Whether your customer is extending an evening of imbibing, or simply in the mood for a light and refreshing cocktail, consider these options that lean on low-alcohol ingredients like vermouth, sherry, and amaro instead of full-proof spirits. From lively spritzes to elegant stirred aperitifs like the Averna Cobbler and Scarlet Spritz, most are just as easy to make as they are to drink.
Averna Cobbler
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 ounces Averna
- 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
- 1/2 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 barspoon marmalade (blackberry, black cherry, or orange)
- Garnish: mint sprig
- Garnish: blackberries
- Garnish: cracked black pepper
Instructions:
- Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
- Pour into a rocks glass or tumbler.
- Top with cracked ice and stir.
- Garnish with a mint sprig, blackberries, and cracked black pepper.
Bicicletta
Ingredients:
- 3 ounces dry white wine (such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc)
- 2 ounces Campari
- Club soda, chilled, to top
- Garnish: 2 orange wheels
Instruction
- Add the white wine and Campari into a double rocks glass or a wine glass.
- Fill the glass three-quarters with ice, top with club soda, and stir gently and briefly to combine.
- Garnish with 2 orange wheels.
Scarlet Spritz
Ingredients:
- Absinthe, to rinse
- 1 1/2 ounces strawberry-infused Aperol*
- 1/2 ounce Lillet Blanc aperitif
- 2 dashes rhubarb bitters
- Sparkling wine, chilled, to top
- Garnish: lemon twist
- Garnish: strawberry
Instructions:
- Fill a shaker with ice.
- Add vodka, elderflower liqueur, and freshly squeezed lemon juice to the
- shaker.
- Shake until well chilled.
- Strain the mixture into a chilled champagne flute.
- Top with chilled sparkling wine.
- Garnish with a lemon twist.
