Never Sleeps
- 1 ½ oz Calvados
- ½ oz Vecchio Amaro del Capo
- 1⁄2 oz Becherovka
- 1 dash Pimento bitters
- Stir with ice for 20-30 seconds, strain over ice into a chilled Old Fashioned glass
- Spritz and garnish with an orange twist.
Happy Friday, friends!
Sometimes a new cocktail is so close to an already beloved flavor memory that your brain immediately lights up. I think therapists call that transference–usually not a healthy thing in that context. In spirits (or brand management), though, it can be a very positive thing.
Take, for instance, any new product Apple launches, like the Apple Watch. People take their affection for Apple’s design language, premium hardware, and seamless software, and transfer those expectations cleanly onto the new device.
In this case, a cocktail creator has taken our collective love of apple pie–sweet apple, warm cinnamon and allspice, buttery crust–and recreated that experience in a glass.
Say hello to Never Sleeps.
The drink comes from the bartenders at Amor y Amargo in New York City–a cocktail bar I love in theory, despite never having set foot inside.
Why the fondness from afar? Because it leans hard into one of my favorite things: amari as core building blocks rather than garnish. Owner Sother Teague talks about prospective guests who walk in asking for their go‑to classics, and if those drinks don’t use amaro, he points them toward another bar. The clue is in the name: Amor y Amargo – “love and bitterness.”
Never Sleeps is right on brand, with Vecchio Amaro del Capo as one of its pillars.
Amaro del Capo is a famously complex, herbaceous, bittersweet digestif from Calabria, in the southern “toe of the boot” of Italy. It’s built on a blend of 29 Calabrian botanicals, with prominent notes of sweet and bitter orange, chamomile, orange blossom, peppermint, aniseed, and earthy licorice. Compared to many classic, aggressively bitter amari, it’s smoother and more approachable, with baking spices–cinnamon, clove, cardamom–that dovetail beautifully with both Becherovka and the pimento bitters.
Speaking of Becherovka, this is a bottle I’ve been looking forward to featuring on Flavor Notes for a while.
Becherovka is a traditional Czech herbal liqueur, created in 1807 in the spa town of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), it is often described as “Christmas in a bottle.” Originally sold as a stomach remedy called "English Bitter," it evolved into a beloved international spirit. Today, it is produced using a secret recipe of herbs, spices, and local Karlovy Vary spring water. It balances sweet, honeyed warmth with a crisp, bitter botanical finish, featuring flavor notes of cinnamon and clove, followed by subtler layers of ginger and aniseed.
To round out the baking‑spice chorus, we bring in pimento bitters. I’m using Dale DeGroff’s Pimento Aromatic Bitters, which are highly aromatic and allspice‑forward, adding warm, spicy, subtly bitter notes. Between the bitters, Becherovka, and Amaro del Capo, you’ve essentially assembled everything you need to replicate the spice profile of a classic apple pie.
Now for the apples.
Calvados is a French apple brandy produced exclusively in Normandy. Apples are fermented into cider, then distilled and aged in oak barrels for at least two years. Like Champagne or Cognac, Calvados holds an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) designation, which dictates how and where it can be made. In the U.S., a bartender might reach for Laird’s Applejack here, but Calvados typically offers a smoother, more layered, and more distinctly “apple‑forward” profile–think stewed apples, vanilla, and gentle spice, increasingly pronounced with longer aging in French oak.
The citrus from the orange twist barely conceals the baking spices waiting underneath. The first sip brings a hint of fresh apple, quickly enveloped by ground clove and toasted cinnamon from the Becherovka and the allspice of the bitters at the front of the palate. Across the mid‑palate, the Calvados and the 29 Calabrian botanicals in Amaro del Capo link arms to provide structure and depth. Despite the overall sweetness, the drink finishes with a subtle, persistent bitterness: allspice bitters plus gentian and eucalyptus from the amaro nudge you gently toward another sip “to wash it down.”
And honestly—who doesn’t want another sip of apple pie?
As I sit with this Never Sleeps and its warm, nostalgic framing, I’m thinking about this past weekend—not just in terms of my immigration journey, but my daughter’s as well.
Last weekend marked the end of my daughter’s first year at CircusWest in Vancouver, British Columbia. As part of that, she performed in a year‑end show alongside fellow students and instructors–a hybrid of public performance and final evaluation for everything they’ve learned.
And learned, she has. She’s transitioned from lyra to a cube apparatus, which is less common and more visually striking, and she’s continued to make full use of the school’s support to design and build her own costumes–including the one for this performance.
What struck me watching her wasn’t just the tricks. It was how much acting and storytelling has crept into her choreography as she’s gained experience and maturity. Facial expressions, pacing, little narrative beats in the routine–it all felt very intentional. It was very much a proud‑parent moment.
Her efforts are also beginning to open doors, with individual performance gigs already lining up for the summer.
The weekend that started with her year‑end show ended with a show of a different kind for my wife and me.
We went to see Wintersleep, a celebrated Canadian indie rock band formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2001. They’re known for dynamic, atmospheric, guitar‑driven rock, and are probably most famous for the singles “Weighty Ghost” and “Amerika.” Over more than two decades, they’ve earned a Juno Award and released a string of critically respected records. Their newest album, The Wishing Moon, has been my own point of entry.
The show took place at Revelry here in Kelowna–a venue we hadn’t yet visited. It’s not huge (capacity around 500), and there were maybe 300 people in the room for this set, which felt just right.
You could tell immediately that Wintersleep has been doing this for a while; they put on a tight, confident, emotionally engaging performance.
What made the night even sweeter, though, was spotting–and saying hello to–one of the venue partners from our Kelowna Newcomers Club Cocktails & Spirits events. Seeing a familiar face at a random rock show in a new town hit me harder than I expected. It made me feel like I’m not just visiting anymore.
Roots, it seems, are quietly taking hold.
As I hold this Never Sleeps–nostalgic in flavor yet firmly rooted in the present–I feel a steady sense of reassurance and gratitude for where things are heading, for me and for my family. Canada has given us space, safety, and possibility. For that, I am deeply thankful.
Here’s to you, Canada, for taking us in and making us feel welcome.
Cheers! 🍁🎸🥃
