Pocket Square — Six ingredients around a bitter orange amaro, shaken and served over ice

Pocket Square

Six ingredients around a bitter orange amaro, shaken and served over ice

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ozAmaro CioCiaro
    The base; everything else is seasoning around it
    Substitute: Amer Picon, which this bottle has long stood in for
  • 1/2 ozGin
    A London dry; half an ounce, for backbone not flavour
  • 3/4 ozLemon Juice
    Fresh
  • 1/4 ozCampari
    A quarter ounce, and no more
  • 1/4 ozElderflower Liqueur
    A quarter ounce; at a half it takes the drink
  • 1/2 ozSimple Syrup
    One to one

Instructions

  1. Add 1 1/2 oz Amaro CioCiaro, 1/2 oz gin, 1/4 oz Campari, 1/4 oz elderflower liqueur, 3/4 oz lemon juice and 1/2 oz simple syrup to a shaker

    Measure the quarter-ounces; eyeballed they take the drink over

  2. Fill with ice and shake hard
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice
  4. Express a grapefruit peel over the surface and drop it in

Technique Notes

Measure the quarter-ounces properly. Campari and elderflower are a quarter each against an ounce and a half of amaro, which is the ratio that keeps them as seasoning; eyeballed to a half they take the drink over and it stops tasting of CioCiaro at all.

Why the Pocket Square Works

Bitter orange is the spine of the drink and everything else angles at it: gin puts juniper underneath, Campari adds a second bitterness from a different direction, elderflower lifts the top, and grapefruit oil over the surface ties the citrus back to the amaro it started from.