The Aperitif: An Appreciative Appraisal

princely pre-prandials to pique the taste buds and perk the appetite

As the dinner hour approaches in Rome, Paris or Madrid, most of the knowledgeable citizenry settle down to their aperitifs -- a pre-prandial ritual in which the American-inspired cocktail plays only a minor, occasional role. And more and more Americans are varying their habitual imbibement of bone-dry 8-to-1 martinis by joining their Continental cousins in partaking of the aperitif's piquant pleasures.

An aperitif -- straight or as a mixed drink -- is never taken for granted. Too often, in the conviviality of the cocktail hour, drinks are consumed as indifferently as one clinks the ice in a highball. The first sip of an aperitif, however, is something else again. It calls attention to itself and its surroundings in the most beguiling manner. Observe, for instance, the Frenchman in his natural habitat, as each afternoon he sits at his favorite café table and partakes of his Byrrh, Amer Picon or vermouth cassis with attentive enjoyment.

To a Frenchman, each day's aperitif is an excitingly different experience. He observes its color, savors its scent, and samples it with a relish one usually associates with newfound pleasures. His senses then undergo the most salutary of metamorphoses. His taste buds tingle in anticipation of the evening repast, the local scenery becomes more vivid, and the passing mesdemoiselles, though they may be the same jeunes filles who promenade daily past his table, are viewed with fresh appreciation.

The aperitif family is a surprisingly large one, with distinct branches: the wine-based aperitifs -- such as Byrrh, Dubonnet and Punt e Mes, and the vermouths (sweet and dry) -- the distilled aperitifs that range from the French Amer Picon and Pernod to the Greco-Turkish raki, and on through the therapeutic, stomach-settling bitters such as the Italian Campari and the German Boonekamp.

Although the word aperitif is French, it's best understood if you go back to its Latin derivative, aperio, meaning "to open, to lay bare." The first time your palate comes in contact with the liquid legerdemain of the aperitif you'll understand this etymology. Swallow an ounce of Punt e Mes, for instance; its taste, almost as pungent as bitters itself, will immediately cause you to shake your head dubiously over what has been espoused as a prime libational pleasure. But soon waves of hunger sweep over you. They intensify. You can hardly wait for the antipasto wagon. Thoughts of the impending anchovy fillets in (continued on page 164) Aperitif (continued from page 110) oil, of cracked black olives, prosciutto, roasted pepper salad and wafer-thin Genoa salami are almost overpowering.

The aperitif's ancient source is a reminder that the world's first great wines were tart potations. Hippocrates, the Greek precursor of Ben Casey, in 400 B.C. created his own lusty infusion of wine with bitter almonds and resin. Roman wines were made not only from the grape but from turnips, radishes, asparagus, parsley, thyme, mint, hyssop and almost anything else that sprang up around the villa. Even sea water was added for tang. Often grapevines were surrounded by other plants placed close enough to the roots of the vines so that their intimate bitterness would seep through the soil into the fruit before it was plucked.

While a Roman as eminent as Cicero was pointing with pride to his own private concoction of wine mixed with dittany leaves, dissidents were busy viewing it with alarm. Pliny, an anti-aperitif man, wrote how, "When Tiberius Claudius was emperor, the custom of drinking on an empty stomach and taking wine regularly before meals came in, an outlandish fashion recommended by doctors who are always trying to advertise themselves by some new-fangled ideas." If now and then a decidedly toxic plant like wormwood (one of the ingredients in absinthe that led to its being outlawed) was used to point up other flavors such as thyme and horehound, the Roman didn't hesitate at all to swallow the poison in modest quantities as long as it didn't offend his esthetic sensibilities.

One bitter ingredient used since the 17th Century is quinine; its familiar zest is present today not only in most aperitif wines, but also in all tonic waters.

Modern aperitifs are a marriage (or should we say a polygamy) of wine, brandy and as many as 40 different kinds of spices including dried roots, barks, herbs, buds and flowers from every corner of the earth. In France, bitters are classified as major and minor, but primary or secondary categorization isn't nearly so important to the Frenchman as the fact that they all possess the same key to bon appétit.

During recent years, martini drinkers à la mode have been demanding more and more gin, less and less vermouth. From the classic three-to-one ratio, the disparity rose to four, five and six to one, and then kept on climbing until it reached its zenith (or nadir, depending on your point of view) in a concoction 64 parts gin to one of vermouth. It might have seemed reasonable to predict, then, that as the tidewaters of gin rose higher and higher, the trickle of vermouth would dry up and disappear like other archaic potables.

The consumption of vermouth, however, has quintupled in the past two decades. As the ratio of vermouth to gin decreased markedly, the martini took on considerably more zing; the more zing it packed the more popular it became -- but, among those who preferred to dine without anesthetizing their appetites, vermouth as an aperitif (rather than a flavoring agent) gained in favor. When an aperitif wine is used as a flavoring for some other base such as gin, vodka or whiskey, it is most effective in small rather than large quantities. Where vermouth itself is the base of the drink, there are no ratio dicta because its tantalizing flavor comes through in any quantity. The piquancy you'll want in an aperitif is a matter of taste.

In American frontier days, plainsmen mixed a pint of water with two tablespoons of buffalo gall for a "wholesome and exhilarating drink." Some years later, Kansas whiskey men refined the formula, combining a mere ounce of wahoo (bark of the winged elm tree used in making string and rope) with a quart of whiskey. Somewhat more sophisticated American traditions are observed along with the European in the following roster of short and tall aperitifs. All recipes are for one drink.

[recipe_title]Vermouth Cassis[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]2 ozs. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. crème de cassis[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 or 2 large ice cubes[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Carbonated water[/drinkRecipe]

Pour vermouth and crème de cassias over ice in an 8-oz. glass. Fill with carbonated water. Stir. (Pleasant variations on the drink are made by using triple sec or Forbidden Fruit in place of the crème de cassis.)

[recipe_title]Amer Picon Punch[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. Amer Picon[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 large ice cubes[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Carbonated water[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 lemon slice[/drinkRecipe]

Pour Amer Picon and lemon juice over ice cubes in an old fashioned glass. Fill with carbonated water. Add lemon. Stir.

[recipe_title]Dubonnet Cocktail[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. Dubonnet[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 piece lemon peel[/drinkRecipe]

Pour Dubonnet and gin into cocktail shaker with ice. Stir well: don't shake. Strain into prechilled cocktail glass. Twist lemon peel over drink and drop peel into glass. Vodka may be substituted for gin. Dubonnet cocktail may be served on the rocks.

[recipe_title]Bitter Collins[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. Punt e Mes[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Juice of 1 lemon[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]I heaping teaspoon sugar[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Carbonated water[/drinkRecipe]

Pour gin, Punt e Mes, lemon juice and sugar into a cocktail shaker with 4 or 5 ice cubes. Shake very well. Pour liquid and ice cubes into a 10-oz. highball glass. Fill glass with carbonated water. Stir.

[recipe_title]Vermouth Vodka[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]2 ozs. sweet vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. vodka, 100 proof[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon sugar[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Carbonated water[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 lemon slice[/drinkRecipe]

Pour vermouth, vodka, lemon juice and sugar into a cocktail shaker with 4 or 5 ice cubes. Shake very well. Pour liquid and ice cubes into an 8-oz. highball glass. Add a small splash of carbonated water and lemon slice. Stir.

[recipe_title]Vermouth Triple Sec[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. triple sec[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]4 dashes orange bitters[/drinkRecipe]

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Stir very well; don't shake. Strain into prechilled cocktail glass.

[recipe_title]Rum Aperitif[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. light rum[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon dark Jamaica rum[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon raspberry syrup[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 piece lemon peel[/drinkRecipe]

Pour both kinds of rum, vermouth, raspberry syrup and lemon juice into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into prechilled cocktail glass. Twist lemon peel over drink. Drop peel into glass.

[recipe_title]Vermouth Maraschino[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]2 ozs. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]6 dashes orange bitters[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 maraschino cherry with stem[/drinkRecipe]

Pour vermouth, maraschino liqueur, lemon juice and bitters into cocktail shaker with ice. Twirl with ice; don't shake. Strain into prechilled cocktail glass. Add maraschino cherry.

[recipe_title]Californian[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]3 ozs. orange juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. blended whiskey[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. sweet vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon orgeat (almond syrup)[/drinkRecipe]

Pour all integredients into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake very well. Put a large ice cube into a prechilled old fashioned glass. Strain liquid into glass.

[recipe_title]Floridian[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]3 ozs. grapefruit juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. Forbidden Fruit[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon falernum[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 dashes orange bitters[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 lime slice[/drinkRecipe]

Pour all ingredients except lime into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake very well. Put a large ice cube into prechilled old fashioned glass. Strain liquid into glass. Place lime slice on top.

[recipe_title]Silver Kirsch[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. Positano[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. Kirsch[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 egg white[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon sugar[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/3 cup coarsely cracked ice[/drinkRecipe]

Put all ingredients in the well of an electric blender. Blend 10 seconds. Pour into prechilled old fashioned glass.

[recipe_title]Scotch Manhattan[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. Scotch[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. sweet vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]3 dashes bitters[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 brandied cherry[/drinkRecipe]

For this drink it's best to use a light rather than a smoky Scotch. Pour Scotch, vermouth and bitters into cocktail shaker with ice. Twirl, don't shake. Strain liquid into prechilled cocktail glass. Add brandied cherry.

[recipe_title]Marsala Cocktail[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. dry marsala wine[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 piece lemon peel[/drinkRecipe]

Pour vermouth, marsala and gin into cocktail shaker with ice. Twirl, don't shake. Strain liquid into prechilled cocktail glass. Twist lemon peel over drink. Drop peel into glass.

Your choice of sharply flavored spurs to the appetite -- be they straight from the bottle or elaborately executed -- is diverse and diverting. Any one of these lively potations will turn on your taste buds with delightful dispatch.