The Intro to Aperol is an interesting one. I was looking for Cocktails that include gin & Aperol and came across this twice before realising that it was actually a cocktail and not pages trying to tell me what Aperol was. It turns out this is actually a cocktail designed by the Pegu Club to give people an idea what Aperol is and tastes like.

Anyway, I had all of the ingredients and it looked interesting, so I thought I would give it a go.

Intro to Aperol

• 2 oz Aperol
• 1 oz gin
• 3/4 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• Twist of orange peel, for garnish

Add the Aperol, gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and Angostura bitters to a cocktail shaker half-full of ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a twist of orange peel (flaming optional).

I actually put slightly more lemon juice (maybe 4/5 oz) and in hindsight, could have used a little less than 1/4 oz of simple syrup. This isn’t that surprising as it is a cocktail for people not used to bitter drinks, so modify the proportions to fit your tastes.

This cocktail strikes a good balance between sweet and bitter. It’s incredibly fruity and gives mountains of citrus with hints of spice and juniper – very refreshing and drinkable. This will be cracking on a summer’s evening.

It is a rare thing (in my experience, at least) to see a cocktail with Aperol as its prime ingredient, and I am very pleased with it. I will definitely be making some more of these.