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Pisco is an un-aged grape brandy from Peru and Chile, like a grappa, originally made by the Spanish distilling their surplus wine.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.
CPU cocktail: Campari, Pisco, Umeshu
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cocktailAn interesting variation on the negroni, with equal parts of campari, pisco and umeshu.
Ingredients
25ml Campari
25ml Pisco
25ml Umeshu
Directions
- Mix all the ingredients in a tall glass or cocktail shaker with ice, and stir thoroughly
- Filter and serve on the rocks, with an orange garnish
Notes
- If you don’t have pisco you could try a grappa, or indeed a gin to revert to a more traditional negroni template.
- I’m a beginner with the world of umeshu. In this recipe I used a lovely sake-based one called Shiraume Ginjo Umeshu.