Kind of Blue

I’ll happily admit that when I come across a cocktail with more than four ingredients, my willingness to actually make it at home diminishes by at least 25%. Add in a syrup, tincture, or some kind of solution, and that percentage rises rather quickly. In the case of the Kind of Blue cocktail from New York City’s Al Coro, where you can taste six courses of pasta for $125 and settle into some of the most welcoming velvet banquettes in the city, you’ll need to make both a blueberry syrup and a saline solution, but the resulting cocktail is special enough that the extra labor is worth it — I promise.

Many of the ingredients in this cocktail can be used in other drinks, so it’s worth adding them to your bar. Fino sherry adds dry and salty notes to cocktails including this brightly colored cobbler; Cappelletti, on the other hand, is a wonderful next step for the Campari fan in your life who wants to make a point of drinking more spritzes this summer. As for the amaro, you can simply enjoy a pour served over ice as a digestif, or make any of these warming amaro cocktails. The addition of balsamic vinegar adds a tangy, savory touch (especially when coupled with fino sherry) along with the subtle tartness of blueberry syrup.

Assembling this cocktail is fairly straightforward, and calls for a whip shake, which means adding one or two pieces of ice to the cocktail shaker, and shaking until they are fully diluted with the other ingredients. As for the concord grape syrup, we’d suggest drizzling a little on top of vanilla ice cream, or mixing it with seltzer for a sweet, rich riff on a shrub. –– Oset Babür-Winter