Y’all know I love me some weird-ass bottles of liquor.  And I love Cocchi Americano.  Maybe because it’s also a weird-ass bottle of liquor.  So when I saw a bottle of Cocchi Vermouth de Torino at DiLaurenti’s, it went in my basket faster than a greased gerbil at the local meeting of the Richard Gere fan club.

The red Torino Cocchi is a nice counterpart to the dry Americano.  It has kind of a stone fruit sweetness going on, very deep, like a ruby port, but with a slightly bitter finish.  I’d hit that just for sipping.  But I had to figure out what it might mix well with.  Several failures later:

High Tea

2 oz Earl Grey Tea-infused dry gin
1 oz Cocchi di Torino (substitute ruby port if you have to)
.5 oz Luxardo Cherry liqueur (Cherry Heering would do fine, as well)
5 drops Bittercube Jamaican bitters #2

If  you’re not lucky enough to have the Bittercube bitters, a dash of Angostura would be better than nothing.  Ice it, stir it, strain it, garnish it with some delicious brandied cherries.  Think of England, even though you don’t know who’s on the team.

Earl Grey tea-infused gin, you say?  Oh my.  I can’t do that.  Oh wait.  I can.  Get a bottle of dry gin (plain old Beefeater will do).  Pour a bit out.  Or save it for later.  Or just drink it.  Whatever.  Put half a cup of Earl Grey tea in the bottle.  Wait about 30 minutes.  Strain it out.  Oh look!  Earl Grey infused gin!

This one’s got a lot going on.  There’s the floral nose from the Earl Grey, some depth from the Cocchi di Torino, and a little bitter / sour from the Bittercube bitters.  It goes from a light and fluffy nose to HELLO, I’M GIN, then to cherry / caramelly goodness, then heads right to the Islands for a little sweet spice finish.

Next up:  we goin’ old school Tiki shit.