Poca-Hola

The Poca-Hola is a bar trick in a glass. Instead of mixing everything in a shaker, you funnel Campari, Punt e Mes, vermouth and lemon juice straight into a small bottle of cola, flip it once to mix, then stand the bottle upright in a big glass packed with broken ice and drink it through a straw. The name is a wink at the soda it hides in.

It tastes a bit like an Americano that ran off with a cola. Campari brings bitter orange, Punt e Mes adds a deeper, more bitter vermouth edge with hints of cocoa and dried fruit, and the extra vermouth and lemon round it out. The cola’s sweetness and spice tame all that bitterness, while the bubbles carry everything along. Serving it in the bottle keeps the fizz locked in, and the ice packed around it keeps the bottle cold from the outside, so the drink stays sharp right to the last sip.

Glass: Beer mug | Strength: Light | Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 5 minutes

Bartenders tip: You need a small glass cola bottle, around the 6.5 ounce size, with about half the cola poured off to make room. A small funnel makes loading the bottle a lot less messy. Cover the top with your thumb and invert it gently once or twice, because shaking it will send cola everywhere. The recipe just says vermouth, so use sweet for a rounder drink or dry for a sharper one.