I came up with this last night (10/4/23) while trying to find a signature cocktail for Bordiga Dilei Amaro. I thought pairing it with Barolo would work well and that a rye/apple brandy split base would be interesting. And was it ever! This is a rich, flavorful, engaging drink.

The name is an acknowledgement of the contribution of American apple brandy and whiskies in combinations with the bitters and aromatized wine mastery of the Old World.

Created by former head bartender at Lani Kai. His name is Joseph Swifka. Refined version here - House drink at Niku Steakhouse in San Francisco.

I was inspired by the banana-Fernet combination from the Lost Horizon and the Banana Toronto (on my blog). The direction that I took it was a Daiquiri with a funky Jamaican white rum in the mix. For a name, I dubbed this one the Tropical Depression as a tribute drink to my co-worker at Drink at the time who was just airlifted off their Caribbean cruise ship after testing positive with Covid (the depression part was that they were locked in a cabin for a day or two before the helicopter became available) in December 2021 during the first Omicron wave.

I wanted to create a savory Gibson martini riff with thyme liqueur. The first iteration used dry vermouth and was too dry (Noilly Prat), along with having too much thyme, and included celery bitters which seemed an unnecessary distraction. I simplified it by dialing back the thyme and vermouth, and using Comoz which, while sweet, is somewhat drier than Dolin Blanc and much drier than Italian bianco vermouths.