Ingredients:
- YZAGUIRRE RED VERMOUTH
- BITTERS
- SODA OR SPARKLING WATER
- ORANGE
Recipe:
Fill a tall glass or highball with lots of ice. Stir so that the cold is maintained and the generated water is discarded. In the same glass, mix one part of Yzaguirre Red Vermouth with one part of your favorite bitter. Mix well and complete with a very cold and carbonated soda. Perfume with orange twist and add an orange segment.
TIP: For the orange segment to shine, leave it macerating for a few hours in a mixture of simple syrup (one part water to one part sugar). This touch balances the bitterness of the bitters.
History:
James Bond's impact on drinking culture is inevitable. The Americano is the first cocktail Bond orders in 'Casino Royale', Ian Fleming's 1953 book that started the series, and which reappears in later novels. The origin of this cocktail, in fact, is almost a century before the secret agent.
The Americano was first served in the 1860s in a bar in Milan, Italy. The drink, made with equal parts bitters and sweet vermouth with sparkling water, is an effortless version of the Milano-Torino, which contained the same mix without water. The name is believed to be due to its popularity with American tourists, although it may not have been attributed to it until the Prohibition era, when Americans fled to Europe in droves, thirsty for good drinks.
The Americano is also believed to be the forerunner of the Negroni. As the story goes, this other cocktail was invented in Florence by the Italian Count Camillo Negroni, at the beginning of the 20th century, when he asked a bartender to modify his Americano by replacing the soda with gin.
With its low alcohol nature and easy drinking sensibility, the Americano is an ideal candidate for daytime activities or to precede a meal. It's light, but flavorful, and with its bubbly, sweet-and-sour taste, it's easy to see why counts and spies were fans of the classic drink.
