102 replies to this topic

[Jmahl]

Wow - a group of people who like Cynar -- there is hope.

Jmahl

[bostonapothecary]

Absinthe in San Francisco does the lovely Choke Artist as well....utilizing Cynar, sherry and tequila...

i haven't had tequila in the house in quite a while so i was looking for an inaugural cocktail...

1 oz. herradura anejo
1 oz. pastrana single vineyard manzanilla pasada
.75 oz. cynar
spoonful of tarassaco honey liqueur

why i needed to deviate from the equal parts recipe i don't know. i guess i just like finding a home for this strange honey... this was lovely. cynar is my favorite amaro.

[campus five]

Here's one of my favorite cocktails from Damian Windsor, formerly of Seven Grand here in LA.

The Weatherly
2 oz. Van Winkle Reserve 12yr Bourbon, or Rye
1/2 oz. Cynar
1/2 oz. Aperol
scant barspoon Fernet Branca

stir, cook, strain, flamed orange peel, up

So, good. I made this the other night for some friends, who heard the ingredients and laughed. They said it would never work. They ate, I mean drank their words. They loved it.

[bostonapothecary]

Here's one of my favorite cocktails from Damian Windsor, formerly of Seven Grand here in LA.

The Weatherly
2 oz. Van Winkle Reserve 12yr Bourbon, or Rye
1/2 oz. Cynar
1/2 oz. Aperol
scant barspoon Fernet Branca

stir, cook, strain, flamed orange peel, up

So, good. I made this the other night for some friends, who heard the ingredients and laughed. They said it would never work. They ate, I mean drank their words. They loved it.

hmm. i will try everything but his choice of whiskey... if it can't work with overholt its not worth drinking... besides that i'm totally intrigued...

[campus five]

The Van Winkle 12yr Bourbon was what he originally made it with, but it also works with rye, no problem.
I actually made it with Maker's the other night, because my friend had run out of rye (I know, the horror, the horror) and it was still really good.

[eipi10]

imust admit up front to being really drunk...so drunk that I decided to just pour some stuff into a shaker quasi-randomly and shake it. ("parts" are approximate.) But I have made this drink twice and I really like it...!

1 part Cynar
1 part absinthe
3-4 parts rye whiskey (rittenhouse 50%)
a couple of dashes of orange bitters
shaken with ice

good stuff. i mean, honestly, objectively, it tastes perfect to me....like a classic drink. interestingly, the strongest lingering aftertaste is the sweet Cynar.

i think the takeaway is that Cynar can help make some profound and delicious cocktails.

Edited by eipi10, 11 October 2008 - 09:26 PM.

[JAZ]

Well, we tried The Art of Choke tonight.  Unfortunately, for us, all we could taste was Cynar.

Are you sure that all you could taste was the Cynar? I ask because we all agreed that the drink tasted like the most spectacular artichoke we'd ever had.

ETA: I will note that we used more mint than Toby specifies, and it had been picked moments before the drink was made.

Based on the posts here and on the Rogue Cocktails topic, I've given this one a couple of tries. Although the second try was better than the first (which I tossed), I still just don't get the appeal. All I get is a big taste of bitter and a faint aftertaste of mint, like a really bad mouthwash.

[MikeHartnett]

Well, we tried The Art of Choke tonight.  Unfortunately, for us, all we could taste was Cynar.

Are you sure that all you could taste was the Cynar? I ask because we all agreed that the drink tasted like the most spectacular artichoke we'd ever had.

ETA: I will note that we used more mint than Toby specifies, and it had been picked moments before the drink was made.

Based on the posts here and on the Rogue Cocktails topic, I've given this one a couple of tries. Although the second try was better than the first (which I tossed), I still just don't get the appeal. All I get is a big taste of bitter and a faint aftertaste of mint, like a really bad mouthwash.

Honestly, it's one of my all-time favorites. Different strokes.

[Dave the Cook]

I fall in between on the Art of Choke. I wouldn't decline one, but neither would I buy a bottle of Cynar just to make it.

[bmdaniel]

I fall in between on the Art of Choke. I wouldn't decline one, but neither would I buy a bottle of Cynar just to make it.

I made my first one tonight - even with mint that was past sad, I thought it was spectacular. One of the most complex cocktails I've tasted. I also like that you get a completely different taste at the front (herbal daiquri) and then on the finish (bitter and cynary).

[eas]

Our house Negroni is from what Toby placed on the menu at Bradstreet in Mpls, with equal parts Campari and Cynar. It works so well that, unless I have my wife's other favorite amaro in its place, it gets booted back. Thank you Cynar, Toby, and a wife that cares!

[Marmish]

My favorite drink from Manifesto during the recent Heartland Gathering was the Smoke n Choke

edited to fix link

Edited by Marmish, 11 August 2009 - 09:19 PM.

[Alchemist]

Our house Negroni is from what Toby placed on the menu at Bradstreet in Mpls, with equal parts Campari and Cynar.  It works so well that, unless I have my wife's other favorite amaro in its place, it gets booted back.  Thank you Cynar, Toby, and a wife that cares!

Just to be clear that this is not a- shudder- equal parts drink...


2 oz Tanqueray Gin
.25 oz Cynar
.25 oz Campari
1 oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth
13 drops Bradstreet Bitters (Regans Orange bitters will work)

Glass: Rocks
Ice: Sphere
Garnish: Lemon Peel
Orange Peel

Build in a mixing glass over 2 cracked KD cubes and 5 KD cubes. Stir. Strain over sphere into rocks glass.

Cheers,

Toby

[Ktepi]

I picked up my first bottle of Cynar recently, when I discovered drinkupny.com ships to NH (which has state-run liquor stores, and to which few vendors have a permit to ship).

I've mostly been mixing it with Plymouth gin -- anywhere from 1:2 to 2:1 -- and adding a cube or two of frozen fruit juice. This was originally an accident, when I realized I didn't have any actual ice because I'd forgotten I'd filled the ice cube tray with Santa Claus melon juice the day before, but it goes really well with either melon or huckleberry... enough that I'm debating ordering more huckleberries just for the sake of filling more ice cube trays.

[Bill Miller]

Everything sounds interesting, but does anyone eat savory food after these "cocktails"--???

[Chris Amirault]

I don't understand your question.

[eas]

Everything sounds interesting, but does anyone eat savory food after these "cocktails"--???

Bill - yes. The Negroni is a wonderful aperitif, especially with the amaro as a component. Leads well into all good things savory.

[Bill Miller]

Everything sounds interesting, but does anyone eat savory food after these "cocktails"--???

I like wine with dinner--I find the Cynar aftertaste unpleasent with a dinner with wine. Should you just drink it thru dinner or go to something else other than wine?

Edited by Bill Miller, 12 August 2009 - 07:23 PM.

[Chris Amirault]

A lot of cocktails work well with certain tastes and not with others. They're usually not intended to be "during dinner" drinks, but rather as aperitifs, etc. You certainly can combine Cynar cocktails with food; I think that salty, umami-rich foods would make for a particularly nice combination. However, if you don't like the aftertaste, I'm not sure a good pairing can be found!

Edited by chrisamirault, 12 August 2009 - 07:26 PM.

[Bill Miller]

A lot of cocktails work well with certain tastes and not with others. They're usually not intended to be "during dinner" drinks, but rather as aperitifs, etc. You certainly can combine Cynar cocktails with food; I think that salty, umami-rich foods would make for a particularly nice combination. However, if you don't like the aftertaste, I'm not sure a good pairing can be found!

That is what I asked, Cynar should not be followed by wine with dinner. A martini can. If you are having wine with dinner, dont start with a Cynar cocktail. Sorry, I didn't mention the wine in my original post.

[Chris Amirault]

Oh, I see: the old wine and artichoke thing! It's a good question.

[slkinsey]

I wonder what the process is by which artichoke is incorporated in Cynar, and whether Cynar actually contains cynarin.

[KD1191]

I wonder what the process is by which artichoke is incorporated in Cynar, and whether Cynar actually contains cynarin.

This article says that it is the leaves that are used to make Cynar, not the flower...it references that the product is named for cynarin, but doesn't specifically state that there is any in the product.

Cynar's label features the familiar artichoke flower head associated with prickly challenge and soft vegetal pleasure, although the stuff inside is actually based on the plants' leaves ... The plants are grown in Macerata and Iesi, in the Italian province of Le Marche. ... After each plant has been relieved of the dozen or so flower heads it produces each spring, the leaves are cut and placed atop the open plant to dry in the summer sun. They are then distilled in a neutral spirit, along with 12 other botanicals whose type and relative proportions are a tightly guarded secret, as is always the case with "patent liqueurs."

Edited by KD1191, 14 August 2009 - 09:40 AM.

[slkinsey]

. . . it references that the product is named for cynarin . . .

I'm going to go ahead and suggest that the article is incorrect in this assertion. Rather, let me suggest that the product is named after the Latin name for the globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus. I'll further suggest that cynarin is also named after the Latin genus, not the other way around.

By the way: Ever wonder how it is that cardoons look kind of like celery but taste kind of like artichoke? The cardoon is also in the Cynara genus, having the Latin name Cynara cardunculus.

[KD1191]

let me suggest that the product is named after the Latin name for the globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus.  I'll further suggest that cynarin is also named after the Latin genus, not the other way around.

That article does first mention the Latin name for the plant, Cynara scolymus, before going on to specifically make the claim that the liqueur takes its name from cynarin. I have no idea who the author of the article was or its provenance, but it's possible there's a valid source behind the assertion.

Perhaps the creators were trying to cash in on the supposed health effects of cynarin (i.e. "Cynar: against the stress of modern life."), or it's more than likely that it's just some sloppy journalism.

In any case, as you quite rightly point out, cynarin obviously takes its name from Cynara scolymus, so of course does Cynar...either in one step or two.

Unfortunately, that doesn't really answer the question of whether there is any cynarin in the stuff. These pages each claim that there is...

Edited by KD1191, 14 August 2009 - 12:51 PM.

[Chris Hennes]

Anything new on the Cynar front in the last couple years? I've got about 3/4 of a bottle on the shelf that I'd like to use up to make room for ... something else.

[FrogPrincesse]

Anything new on the Cynar front in the last couple years? I've got about 3/4 of a bottle on the shelf that I'd like to use up to make room for ... something else.

Chris,
The rogue/beta cocktail book has quite a few Cynar drinks so you may want to look into that. The Art of Choke (already mentioned in this thread), The Bitter Giuseppe, Eeyor's Requiem, The Italian Heirloom, The Search for Delicious, Teenage Riot, Transatlantic Giant, The Last Mechanical Art, The Warning Label, etc.

[slkinsey]

Yea, Cynar (like Chartreuse before it) was seriously over-employed in cocktails for several years there. There are zillions of recipes calling for Cynar.

[Kerry Beal]

A Little Italy has become one of my favourite uses for cynar.

[FrogPrincesse]

The Cin Cyn from Babbo: 2 oz gin (Junipero), 1/2 oz sweet vermouth (recipe specifies Cinzano, I used Carpano Antica), 1/2 oz Cynar, orange bitters (I used Regan and Angostura), orange twist.

Very similar to a Negroni, although sans Campari.