Rome With A View: Milk & Honey's Low-ABV Twist On A Tom Collins
To understand Rome With A View, one has to understand low-ABV cocktails. That's alcohol by volume or, according to Firestone Beer, the volume of liquid in a drink that contains alcohol. Low-ABV drinks are often doomed from the start, and hardly sought out by late-night cocktail loungers, but Rome With A View stands out as the rebel and the exception.
Robb Report explains that low-ABV cocktails can taste "flat", "thin", sweet, and lack depth. Secondly, they can sound well ... unappealing, leaving the drinker to ask what exactly there is to imbibe? But the case for low ABV has been growing recently and more craft cocktails highlight spirits, juices, and bubbles over the traditional hard alcohol base, according to Punch.
A low-ABV cocktail allows for a mid-day drink or enables a long lurid evening with all your faculties intact. Made using amaro, vermouth, and aperitifs, well-balanced, flavorful, and refreshing low-ABV cocktails are dominating bar menus everywhere, and Rome With A View may have been the first to proudly hold its own among Manhattans and Tom Collins.
Campari is mixed with dry vermouth.
When Michael McIlroy — New York bartender of the now closed Milk & Honey in Soho — tried an unusual combination of Campari and dry vermouth, Lady Luck was the first to take a sip. Robb Report writes, "it shouldn't work but it does." Milk & Honey is famed for being the birthplace of this popular cocktail, but it also served as an educational and creative hub, developing some of the finest drinks and best bartenders in the Industry, writes Difford's Guide. Drinks like Rome With A View, a standard in bars everywhere since its 2008 creation, attest to its influence and place in history.
Punch explains that Rome With A View is an Americano-meets-Tom Collins — bittersweet and citrusy. Difford's Guide describes it as refreshing, with its herbal zestiness and a "splash of effervescence." What low ABV cocktails often lack in depth, this one fixes with Campari's bitterness. Dry vermouth complements the bitterness with its herbaceous flavor and like a Collins, it's rounded out with citrus. The drink is tart, sweet, and bitter — a perfect cocktail. To make: combine 1 ounce Campari, 1 ounce dry vermouth, 1 ounce lime juice, and 3/4 ounce simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Top with soda water and if you're feeling really fancy, garnish with an orange wheel (via Punch).