My Favorite Things

• 1 1⁄2 oz Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
• 1⁄2 oz Aperol
• 1⁄2 oz Cynar
• 1⁄2 oz Vermouth di Torino Chinato
• 1 dash Orange Bitters by Angostura
• Stir ingredients with ice, then strain into a rocks glass with a large cube
• Garnish with orange zest expressed over the cocktail.

Happy Friday, friends—and Happy Thanksgiving to my American family and readers.

Even though I now celebrate Thanksgiving in mid-October, I still like joining my American loved ones in a moment of gratitude as the holiday season gets underway. And today’s cocktail, My Favorite Things, provides the perfect lens for that reflection.

This riff on a Manhattan was created around 2014 by Paul Manzelli at Bergamot in Somerville, Massachusetts. Though Bergamot closed in 2020—after earning a place on OpenTable’s Top 50 Restaurants list—its legacy lives on every time this cocktail hits a glass.

The drink divides itself neatly between its rye whiskey base and a trio of bitter-sweet modifiers: Cynar, Aperol, and Vermouth di Torino Chinato. If you’ve been following this blog, you know Cynar is one of my favorite amaros—a beautifully complex spirit built from artichoke and a secret blend of herbs. It walks a tightrope between bitter and sweet, and it plays well with nearly everything, as we saw with Growing Old… and Eeyore’s Requiem.

Aperol brightens the mixture with an orange-forward sweetness, made even more expressive by a dash of Angostura Orange Bitters. These citrus elements lift the heavier vegetal notes of the Cynar, creating an aromatic bridge between sweetness and bitterness.

The recipe calls for a Bottled-in-Bond–style rye at 100 proof, and for good reason: anything softer gets bulldozed by Cynar’s complexity and the Chinato’s quinine backbone. Choose a rye with personality—pepper, grain, and spice—so it can stand its ground.

For me, though, the real star is the Vermouth di Torino Chinato. I discovered it in Portland while hunting for a bottle for a different cocktail, and I’ve been a believer ever since.

Vermouth di Torino Chinato hails from the Piedmont region of Italy, where vermouth as we know it first developed. Chinato versions take traditional Torino-style sweet vermouth and infuse it with cinchona bark—the source of quinine—alongside botanicals like rhubarb root, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla. Historically, Chinato was used as a medicinal tonic, believed to settle the stomach and sharpen the appetite. Over the past century, it evolved from folk remedy to aperitif, and from aperitif to a prized cocktail ingredient.

Cocchi’s Chinato, which comes mercifully in a 500 ml bottle (a blessing for anyone who doesn’t drain vermouth quickly), delivers a full-bodied, earthy, spiced bitterness that makes the whole drink bloom.

On the nose, citrus and warm spice rise first. Then the rye asserts itself with a comforting heat, followed by the orange notes of Aperol and bitters. Finally, the Chinato and Cynar deliver a deep, intriguing bitter core that closes with quinine’s unmistakable snap.

All these elements—separate, distinct, often surprising—come together into something harmonious. My Favorite Things unites its ingredients the same way life sometimes unites its small joys: unexpectedly, but memorably.

Besides being grateful for quinine-fortified vermouths, Italian amaros, and good rye whiskey, I’m thankful for my family—and for the fact that this year we did the hard thing and pursued a new future in Canada.

We spent most of this week in Vancouver celebrating our daughter’s 22nd birthday. She’s made a life for herself here, and it was pure joy to see her thriving.

Our route took us over the Coquihalla Highway and into the small town of Hope, BC—our last charging stop before entering the Fraser River Valley. Hope sits in a bowl of mountains, nearly encircled by snowcapped peaks. The towering Douglas firs in the town square make the place feel like a Northern cathedral. The town also has a charming love for wood-carved statues, which stand watch in nearly every green space.

This dramatic setting didn’t go unnoticed by Hollywood. In the early 1980s, Hope became the filming location for First Blood, the first of the Rambo films. The town still commemorates the experience with photos, plaques, and statues of both Sylvester Stallone and Brian Dennehy—reminders that even the quietest places can become iconic when the world briefly shines a spotlight their way.

True to Pacific Northwest form, Vancouver greeted us with steady late-November rain. Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver all like to argue about who gets the most annual rainfall, but Vancouver wins with roughly 59 inches a year. Still, the rain didn’t dampen the celebrations. We walked, visited, and enjoyed two birthday dinners—each paired with excellent cocktails. My highlights included a Spicy Tamarindo Mezcalita and a Black Forest Sour.

One menu even mentioned Sons of Vancouver Distillery tipping their hat to Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the Portland cocktail legend who rebuilt the Amaretto Sour into something worthy of respect. Seeing that nod to home made me smile.

But beyond the restaurants, beyond the rain, beyond the familiar tastes and scents of the Pacific Northwest, the most meaningful part of the trip was witnessing our daughter building a life that is entirely her own.

She trains at a circus school studying aerial arts—work that requires strength, grace, and more courage than most people ever know. Recently, she added Latin dancing to her routine. She tells us the two practices complement each other: both teach you to move with intention, to understand your body in space, to trust your instincts.

More importantly, dancing has given her community. People to meet. People to move with. People to belong to.

Every parent knows the mixture of pride and anxiety that comes with watching a child step into adulthood. It feels like releasing a bird into the air—hoping its wings catch the wind, hoping it finds its flock. Seeing her first steps take root in purpose and connection fills me with gratitude deeper than anything a holiday can prescribe.

So tonight, as I sip My Favorite Things, I raise a glass to family, to new beginnings, to the small joys that become big ones, and to our daughter—discovering her own favorite things and building a life out of them.

Here’s to the future, and to what our children make of it. 🍁🙏