Campari On Ice

My fascination for Campari started sometime when I was in XIth or XIIth standard and had plenty of time to read all the novels in the world. And I almost did! I came across this drink in a novel. But try as I might, I’m unable to remember its name. I remember it by being written by a famous author, and it involved the protagonist being shipped to Italy with a face subjected to plastic surgery and a new identity to protect him from the bad guys. He’s made to learn Italian and made to pass off as a local. If someone has read this novel and can remember the name, please do leave me a comment. I’ve been cracking my head over it for a long time now.

One interesting tidbit of information I came across in this book is that no self respecting Italian drinks Cappuccino after 11AM! This should be news to folks in India who stroll into Cafe Coffee Days and Baristas and order a Cappuccino in the evening just to look cool.

Well, I digress. The protagonist in the story always ordered the same drink whenever he dined – A Campari on Ice. That started my fascination with this drink.
I was intrigued by the name, and wanted to know what it was. A couple of weeks back, I got my chance. I’d visited High Time at the GRT Grand a couple of weeks back with my best pal, and to my surprise, I found Campari on the menu under Apertifs. An Apertif is something to whet your appetite as opposed to a Digestif, which helps digest your food.

While,I wasn’t looking to whet my appetite,I wasn’t about to leave an opportunity to taste the drink I had only dreamed about, slip through my hands just because of a technicality. In my opinion, if you have an apertif after dinner, it automatically becomes a digestif. If it has to make you hungry, it ought to digest what you’ve already eaten. Right?

Well, I ordered without hesitation (though not on ice) and it arrived in a quaint little shot glass, sort of shaped like a distorted hourglass sawed in half. It was dark red. Eye candy. It smelt wonderful. Nose candy. It tasted awful!

Campari is an alcoholic apertif obtained by infusing bitter herbs, aromatic plants and fruits in alcohol and water (this is according to Wikipedia). It hails from Italy and its composition has been kept a secret by the Campari family for almost 150 years. I agree wholeheartedly. Its aromatic, smells of fruit, and is more bitter than anything I’ve tasted in my life.

But having set out on a mission to taste anything and everything possible (If I haven’t told you about this before, here it is) sipping on Campari was a privilege as seen by my buddy & I. While we manged the first few sips with straight faces, we needed plenty of potato wafers to finish the last few sips with distorted faces.

But, its the experience that counts. I’ve tasted Campari. Though I wouldn’t recommend it to any bete-noir of mine, its still one item off my bucket list.

Well, as for you readers, if you’re dying to have a sip of Campari, after reading about it in some book or watching it in a movie, or after watching Jessica Alba pout seductively with a bottle, well, I would advise you to take someone along. Someone who is absolutely in love with this stuff. So he/she can finish the rest after you’ve had your sip. Alternatively you can take 10 similarly-interested people along, and order one tiny glass, so that everyone has their experience, and doesn’t have to go through it again.

Cheers!