The back of the bot­tle will tell you that in 1845 Ettore Zuc­ca cre­at­ed this extra­or­di­nary rabar­baro amaro liqueur that has long since been pop­u­lar in the sophis­ti­cat­ed cafes of Milan. Zuc­ca is pre­pared using the roots of Chi­nese rhubarb togeth­er with oth­er spices and botanicals.

Appre­ci­at­ed by the king Vit­to­rio Emanuele, Zuu­ca was enti­tled as a “Sup­pli­er of the Ital­ian Roy­al House”. The name Zuc­ca is also asso­ci­at­ed with one of the most tra­di­tion­al and best known cafes in Milan: the Zuc­ca in Galleria.

Zuc­ca’s bit­ter­sweet fla­vor pro­file is some­where between Cam­pari and Amaro with a high­light of smokey, earthy, wood tones. So con­sid­er this when you are com­ing up with cock­tail recipes to uti­lize this liqueur in. When sip­ping you may detect the fla­vors of gen­tian, car­damom, vanil­la, smoke and a hint of citrus.

I’ve recent­ly found it to work well with a strong, smokey mez­cal. Here’s the recipe I came up with. If you’ve had any suc­cess­ful recipes using Zuc­ca I’d love to hear them.

Recipe

• 1 oz reposa­do tequila
• 1 oz of mezcal
• 1/2 oz of dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz of sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz of Zucca
• Bar­spoon of absinthe
• 2 dash­es of Post Pro­hi­bi­tion Pick Me Up Bitters
• Gar­nish with an orange twist

Add all ingre­di­ents in a mix­ing glass except the gar­nish. Stir with ice. Strain into a chilled cock­tail glass. Gar­nish with an orange twist.

Around $25 a bottle.