Discussing Negroni Week with a coworker yesterday quickly saw us googling and stumbling across a rhubarb Negroni. Since I love all things rhubarb and especially the bright red stalks I can pull out of my own garden the name alone had me decided.

Then it turned out, that the cocktail contains Zucca an Italian Rhubarb Amaro not in my home bar end a trip to an Italian shop in an obscure part of the Copenhagen harbor was planned for today after work.

I will not try to portrait my self as any kind of connoisseur but to me Supermarco appears to be a perfect slice of Italy quite a few degrees North. It's a pretty basic shop but every where you look, there a things you want to smell, taste, touch and buy.

Several shelves are dedicated to amari and stronger stuff in the large wine department. So not only did I buy Zucca, I also bought amaretto, Strega and a new bottle of Maraschino.

I promptly tasted my new purchase - that is the Zucca - and decided it indeed deserved to be mixed with good gin and red vermouth. It's an even darker reddish brown than the vermouth and it has a very complex earthy flavor. Quite far from the original Negroni ingredient of Campari with it's medicinal flavor.

So to mixing - I simply used the measurements from this blogpost:

• 4 cl gin - I used Tanqueray
• 3 cl red vermouth - I used Martini Rosso
• 2 cl Zucca

I measured the ingredients over a big ice cube in a low ball glass and stirred until properly chilled and then simply garnish with a twist of lemon.

It's a very satisfying and appetite inducing cocktail - leaning towards liquid Marmite or stock cubes.