Most drinkers will be familiar with the aperitivo concept, but for the uninitiated, it identifies an alcoholic drink enjoyed before dining, with flavours to whet your appetite. The Italians have spent centuries earmarking the aperitivo as part of the traditional build-up to an evening meal.
Italian aperitivo culture was in full swing in the sixteenth century, when piazzas were packed with pre-dinner pioneers sipping herbal vermouths. After centuries of experimenting, we now know an essential aperitivo has a bitter and dry profile. Bitterness actually triggers the secretion of a hunger hormone, and because smell is crucial to the flavour experience, any citrus notes encourage us to salivate and kick-start the gastric juices.
The earliest Italian inventions included the Torino-Milano, mixing vermouth from Turin and Campari from Milan. This concept has been twisted over the centuries – topping with soda to give us the americano, or with sparkling wine for the sbagliato, or adding a measure of gin for the negroni. But anything dry, herbal or sour, like a martini or a daiquiri, will do the trick. It doesn’t even need to be a mixed drink, you can find tannins that dry the mouth out in dry white wine, and beer can be dry and bitter thanks to the hops.
Italian bartenders have been flexing their cocktail-making skills on UK shores for decades, so it seemed appropriate to pay homage to the heritage of the aperitivo through talented export Simone Caporale, who we spoke to for The House of Peroni website this month.
Simone mixes and shakes at the Langham hotel’s award-winning bar, Artesian. ‘Aperitivo is an occasion to disconnect from work and gently enter into free time, to blend a drink with something light to eat and gather a bunch of good friends around you,’ he says. ‘I’ve learned that spirits and liquors are not the only source of flavours to make drinks. For many, seeing beer on a cocktail recipe might seem strange, but we shouldn’t forget that the first examples of beer cocktails were actually invented in the UK during the 1600s, so there is a lot of heritage here. It’s an ingredient I’ve started using much more.’
Aperitivo isn’t just limited to a pre-dinner ritual. You can order an aperitivo before lunch out with friends, and a negroni after an evening at the theatre can be an absolute pleasure. Follow our motto ‘Drink less, but drink better’, because the point is not to be prescriptive about a moment, the point is to ensure you put time aside to actually enjoy a drink.
Frankly, anything the Street Feast crowd do is worth tapping into; their concepts espouse many of the Thinking Drinker philosophes and combine some of the best tucker in town with quality pre-dining drinks. Cheeky Italian is amongst the army of righteous street fooders and micro-dining offers at the day and night-time Model Market, where you’ll find all drinks bases covered, along with a new tequila bar and alcoholic slushies, evidence that you can pre-empt eating with anything you fancy.
The Thinking Drinkers’ chief philosophy of ‘Drink less, but drink better’ is alive and well in this diminutive drinking hole. Pre-bottled house negronis are served straight up in delicate glassware, and with a useful selection of charcuterie and cheese that could quite easily keep your hunger satisfied if you didn’t want to keep your restaurant booking.
