Day Drinking in the Dark

1 oz Rock Creek Rye Whiskey
1 oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth
0.5 oz Don Ciccio i Figli Amaro delle Sirene
0.25 oz Cointreau
0.25 oz balsamic vinegar

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

Garnish with an orange twist cut to rest on the ridge of your glass.

Special glasses? Check. Viewing location? Selected. Campsites, hotels and airbnbs in the path of totality are booked to the gills as the US celebrates its first total solar eclipse to stretch from coast to coast since 1918. Many have planned vacations around the event, so I figure a celebratory cocktail is in order.

I’m looking for a dark spirit as my base, so I decide to make a twist on a boulevardier. I start with an ounce each of rye whiskey and sweet vermouth, but instead of an ounce of Campari, I add a quarter ounce each of Cointreau and balsamic vinegar (to add darkness & acid) and, for the bitter note and added complexity, a half ounce of Don Ciccio i Figli Amaro delle Sirene. Like a solar eclipse, the result is captivating. As a final tribute, I express the oil from an orange twist over the cocktail, then cut the twist into a crescent-shaped sliver, place it carefully onto the lip of the coupe and lift my glass to scientists – the folks who turned humanity’s fear of such events into fun. Gosh, it’s almost like they know stuff!