alto cucina

1 oz Scotch (Famous Grouse)
1 oz Dry Vermouth Noilly Prat
1/2 oz St. Germain Liqueur
1/2 oz Cynar

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass Garnish with an orange twist.

Shortly after receiving the May/June issue of Imbibe Magazine, Andrea picked out a recipe from the article on Cynar and made the Alto Cucina. Cynar is an Italian bitter liqueur in which one of the major ingredients is a very curious one, namely artichokes, and makes for a great cocktail ingredient. The Alto Cucina was created by Stephen Shellenberger of Dante in Cambridge, MA. True to Stephen's description, Cynar's bitter-sweet notes mix with the bright floral notes of St. Germain and both work with scotch. Dante's version uses Balvenie 15; however, due to our meager and lowbrow collection of scotches, we went with the one bottle we own, Famous Grouse. A single malt scotch would certainly add more depth to the drink than a blended scotch, like Famous Grouse, where the flavor is diluted with grain neutral spirits.