Bulletin Board 63

Updating your aperitivo arsenal, cool menswear paintings and a love affair with a Shaggy Dog

HAPPY HOUR

I always keep a bottle of Cynar on my home bar. If you don’t know what Cynar is, it’s that green bottle with a red triangle depicting an artichoke behind its name. You will sometimes see it in your liquor store, in the same aisle as Campari and amaro.

Created in Italy in 1952, Cynar is essentially a bitter made from 13 different herbs and plants, with the artichoke as the key ingredient. It has a quality not unlike Campari to serve as an aperitif (pre-dinner) or digestif (after dinner drink). Cynar is herbal and earthy in its flavor profile and mixes well into other cocktails but is also enjoyable on its own.

I like ordering Cynar when I have been out and about drinking with friends and they want the drinking to continue—but I want it to end. So, everyone will continue ordering cocktails, and I, not wanting to seem like a party pooper, switch to Cynar.

The exact order is Cynar with soda on ice with a twist of lemon. It is a drink that gives the impression you are continuing to party when you are in reality winding down and treating your stomach to some lovely herbs to help stimulate digestion.

Cynar is a very versatile ingredient for your aperitivo arsenal. I see Italians drink it on the rocks with an orange peel, you can swamp out the Campari for Cynar in a Negroni, and you can even make a spritz out of it. So, next time you are restocking your home bar, I suggest you pick up a bottle of Cynar and experiment with its potential. —MH