The Pessimist's Requiem

Jenny is in perpetual search for easy, weeknight recipes to attempt to feed her family. When they balk, she just eats more.

Today: Jenny finds a new drink. 

So listen everyone, I might be late to Cynar but guess what? That is all I want to drink right now. This may end up like Aperol, which I bought two bottles of last summer, sucked down nightly and promptly forgot about for a year. But for now, Cynar and soda is where it is at for Jenny. 

But ProfPessimist, who I visit with in Los Angeles annually in part because he has a very, very good home bar, had other ideas. He would take some recipes he found on the interweb, fiddle around with them, and create the perfect Cynar cocktail.  

All of this unfolded the way it does each year: the Prof, aka Joshua, poured a whole lot of booze into his shaker and we sipped away at many largely undrinkable beverages until, mildly shit-faced, we stumbled upon something close to sublime.

Joshua’s wife, as if on cue, ambled down the stairs from her latest Google search on where to procure the best Biángbiáng noodles in Los Angeles county and tried the concoction while we, glassy-eyed and overly excitable, looked out hopefully as she, an avid wine drinker, proclaimed it: good, not her thing.

Well The Pessimist's Requiem is your thing people, a perfect mix of Cynnar’s bitter, sort of vegetal goodness that, like Campari and Aperol, pairs so well with citrus, and topped with a bit of vermouth and bitters. 

Shake, pour, sip, repeat. 

The Pessimist's Requiem by ProfPessimist

Makes 1 drink

1 1/2 ounces Cynar liqueur
1 ounce gin
1 ounce dry vermouth
1 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Dash orange bitters (Fee Brother's preferred)
1 thick orange peel

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by James Ransom