Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Other Cocktails

Interstellar Love

By
Kate Dingwall
Kate Dingwall
Kate Dingwall
Kate Dingwall is a freelance writer whose work focuses on food, drinks and travel. She is based in Toronto.
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Published 04/26/22
Interstellar Love cocktail

Eric Medsker

There’s hardly one specific occasion for a white port & tonic in Portugal. They’re consumed with lunch, before dinner, at brunch, and at any situation that calls for a refreshing drink—and under the Northern Portugal sunshine, well, that’s plenty. 

This drink riffs on that classic two-ingredient pairing. “Low-ABV, effervescent, and refreshing,” says Javelle Taft, the head bartender at Death & Co. NYC, of this cocktail created by his colleague Marc Rizzuto. 

Tall and bitter, it highlights white port, Bonal, Chareau aloe liqueur, and cucumber. Even beyond this highball, Death & Co. bartenders often send blanc vermouth to the bench in various drinks, instead using white port in place of the fortified wine. “White ports have a slightly higher sugar content than vermouths, which make them a touch more appealing when being used in Martini-style cocktails and two-part drinks,” says Taft.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ounces Quinta do Infantado white port

  • 1 1/2 ounces Bonal Gentiane-Quina

  • 1/2 teaspoon Chareau liqueur

  • 1/4 ounce simple syrup

  • 1 teaspoon citric acid

  • 2 dashes cucumber bitters

  • 3 ounces club soda, chilled, to top

  • Garnish: cucumber slice

Steps

  1. Add all ingredients except the club soda into a container and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

  2. Pour into a Collins glass over a spear (long) ice cube.

  3. Top with the club soda.

  4. Garnish with a cucumber slice.