"My Girlfriend in Tacoma" [Rosé‎ and Amaro Cocktail]

This week on Dak and Ju we decided to venture out into unchartered waters with an amaro-based cocktail from our friends at I’d Rather Be Meryl, another amazing food-focused venture run by women. If you’re like us (a little unsure about what amaro really is) we can’t recommend their Amaro 101 article enough. To summarize, amaro is a bitters-sweet liqueur made from distilled herbs. There are so many different kinds of amari (yes the plural of amaro!!) to choose from, depending on your preferred flavor profile. Some are sweeter, some more medicinal and others bitter—truly a choose your own adventure of the best kind. We have slightly different flavor preferences, but used Amaro Meletti for this cocktail, which is a bit more on the smooth, honey side but a perfect entry point into the amari world!

This cocktail, My Girlfriend in Tacoma (whose name might give you a chuckle if you’re from the Seattle area), hits in all the right spots for a summer cocktail. Dylan and Karen of I’d Rather Be Meryl were inspired by a cocktail they had at Seattle French restaurant, L’Oursin. It’s lightly sweet, soft and lush, with a bitter finish from the amaro-grapefruit peel double whammy. One of our favorite parts is that you don’t need fancy rosé  for this to taste good. In fact, they said this is the perfect use for the drags of a bottle that’s potentially been sitting in the fridge for a few days. Be sure to stir and serve with plenty of ice—the chill makes this the perfect cocktail to cool down with in your hot apartment or 6ft away from your best friends this summer. — Dak and Ju

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz amaro

• 1.5 oz dry rosé

• 1 grapefruit peel twist

Instructions

1. In a cocktail shaker (or wide mouth mason jar), combine the amaro, the rose and plenty of ice.

2. Stir the amaro mixture well to chill. Strain and pour into a cocktail glass with either one large ice cube or plenty of smaller cubes.

3. Garnish with a grapefruit twist and serve.

Makes 1 cocktail