aprilia

1 oz Beefeater 24 Gin
1 oz Amaro Nonino
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1 dash Bittermens Grapefruit Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Twist a grapefruit peel over the top.

For dinner two Sundays ago, Andrea and I visited Eastern Standard where bartenders Hugh Fiore and Josh Taylor were behind the long marble bar. For a start, I asked Josh for the Aprilia created by Kit Paschal. Given how March was about to end, I assumed that the Aprilia was a tribute to the changing season; however, the drink's subtitle of "a fast start and a long finish" made me wonder. Instead, like the Moto Guzzi (equal parts Booker's Bourbon and Punt e Mes stirred with ice and strained into a rocks glass), I believe that the drink was named after an Italian motor cycle company.
The Aprilia began with a grapefruit aroma that later gained dark herbal notes from the Amaro Nonino. The sip offered a combination of citrussy wine and rich caramel flavors that led into a swallow that began with the amaro's bitter notes followed by the gin's botanicals. Moreover, the grapefruit peel in the Beefeater 24 in conjunction with the grapefruit bitters donated a pleasing finish to the drink.