Aperol Tequila Swizzle Cocktail – Something Different!

I need to get out my step stool in order to conjure gems like this Aperol Tequila cocktail.

Way up high, back in The Inconvenient Cabinet sitting behind the refrigerator, you will just over a dozen bottles of booze. These aren’t my  “main squeeze” libations, no, these bottles are the rather queer stash of alcoholic this-and-thats I couldn’t say goodbye to. I think of these oddballs as my alcoholic booty calls — quite ready to satisfy me at a moment’s notice, but knowing never to ask for any real commitment from me. If they were ever bold enough to ask for a permanent place in the main pantry I would toss them out of my cabinet (and life) tout de suite.

For now they benefit from my general unwillingness to say goodbye and the knowledge that once day, as it always does, I will require a quick thrill without the request for main pantry fidelity.

When that moment inevitably happens I will get a step stool, crawl up to The Inconvenient Cabinet and cruise around the dusty neglected bottles to look for a quickie.

Aperol knows the rules.

High up in the inconvenient cabinet, safe from my Beloved’s periodic urges to sweep through the pantry with a trashcan, you will find misfit bottles of several varieties. They are:

• My inheritance. 25 years when my grandmother died I inherited a flowery set of mostly chipped china (thanks Grandma!) and a dusty box of the spirits she had kept in her own misfit storage cabinet. This bequest included a very tall bottle of Galliano from which I never once saw her drink. Given Galliano has been around since the late 1800’s I am guessing she must have inherited it from her own grandmother. I am keeping  it and plan to leave it to my nieces when I die.
• Vacation souvenirs. I simply could not get enough of that limoncello when tripping through the Amalfi Coast that one summer. I just had to wrangle that bottle half way around Europe only to uncork and discover I didn’t much care for it. Who knew that without all the sunshine and coastline views the flavor isn’t the same? Ten bottles of other regional specialties keep the limoncello company.
• One shot wonders. The rest were probably purchased during some passing obsession I am now quite over with. I include in this category that bottle of absinthe I just had to have — but once never drank.  Not once has a guest of mine ever asked for an absinthe, but I do feel some pride knowing I am ready to recreate the Belle Époque in my living room just case they do.

This bottle of Aperol sat somewhere between my vacation souvenirs and the one shot wonders. While in Rome several years ago I couldn’t get enough of its not-too-bitter orange flavor. Naturally I rushed home and foisted an Aperol Spritz into the hand of everyone who wandered by my home between 4PM and 7PM — peak apertivo time. Yet predictably I soon tired not only of the drink, but also the need to open a new bottle of prosecco each time I wanted to serve it.

Without any idea as to what else I could do with it, the bottle was eventually relegated to The Inconvenient Cabinet.

Aperol Tequila Sizzle

Thanks to cookbook author and blogger Greg Henry the Aperol is back down off the shelf to cycle through another circle of life. A quick read through his beautifully photographed book “Savory Cocktails” (published last year by Ulysses Press) has given new life to the many forgotten treasures stored up in that cabinet. Even grandma’s Galliano gets a reprieve! (My poor niece will just have to buy her own bottle! )

Aperol’s bitter orange complexity is a natural foil for tequila and, as presented here, it makes a nice choice for anyone wanting to enjoy its summer associations without all the sugar of a margarita. I wrote to Greg’s publisher asking if I could reprint his recipe so here it is!

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Aperol Tequila Swizzle

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 1

Reprinted by permission from Savory Cocktails by Greg Henry.

"This a fun drink. Maybe that’s why Aperol has become the darling of the cocktail world, just in time for this Italian liqueur’s centennial. It has the bitter complexity of orange peel and goes down easy. It’s something they’d serve at “happy hour” in Italy, though they wouldn’t call it felice oro. Instead, it’s known as apertivo, and it’s like an ebullient cocktail party happily scheduled every day during those possibility-filled hours between work and dinner. Like a cocktail party, the apertivo is certain to include stuzzichini (toothpick) bites, or even crunchy American-style snacks. The drinks will be light, too, designed to engage the appetite for the meal to come."

This is what you will need:

• 2 fl oz tequila blanco
• 1 fl oz Aperol
• 2 or 3 dashes grapefruit or orange bitters
• 2 to 3 fl oz club soda
• 1 pinch coarse salt
• 1 grapefruit twist or slice of lemon, as garnish

This is how you make it:

1. Fill a wine goblet or highball glass with medium ice cubes; add the tequila, Aperol, and bitters. Use a swizzle stick or straw to stir the ingredients until just blended. Top with club soda and a pinch of salt; stir gently and garnish with a grapefruit twist. Serve with the swizzle stick or straw.

3.1

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All content copyright 2014 by Trevor Kensey and SisBoomBlog.com.

In case you have been wondering what I’ve been up to recently… I just had the pleasure of being interviewed for CilantroCooks.com.  Their little place on the web is a cook’s shop filled with lots of cooking this and that.   They asked me what it was I’ve been cooking lately so I shared with them an easy recipe for Pan Fried Steak with Mushrooms and Spinach that I’ve been making a LOT lately but haven’t had time to share it with you here.  Jump over there to take a look when you get a chance!