pizzacato passage

1 oz Lustau Amontillado Sherry
1 oz Amaro Meletti
1/2 oz Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur
1/2 oz Dry Gin (Beefeater)
2 dash Scrappy's Chocolate Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with ice, and garnish with candied ginger.Two Tuesdays ago, I fell back to the 2020 Community Cocktails book and spotted the Pizzacato Passage by owner-bartender Anu Apte at Roy Roy in Seattle. Matt Pietrek in his blog CocktailWonk wrote how the drink was part of the bar's December 2015 Advent Calendar cocktail menu. I was lured in for Amaro Meletti and dry oxidized sherries have worked well together in recipes like the 69 Holland and Globetrotter, so I gave this one a whirl. In the glass, I was greeted with a ginger, nutty grape, caramel, and floral-herbal aroma. Next, caramel and grape notes mingled on the sip, and the swallow wrapped things up with herbal, violet, chili pepper, dried fruit, and chocolate flavors.