The Carroll Gardens Cocktail

If you like amaros or vermouths, you need to try the Carroll Gardens cocktail. It was created by a bartender at Death and Company, one of those famous cocktail bars in New York. Since it’s hard to get up there to New York and we can always make the drink at home, then save your trip to New York to try something new. But make the Carroll Gardens at home. Trust me.

To make one, combine with ice:

  • 2 oz rye whiskey
  • 1/2 oz Averna
  • 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
  • 1/4 oz maraschino liqueur

and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Then garnish with a brandied or bourbon cherry, not one of those red things you put on ice cream.

The recipe featured at the Speakista calls for Nardini Amaro, not Averna, but I used the recipe from Diffords Guide because, well, I have Averna, and I don’t have Nardini Amaro.

You may recognize the ingredients from the Red Hook, quite the famous cocktail these days, but this one is a bit different, and quite possibly superior. The Red Hook uses whiskey, vermouth, and maraschino, but it uses more maraschino. The Carroll Gardens uses less of it, so that it complements and doesn’t take over the drink. It also adds the Averna (or Nardini Amaro), which adds some bitterness and sweetness and even more herbal complexity.

So, like I said, if you like these drinks, you should try this one.

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