Ah yes, pamperol. It does sound like something a baby’s dirty diaper has sat in for a moment, no? Alas, it’s just the name for another combination of two delicious alcoholic libations. Two is better than one. Bartenders often do this as a time saver. It’s easier to pour one bottle than two. It’s also fun to incorporate two products and then name them something funny. There’s a whole bunch of these. Fernet and Campari = Ferrari. Mezcal and Ramazzotti = Mazeratti. So on and so forth. You can come up with your own if you so choose. They don’t have to be named after an Italian sports car. You can name them after shitty American cars if you want. The Italian versions just sound better is all. I’m sure someone is mixing up Elijah Craig and Southern Comfort and calling it a Ford Escort. Yeah, bit of a stretch there. Ok, ok. How about Jagermeister and Pappy Van Winkle? Call it a Jalopy? I don’t know, I don’t think I’m any good at this.

Anyway, pamperol is a 50/50 split between Aperol and crème de pamplemousse. Why is everything crème this and crème that? Fear not, it’s just the French way of saying liqueur. Yes, there’s a difference between liquor and liqueur. Liquor refers to gin, tequila, etc. anything distilled and not sweetened whereas liqueur is a term reserved for a sweetened product like Grand Marnier, St. Germain, and yes, even Green Chartreuse because there is sugar added.

Pamplemousse is French for grapefruit. So there you go. Grapefruit liqueur. Crème de Pamplemousse just sounds cooler though, right? We make our own. I’ll post the recipe somewhere down the line.

Reminds me of the wedding two days ago. A French couple kept saying chartreuse, but the pure French way where it sounded like they were clearing their throats pronouncing the “r.” They said it over and over again. “We can’t believe you have chartreuse! Do you know about chartreuse? There’s a big story behind chartreuse! Two monks make chartreuse! They’re the only people int he entire world that know how to make chartreuse!” Jo and I kept looking at each other like “Are we hearing this correctly?” It was like an episode of Curb.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade, there’s an Italian product called Aperol which is probably one of the single greatest additions to any bar program. It’s a staple for great modern classics such as the paper plane and naked and famous. Yes, you can do up an Aperol Spritz if you want. I use it for cocktails like a rum old fashioned and I put a quarter ounce in a paloma for added flavor. Yeah, anything with grapefruit. It’s like magic. Also, Aperol will go through a secondary fermentation if you add fruit to it. I haven’t figured that one out yet.

Anyway, it’s a holiday. I’m out of here.