#291 Cocktail: Valentino

     A cocktail created by Gaz Regan and his wife, Mardee in 1999, for the Valentine's Day issue of "Ardent Spirits e-letter"
     The recipe is a simple deviation from the classical Negroni by adjusting the ratios

2 ounces Gin

1/2 ounce Campari

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

#282 Cocktail: Teresa

    A really unusual drink where the base is not a strong spirit but a softer one. A little to sweet for my taste, but nonetheless a really tasty one.
     It was adapted from a recipe by Rafael Ballesteros of  Spain. Campari, a bitter aperitif of Italy, is often married to fruit juices such as grapefruit juice or orange juice, but Rafael took it a step further and used creme de cassis, finishing by adding lime juice to the mix and creating a complex marvel of a drink

2 ounces Campari

3/4 ounce Creme de Cassis

1 ounce fresh lime juice

#213 Cocktail: Negroni

      While the drink's origins are unknown, the most widely reported account is that it was first mixed in Florence, Italy, in 1919, at Caffè Casoni (formerly Caffè Giacosa), located on Via de' Tornabuoni and now called Caffè Roberto Cavalli. Count Camillo Negroni concocted it by asking the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, to strengthen his favorite cocktail, the Americano, by adding gin rather than the normal soda water. The bartender also added an orange garnish rather than the typical lemon garnish of the Americano to signify that it was a different drink. Since the drink was conceived before the invention of dry gin, the kind of gin used would have likely been barrel aged or Old Tom style.

(Wikipedia)

1 1/2 ounce Gin

1 1/2 ounce Campari

1 1/2 ounce Sweet Vermouth

#84 Cocktail: Caricature

    When you see the recipe for this cocktail, you think "what the hell is this strange combination of so many liquors and with the grapefruit juice", but trust me, as weird as it looks, this drink is really good. Is not to bitter due to the sweet vermouth and the triple sec which compensate the bitterness of the Campari and the grapefruit juice.
      The cocktail was created by Gaz Regan in 2001 for the graphic artist Jill DeGroff, Dale Deroff's wife, the famous mixologist.

1 1/2 ounce Gin

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

1/2 ounce fresh grapefruit juice

3/4 ounce triple sec

1\2 Campari

#52 Cocktail: Blood Orange

  I can tell you from the start that this cocktail will not contain a single drop of blood orange juice. So I guess the name came from the color and from the fact that the garnish is a wheel of blood orange.
   The drink was made from a recipe devised by John Simmons of Petaluna, New York, in 1995. Simmons created this drink shortly after Stolichnaya released it's orange flavored vodka, and although the recipe here is designed for a cocktail glass, he also serves this in a rocks glass or in a highball glass.
    I decided to present this in a cocktail glass, maybe because this week--end I acquired a new antique cocktail glass

2 ounces Stolichnaya Ohranj

1 ounce Campari

#45 Cocktail: Bobbo's Bride Straight Up

   No history behind this one. The cocktail is created in our present times by the wife of Robert Semmes, a known cocktilian.
    The taste of the drink reminds you of a classic cocktail, the Martini, but, because in this one there is also peach schnapps, you are left in the mouth with that sweet aroma of the peach. Very tasty and in the same time very strong

1 ounce Gin

1 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce peach schnapps

1/2 ounce Campari

#10 Cocktail: Americano

  The cocktail was first served in creator Gaspare Campari's bar, Caffe Campari, in 1860's. It was originally known as "Milano-Torino" because of the ingredients: Campari, the bitter liqueur is from Milano and Cinzano, the sweet vermouth is ffrom Torino.
   It is popular belief that in the early 1900's the Italians notice a surge if Americans who enjoyed the cocktail. As a compliment to the Americans, the cocktail later became known as "Americano"

1 1/2 ounces Campari

1 1/2 ounces Sweet Vermouth 

2  ounces club soda

#5 Cocktail: Astor Martini

 This recipe was adapted by Gaz Regan from the Astot Palace, Miami. it can be made in a highball glass and the amount of campari or grapefruit juice can be increased

2 ounces Ketle One vodka 

1/2 ounces Campari

1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice