KC and the Sunshine band offer some sage wisdom for making the easiest of cocktails:
“Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake your booty!”
Now to be clear, shaking your behind is not an explicit part of the instructions for making these cocktails, but no one will stop you. In fact, it is encouraged for adding a big measure of FUN to your imbibing experience!
Let’s talk about the shakerato. Popular in Italy, the OG shakerato is fresh espresso and a bit of simple syrup shake, shake, shaken with ice until delightfully frothy. It not only cools down your fresh espresso shot, but transforms into a gorgeous, silky beverage. Some folks add milks (whole, condensed, alternative milks, etc.), flavored syrups (chocolate or nut-flavored), or whipped cream on top, but those are neither required nor necessary - only if you're ready to experiment and/or get a little fancy.
Of course, this simple concept eventually found its way out of Italian cafes and into bars. It started going in a few directions:
1) Adding booze into the original shakerato, veering closer to the espresso martini arena, but with flavored spirits rather than vodka (such as amari or liqueurs).
2) Shaking a single spirit with ice, so that it forms a frothy head just like the espresso does in the Italian version. Without getting into the science, certain types of amari with oily/viscous ingredients hold the foam head and have their flavors enhanced by the shaking process. It's also interesting to note that shaken Campari by itself is also popular in parts of Italy.
3) Shaking traditionally stirred cocktails, resulting in a frothier beverage. As above, amari-based cocktails work because of their plethora of froth-able ingredients. So a shaken Negroni will become frothy, but not a standard Old Fashioned - ya dig?
We started hearing rumblings about these methods in the bar world of late, and recently, one of our favorite bitter liqueur experts, Brad Thomas Parsons, experimented with a bunch of amari to see which ones were improved in both flavor and appearance by undergoing the shakerato treatment. It turns out that some didn't improve at all (such as a handful of the most common amari, like Meletti, Averna, Montenegro, and Ramazzotti), while others were completely transformed. As Brad said, "there seemed to be something mystical happening with all of the alpine-style amari we observed; while some didn’t taste as good as they looked, each one filled up the glass with a bountiful, beautiful layer of everlasting foam." The working hypothesis is that these amari's common ingredient of juniper promoted the froth and the flavor. We don't know exactly why or how this works, but if you're looking to shake things up with your next serving of amaro, keep juniper in mind when making your selection.
So, we offer a few treatments for you to get your shake on! Let us know which one is your favorite, and how your shaking experiments go!
Traditional Shakerato
Double shot of espresso (about two ounces)
1/4 to 1 oz. simple syrup (adjust to your preferred level of sweetness)
Add ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously until well-chilled; aim for at least 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled martini glass or small shooter. Sip & enjoy!
Spiked Shakerato
Double shot of espresso (about two ounces)
1 oz. liqueur or amari (limoncello, amaretto, vanilla or coffee flavored liqueurs are all fun to try)
1/4 to 1/2 oz. simple syrup (adjust to your preferred level of sweetness)
Add ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously until well-chilled; aim for at least 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sip & enjoy!
Amaro Shakerato
2 oz. amaro (try Campari, Cynar, Braulio, or Amaro dell'Etna if you need a place to start)
Add into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain out the ice and shake again for another 10 seconds. Pour directly into a chilled cocktail glass. Sip & enjoy!