Intercontinental

The Intercontinental cocktail has name every bit as evocative as its fragrance; a first-class ticket in a glass. Cognac is a powerful force to unify the other two ingredients; amaro’s vegetal notes and the strange funk of maraschino are rounded out and the effect is faintly chocolatey.

It has a sort of old-fashioned flavor that would make one think it was invented at some chic European bar in the mid-20th century, but it’s actually a modern recipe, from some time in the late-00s. It’s the brainchild of Duggan McDonnell, proprietor of the now-defunct Cantina in San Francisco. McDonnell also wrote a lovely book about San Francisco’s cocktail history, called Drinking the Devil’s Acre: A Love Letter from San Francisco and Her Cocktails.