Welcome to our new series, "The Happy Hour." It's Friday afternoon. Make yourself a drink.
There's a medicinal quality to the negroni that hits the spot after a particularly long week. As Prune chef Gabrielle Hamilton recently told Grub Street: "It makes mama fun and easy to be with. It's not a nightcap; it's a prophylactic." We also like to think that it settles the stomach, cures a cold, and combats exhaustion.
Kevin Ludwig, owner of Beaker & Flask restaurant in Portland, Oregon, uses locally produced Krogstad aquavit in this Scandinavian version of the Italian Negroni. (In our forthcoming May issue, we'll go into the classic drink a little more). Ludwig replaces gin with aquavit and substitutes Cynar (an herbal Italian liqueur) for Campari. The result is a bracing cocktail with intense anise and caraway notes.