Apertif Alternative

Ritual builds its bottles to slot into cocktails one for one, and this one is aimed squarely at the bright red Italian bitters that anchor a spritz, a negroni or a boulevardier. The flavor runs to orange blossom, Victoria rhubarb and charred grapefruit, finishing floral and spiced, landing somewhere between aperitivo bitterness and the sweeter side of French vermouth. It took Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It is worth knowing what this actually is. The ingredient list is filtered water, cane sugar, natural flavors, citric acid and vegetable juice for color, so treat it as a purpose-built cocktail component rather than a distilled spirit, and do not expect much from it neat. Zero calories, 1g of sugar per serving. Build it over ice with soda and a fat orange slice.