CPU cocktail: Campari, Pisco, Umeshu

The CPU is number 4 in the TechnoCocktails series: the mighty Central Processing Unit, the chip at the heart of all computers. The recipe below therefore has only three ingredients, and is a distant cousin of a negroni:

• C for Campari
• P for Pisco
• U for Umeshu

Pisco is an un-aged grape brandy from Peru and Chile, like a grappa, originally made by the Spanish distilling their surplus wine. Umeshu is a Japanese “plum” liqueur, actually made with a fruit called ume. Unripe ume fruit are steeped in shochu or sake with sugar, so it is a very similar process to many of the damson recipes here. Umeshu is also a rare drink that begins with U, so is essential for some TechnoCocktails! The three ingredients make this a worldwide recipe spanning Italy, Peru and Japan.

This wasn’t the only option for CPU, so before the main recipe I’ll give you a close second: Calvados (apple brandy), Peach liqueur and Umeshu.

• 25ml Calvados (Avallen works well)
• 20ml Umeshu
• 7.5ml Peach liqueur (crème de pêche)

It’s a nice calvados-forward cocktail with the sweet complexity from the umeshu: an orchard drink combing apple, plum and peach. However, in the end, the bitter negroni-like main recipe below won out, with a kick from the pisco that makes it quite different to the regular gin-based recipe. The umeshu stands in well for a sweet vermouth.