-concert series featuring Zack Williams, Rachael Price and Son Little, designed to assist fellow Portsmouth venues 3S Artspace and Prescott Park.

“They were not able to access State of New Hampshire Covid emergency funding as easily as we were,” she said by phone, “so we’re opening up our doors and providing the production team and the front of house team to run those events.”

Proceeds will be split evenly between the two nonprofit organizations, Sawtelle continued. “We’re just thrilled to be hosting it and to be collaborating in a way we haven’t before,” she continued. “We hope that’s a real relationship that is sustained beyond Covid and these trying times that we’re all in.”

The very successful evening concerts on Chestnut Street resume with two shows from Antje Duvekot on May 8, followed by area bluegrass stalwarts Rockspring the next Saturday. Also slated are folksinger Vance Gilbert on May 19 and the duo Crys Matthews & Heather Mae on June 22.

Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach

Beginning with the ’60s revival Happy Together Tour on June 27 followed by the annual SoCal ska show from Badfish on July 2, Casino Ballroom has over a dozen dates slotted for summer. But the reality, Marketing Director Andy Herrick explained by phone recently, is many may be postponed because advance ticket sales already exceed capacity limits.

“The holy grail for us is when restrictions can be dropped,” Herrick said. “No one has a crystal ball, but the fall looks reasonably good, and maybe even summer, with the vaccination rate being what it is.”

The reluctance of big-name acts to hit the road compounds things.

“We’re only part of the big picture, because tours have to happen for our shows to happen,” he said. “We’ll try to stay positive, and keep shows on our website that have a shot.”

Featured photo: Northlands. Courtesy photo.

Thunder Force (PG-13)

Thunder Force (PG-13)

With Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer playing middle-aged lady superheroes, Bobby Cannavale playing all the ego and Jason Bateman playing a half-crab man, Thunder Force really should have been a better movie than it is.

I had such hopes after Superintelligence, the Ben Falcone-directed Melissa McCarthy movie that hit HBO Max a few months back. That movie was so above average and genuinely enjoyable that I let myself get way too excited for this movie, forgetting all about my letdown at Tammy and The Boss.

As it is, I won’t even pretend I’m being completely objective about this movie; I like McCarthy and Spencer and all the other players here too much not to grade on a curve. And it helps that this movie is on Netflix, so if you already have a Netflix subscription it basically only costs your “what should we watch, I don’t know, this looks promising” time.

The comic book-like premise here is solid: Once upon a time (March 1983) a cosmic ray struck the Earth, giving superpowers to people genetically predisposed to be sociopaths. These people, called Miscreants, have basically an unchecked ability to cause mayhem, as no good-guy superpower-having people exist to stop them. After young Emily (Bria D. Singleton) loses her parents to a Miscreant attack, she vows to make it her life’s mission to find a way to stop them.

First, however, she has to make it through school, which is not easy when you’re perceived as a nerd. Luckily, Emily has a friend in Lydia (Vivian Falcone), who might not be a star student but is willing and able to stand up to anyone picking on Emily. The girls remain close friends until high school, when Emily’s single-minded studiousness and Lydia’s lack of direction pull them apart.

Still, decades later, when their high school reunion approaches, Lydia (McCarthy) is pretty excited to see Emily (Spencer), who is now a rich and famous scientist type. True to old patterns, Emily forgets all about the reunion, so Lydia goes to her science lab/office to retrieve her — which is how Lydia, a “what does this button do?” type, accidentally gets injected with Emily’s superpowers-creating serum. Emily had planned to give herself super-strength and invisibility to help her fight the Miscreants. But now Lydia has the super-strength and Emily has the invisibility and they must work together, with the help of Emily’s super-smart daughter Tracy (Taylor Mosby), to fight a Miscreant called Laser (Pom Klementieff). Because they decide they need cool names to go with their powers and supersuits, they dub themselves “Thunder Force.”

Bobby Cannavale, playing a politician trying to get people to call him “The King,” and Jason Bateman, as a sometime criminal who has crab arms and is conflicted about his Miscreant status, also show up, as does Melissa Leo as Emily’s security officer. And, just writing this, I’m sort of excited about this movie all over again — sounds great! Except, parts of the movie just don’t click, like Leo, who always feels a step off from what the movie needs her to be. Or like parts of Bateman’s whole crab-arms thing, with jokes that go on too long or seem to trail off. Elsewhere it feels like jokes and character notes are left unexamined. The whole movie has a frustrating “not exactly there” feel.

That said, while writing this review, I did go back to check this or that fact in the movie and found myself watching whole scenes. So maybe the key is expectations; go in expecting nothing more than an hour and 46 minutes of new content that you’ve already paid for and maybe you’ll be suitably amused. B- because this thing has its moments and I’m definitely going to wind up watching it again.

Featured photo: Thunder Force

Meet crémant

Another French sparkling wine

When thinking of sparkling wines two immediately come to mind: Champagne and prosecco. Champagne is typically reserved for celebratory events and prosecco has generated a following because it is light and not complex, to be enjoyed in an afternoon or with dessert, without the guilt of spending a lot of money. But if you want complexity derived from a blending of a variety of grapes, along with the added boost of notes of fresh bread, and possibly a sweetener, you must turn to a Champagne, a cava or a crémant. In this column we will discuss crémant, as the other sparkling wine from France.

Crémant, made in the same method as Champagne, can be produced in eight different wine regions of France, including Alsace, Bordeaux, Loire, Bourgogne and Jura. Sparkling wine labeled as Champagne can only come from the Champagne region of France. Both Champagne and crémant are produced from grapes that are hand-harvested and both require a second fermentation in the bottle, with the lees (sediment of yeast), which helps to give the wines their natural fizz. Both have a second dosage of sugar or wine before they are corked and both are aged for a minimum of 12 months before they can be sold. The regulations for Champagne are very strict, while the guidelines for crémant may be a little more relaxed; however, crémants can still have the great quality of Champagnes and are growing in popularity.

Crémant d’Alsace means the “Sparkling Wine from Alsace.” This region makes up approximately 45 percent of all crémant production, producing approximately 40 million bottles annually, making this the largest contributor toward the crémant production of France. Our first wine, a Cave de Ribeauvillé Crémant d’Alsace Brut Le Comte (originally priced at $49.99, reduced to $17.99 at the NH Liquor & Wine Outlets) has a pale yellow color with a slight citric nose. The bubbles rise consistently and do not fade in the glass. The first taste is of green apples and is slightly citric, but vanilla and the yeast of brioche comes through in a full creamy mouth feel.

Alsace, located on the Rhine River plain and the border of Germany and Switzerland, has alternated between French and German control over the centuries. Wines produced here tend to be influenced not only by the cooler climate but also by German tastes. Varietals grown include riesling, gewurztraminer, muscat and pinot gris. It is logically expected that riesling is the predominant grape of this crémant produced by Cave de Ribeauville, the oldest wine co-operative in France, originating in 1895 and containing over 650 acres of vineyards.

Our second crémant is from the Loire Valley, home to kings and castles. The river flows through central France and the valley is referred to as “the Garden of France” due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and vegetable fields in its banks and hillsides. There are several wine regions producing muscadet on the Atlantic Coast, to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, southeast of Orleans that run along the course of the river. Comte de Saint Aignan Crémant de Loire Brut Première Étoile (originally priced at $28.99, reduced to $14.99 at the NH Liquor & Wine Outlets) produced by Fournier Père & Fils, is a blend of 60 percent chenin blanc, 35 percent chardonnay and 5 percent cabernet franc. The grapes for this sparkling wine come from the Crémant-de-Loire appellation of the Valley, including Anjou, Saumur and Touraine, in the heartland of the Loire Valley.

The color is light gold (almost clear) with persistent but sparse bubbles. The nose is slightly nutty with notes of dark honey. To the mouth, there are bold citric notes, leading one to think that sauvignon blanc is included in the blend, as it is in crémant blends of Bordeaux — but it isn’t. The nose and taste of the chardonnay in this blend is more pronounced than in a typical Champagne, which may influence the taste buds of some more than those of others. The finish is long, perhaps in part owing to the presence of the chardonnay.

Each of these wines can be enjoyed as an aperitif or served with fish and seafood, and perhaps enjoyed with fruit and cheese. They are versatile.

Featured photo: Photo by Fred Matuszewski.

The Chestnut Club

This column is an intervention for my editor and her aversion to a certain liqueur.

We Americans don’t deal well with bitterness.

The taste of bitter things, that is. We are fine with it as a character trait, but bitter tastes have a steep acceptance curve for us. Other cultures are much more accommodating to it. The Chinese concept of candy is more likely to be bitter than sweet. The British brew beers and ales that would make an American face collapse in on itself. But offer one of us an oil-cured black olive (the best kind of olive, by the way), and most of us will shrink back in horror.

“But, but that tastes like … leather!”

Yes. Yes, it does.

And this aversion makes a certain amount of sense, evolutionarily speaking. Long ago, we developed the ability to taste bitter things to help us avoid toxins in the wild. If a new berry or caterpillar tasted astringent or bitter, our ancestors knew to spit it out. But that logic breaks down in our modern world. There are huge numbers of us — granted, not so much in New Hampshire — who challenge ourselves to eat the spiciest foods we can stand. Sweating and gasping until we feel light-headed from a literal pain response? Fine. Bitterness? “What? Are you CRAZY?”

Intellectually, we accept that delicious, well-nuanced foods need a mixture of basic flavors. Bake a batch of cookies without salt, and they will just taste wrong. We love sweet-and-sour pork and chocolate-covered pretzels. Bitterness has a place at the table.

Which brings us to Campari.

Campari is a bright red, extremely bitter liqueur from Italy. You have seen it at the liquor store, or behind the bar at most upscale joints, but probably don’t have any around your house. It is the dominant ingredient in a Negroni.

To be fair, it is not universally loved. Some cynical critics have referred to it as “The Raisins of Booze.” [Editor’s note: As in “Why are there raisins in this cookie? This did not need raisins,” but with an otherwise perfectly good cocktail and Campari.] And yet, the fact remains that it is one of the best complementary counterbalances to sweet juices or syrups in mixed drinks. It is a team player; nobody is going to drink a glass of the stuff.

Actually, hold that thought.

Sound of footsteps going into the kitchen, various bartendy sounds, a brief moment of silence, then a gasp of shock and the sound of a tiny glass hitting the floor. More footsteps returning.

Yeah. I can’t recommend that.

BUT, I stand by my assertion that Campari deserves the space on your shelf where you are keeping that bottle of Crystal Head vodka that you bought on a whim that time and can’t bring yourself to open. (Open it and drink it, already. It’s vodka. It tastes like vodka.)

A case in point is a classic drink — the Chestnut Club (sometimes known as the Chestnut Cup), a modern classic developed in a California restaurant of the same name. It balances sweetness in the form of orgeat (an almond-infused syrup pronounced “or-szott”, as in, “It is unclear at this time whether the victim was stabbed or shot”), astringency from gin, sourness from lemon juice, and, of course, bitterness from Campari.

Chestnut Club

2 ounces gin (lately I like Death’s Door, out of Wisconsin.)

2 ounces Campari (Yes. Do it. God hates a coward.)

2 ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 ounce orgeat

1. Combine all ingredients with 4 or 5 ice cubes in a shaker.

2. Shake until it is very cold — at least until condensation forms on the outside of the shaker.

3. Pour, without straining, into a rocks glass.

4. Drink sincerely, without irony, and, if possible, while sitting in a leather chair in an oak-paneled library with a taxidermied tiger head on the wall.

This drink is delicious. The flavor comes in waves. You really can taste each individual ingredient. It implies fruitiness, without actually embracing a Tiki mandate. It feels as if it should be too sweet and frivolous to take seriously, but it’s not.

Do you know why?

Campari, people.

Featured photo: Chestnut Club. Photo by John Fladd.

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