Blackened Cocktails

Averna is a beautiful, Italian herbal digestif liqueur with it’s own distinct character that I’ve recently grown to love, especially as a replacement for the less alcoholic and lower shelf-lifed Vermouth. Despite appearances I don’t really drink enough on my own to ever get through a bottle of Vermouth before it starts to sour. So, instead of dumping half full bottles (or more accurately, chugging sour Vermouth) I was happy to come across a recipe for a Black Negroni which substituted the Vermouth with Averna. Notes withing the recipe suggested that this worked in many such cocktails such as a Black Manhattan, Black Boulevardiers, etc. It was time to give this a try, while none of these are terribly original drinks, I had a mission. It was time to put on some Enslaved and blacken some cocktails.

The Black Horse
This is the drink that started my love for Averna. When trying to come up with a base for a Black Horse of the Apocalypse cocktail I came across the Black Negroni which had reference to The Black Manhattan. The Black Horse is basically a Black Manhattan with Rye and an Absinthe wash and it works really, really well.
Get The Black Horse Recipe here.

Black Lace
Based on The Arsenic and Old Lace Cocktail, this is another classic that seemed fit to be blackened with Averna.
Get the Black Lace recipe here.

The Widow in Black
A twist on the Merry Widow. I’d have called it The Black Widow if it wasn’t so obvious and there was already a shitty tequila drink with that name.
Get The Widow in Black recipe here.

The Black Mirror
This is a filch of The Broken Mirror. Unlike all of the other Averna Black cocktails, this one didn’t originally have a Vermouth to switch out. Instead, I swapped out the Lime Juice.
Get the Black Mirror recipe here.

The Black Jewel
Taken from The Jewel Cocktail on the Imbibe site which is an even 1:1:1 version of the Bijou and Blackened with the substitution of Averna for the Sweet Vermouth.
Get the Black Jewel recipe here.