Muyu Chinotto Nero
Chinotto — the small, intensely bitter myrtle-leaved orange that grows along the Ligurian and Calabrian coasts — is one of the great flavours of Italian drinks, and Simone Caporale has built a whole liqueur around it. Part of the Muyu range he created with fellow bartenders Monica Berg and Alex Kratena and the Dutch house De Kuyper, Chinotto Nero is his homage to the fruit he grew up with.
Caporale wraps that bitter-orange core in cinchona, oak moss, Curaçao orange and cacao, giving it depth without weight. The sugar stays low, so the bitterness has room to speak. At 24% it's a mixing liqueur, made to go long.
The nose is zesty and dark at once — mandarin and Navel orange with a faint floral edge and something that reads like cola cubes. The palate is where it gets clever: fresh, bright citrus meets smooth milk-chocolate praline, with a distinct acidity stopping it from ever turning sweet. It finishes on zesty floral orange with a lingering tartness. Think of it as an amaro's more playful younger sibling.
Serve it as an aperitivo with an Italian accent, or use it to give a Negroni or a spritz an unexpected, chocolatey bitter twist.
How to Serve
Caporale built it for the highball: a measure long over ice with tonic, orange twist on top. It also does clever things in a Negroni riff or an Americano. Keep it chilled once opened.
Where to Drink It
Tayēr + Elementary in Old Street for modern liqueurs done properly. Bar Termini in Soho for an Italian-leaning aperitivo. Lyaness on the South Bank for the inventive serves.
Food Pairings
Try it in a highball beside a bowl of salted, chocolate-dipped almonds — the cacao note bridges the two.
