Gallop for the Weekend With Spaghetti Western
Happy weekend everyone, and welcome back to Happy 3 Ingredient Hour , a weekly drinks column featuring very simple yet delicious libations. I’m doing a “western theme” cocktail this week because one person on Twitter asked me very kindly.
To be honest, I’m not really into video games because my mom only allowed me to play on my Nintendo 64 for 30 minutes at a time, which is not enough if you want to get somewhere in Star Fox. I also don’t know a ton of westerns, except that a lot of them were filmed in Italy, which explains why Spaghetti Western is the most popular cocktail when you google “western cocktail”.
However, there are many different spaghetti western recipes – some with campari (good), some with tomatoes (no). However, the one that caught my attention contains an Italian amaro that I haven’t tried yet: cardamaro. It is a wine with flavors of cardona and vermouth, which with a friendly bitterness makes me call it “Cynar Lite”. When mixed with an equal amount of whiskey – you can use rye or bourbon – you get something very strong and very easy to drink. To make it yourself, you will need:
- 1 1/2 ounce rye or bourbon
- 1 1/2 ounce cardamaro
- 3 drops of orange bitter
Pour everything into a glass with ice and stir until very cold. Pull yourself into a coupe glass, imagine a cowboy or someone playing Red Dead Redemption 2 drinking from a coupe glass, and feel great pleasure.