Thematic Recipe Collections

Bittersweet amaro and bitter-liqueur cocktails across the spectrum — a smoky rhubarb spritz, a silky amaro sour, a stirred Black Manhattan. A tour of how Italy's amari and their cousins drink, from the first pour of the evening onward.

Coffee and the bitter bottle, from a hard-shaken Espresso Martini to the after-dinner caffè corretto. Espresso pulled long under Licor 43, a coffee-and-cocoa amaro stirred into the cup, Riga Black Balsam warmed into black coffee, and a cream-topped Irish Coffee — the coffee cocktails that carry an evening from dinner through to a nightcap.

Ten drinks, and the bottle does something different in every one. In the Old Fashioned and the Manhattan it is seasoning, a couple of dashes that sharpen the spirit. In the Negroni and the Boulevardier it is measured in ounces and carries the drink. In the Sazerac it is the note everything else is arranged around. In the Trinidad Sour it is the base spirit itself. One ingredient, four jobs.

The bracing end of the bitter spectrum: minty fernets and dark, herbal digestivi from Milan to Buenos Aires. Long highballs, stirred sippers, and the Argentine Fernet and Coke.

Three rum drinks: Donn Beach's Zombie, the Malaysian Jungle Bird, and a two-rum punch with three dashes of Angostura.