Cocchi Americano

Italian aperitif wine from Asti, to an 1891 recipe: a Moscato d'Asti base aromatised with cinchona bark and gentian, so it finishes bitter where most aperitif wines finish sweet.

It is what bartenders reach for when a pre-war recipe asks for Kina Lillet, discontinued since 1985. Lillet Blanc carries the name but was reformulated with far less of the bitterness, so in the drinks built around it the two are not interchangeable.