Stir, strain, big rock, twist.
Adjust the amount of simple to your liking, but I find that a good amount helps control the astringency of the bitters while allowing the bitterness and deep spice notes to come through.
Prior to The Great Site Update of Christmas 2014, we published a list of amari hidden under a link on the recommended brands page. We have put some time and thought into our bitter friends, and have split the list into our top dozen or so recommendations, plus a list of other amari that are available.
Some amari are easy to find; others ... not so much. There are hundreds of amari that aren't even imported to the US. Look for amari at larger liquor stores, or specialty stores in the Italian section of your city.
Spicy, textured but light, bright and sour. A+ whiskey sour
I much prefer the variation from Meat & Potatoes in Pittsburgh (don't know the bartender's name):
3/4 oz gin
3/4 oz elderflower
3/4 oz pink grapefruit
3/4 oz aperol
1 dsh peychaud's
Optional grapefruit twist for garnish
Lovely brunch cocktail.
Workable with half as much lemon juice (I used ~3/8 oz). The given recipe would likely be too sour (as an early comment noted) and dry when combined with the Cardamaro. As with many drier/acidic cocktails it improves (for my palate) as it warms somewhat, bringing other flavors forward. The wine base of the Cardamaro is masked by the lemon juice when very cold, a not uncommon problem I have noticed with lime/lemon/grapefruit juice drinks. I am rating my reduced lemon version as 3 out of 5, but something is missing that would elevate the drink.
Definitely leans bitter and dry. The amount of lime juice seems high, making this more of a sour/dry than I prefer even though I went a little skinny on the lime. I might try again with 1/2 oz lime juice.
Bursting with flavor. I had the standard Choya Umeshu rather than red "shiso" or "extra shisu" infused variants which should add some anise/licorice notes. I also lacked yuzu syrup, but had some kumquat cordial (Death & Co.) begging to be used here. Other subs were Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur and Drillaud Pamplemousse. Definitely to the sweet side, but seems to fit the character of the flavors together.