Vertigo

Duggan McDonnell

Oct 21

I’m toasting a virtuoso of mechanical confusion with a dizzyingly delicious cocktail, created by San Francisco bartender Duggan McDonnell, twice nominated “Best Mixologist of the Year” at Tales of the Cocktail, the spirit industry’s annual awards convention. McDonnell is the author of Drinking the Devil's Acre - A Love Letter from San Francisco and her Cocktails, 2015, a history of the famed city block of debauchery from the 1870-80s era.

The drink is very easy to make, being a simple highball of soda and spirit highly reminiscent of the Dark and Stormy. It also won’t actually make you very dizzy, because it is low proof. The only spirit in it is Averna, a rich and rewarding Italian bittersweet amaro from central Sicily. Like all amaros it is made with an old secret recipe which imparts “hints of orange and licorice, balanced with notes of myrtle, juniper berries, rosemary, and sage”. To make the drink, the Averna is floated on top of ginger beer (or ale) with a squeeze of lemon, which is perhaps where it gets its name – this is a precarious step that can easily go wrong. Case in point. No matter, it’s equally delicious whether right side up or upside down. I raise my glass!