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Our love letter to Italian spirits and Italian flavours; the Corte Di Amalfi is a cocktail that capture the feeling of touring the Amalfi Coast, Italy, with every sip. On a base of Italian gin and Italian bergamot liqueur, the cocktail shines with bright citrus and rich herbal notes from our homemade Lemon & Rosemary Oleo Saccharum. Here’s the recipe for both the cocktail and the product.
| By Cameron Mowat
Italian spirits are some of the most renowned in the world.
From vermouths, to amari to wines and spirits, Italy boasts a whole host of world-famous and award winning alcohols.
Something about Italian spirits just seems to scream ‘sunshine’. Maybe it’s the choice of botanicals that grow so well in Italy, like citrus fruits and herbs, that get packed with all the goodness that comes from sitting out in the sun.
Our Head of Education, Calum Threipland, designed this cocktail – the Corte Di Amalfi – as a sort of homage to the Italian summer, and to the products that we often take for granted despite their high level of not only flavour, but quality.
The base of this drink is Malfy Gin, which hails from the Amalfi Coast (the Italian paradise of beaches and stunning coastline this drink was partly named after). Malfy’s core philosophy surrounds ‘La Dolce Vita’ aka the good life, a phrase that encapsulates the idea of lounging around in the sun without a care in the world. It’s made with hand-picked juniper and sun-ripened lemons among a handful of other botanicals, and has a slight salty note that evokes the cooling coastal sea breeze.
Italicus is the supporting act of the Corte Di Amalfi. It’s also where the other half of the cocktail’s name comes from, as Italicus is based on the old recipe of ‘rosolio’ which was known as the ‘apertivo di corte’ or the ‘aperitif of the court’. It is a liqueur made with Bergamot, a bitter citrus fruit that is cousins with grapefruit and orange. Interestingly the liquid also hails from Amalfi and is centred philosophically around La Dolce Vita.
We paired these wonderful Amalfian spirits with our homemade Lemon & Rosemary Oleo Saccharum.
Oleo Saccharum literally means ‘oil sugar’ in Latin. The process of making one involves using sugar to extract the oils and flavours from citrus zests, fruits or botanicals. By pressing and resting your ingredients in the sugar you create a flavoured sugar, which can then be dissolved into fruit juice or water to create a rich, oily syrup that has both sweetness and sourness.
Lemon and rosemary go perfectly together in this product, not only complementing each other and giving an authentically Italian flavour combination, but working beautifully with the botanicals of the Malfy Gin and the bitterness of the Italicus. There’s no doubt this cocktail is a little taste of Italy.
Recipe for the Lemon & Rosemary Oleo Saccharum
Ingredients:
🔷 125g Lemon Zest
🔷 125g Sugar
🔷 1 Sprig of Rosemary
🔷 125g Lemon Juice
Method:
🔶 Add lemon zests & sugar into a bowl and press the lemon zests to express the oils into the sugar, add the rosemary and leave it to sit for a few hours.
🔶 Once the oils have started to extract, add lemon juice, then stir until the sugar is dissolved.
🔶 Strain, bottle, and refrigerate.
Recipe for the Corte Di Amalfi
Ingredients:
🔷 40ml Malfy Gin
🔷 20ml Italicus
🔷 15ml Lemon Juice
🔷 10ml Lemon and Rosemary Oleo Saccharum
🔷 Garnish with a Lemon Zest
Method:
🔶 Add all ingredients into the shaker, shake and fine strain into a chilled coupe glass.
🔶 Express the zest, garnish and serve.
