Italian Buck

A buck is a simple cocktail featuring ginger ale or ginger beer, citrus, and a spirit. The recipe template is super versatile and easy to experiment with. The Italian Buck is a more adventurous take, as it features two classic amari–Cynar and Amaro Montenegro.

Cynar is known for the inclusion of artichoke in its collection of bitter ingredients. Montenegro is a bit on the sweeter end, and I’ll often enjoy a neat pour of it with an expressed lemon twist.

For the Italian Buck I’d suggest using ginger beer, as the spicier notes will help balance the delightfully bitter flavors in the amari. Fever Tree and Q Mixers make two of my favorite ginger beers. If you crack open a bottle of one of their ginger beers, you’re perfectly set up to make two cocktails.

Cheers!

Print Recipe

Italian Buck

A buck for the amaro lover!

Course: Cocktail

Keyword: amaro, buck, fizzy, ginger

Servings: 1

Ingredients

• 1½ oz. Cynar
• 1½ oz. Amaro Montenegro
• ¾ oz. lime juice
• 3 oz. Q Mixers Ginger Beer (chilled)

Instructions

• Shake Cynar, Montenegro, and lime juice with ice until chilled.
• Strain into ice-filled Collins glass.
• Top with ginger beer and garnish with a lime wheel.

Notes

A great buck variation that I discovered in Paul Clarke’s book, The Cocktail Chronicles: Navigating the Cocktail Renaissance with Jigger, Shaker & Glass.