End of March 2021. After a long, seemingly endless winter, spring has finally arrived. Gone are the days of putting on a pot of mulled wine in close quarters or sharing a Feuerzangenbowle.
The opening of the restaurants is still a long time coming, but life is already taking place outside again to a large extent. The promenade by the lake, the city park, the local mountain - they all fill up with people as soon as the sun makes itself felt behind the clouds.
This is understandable, as the past six months have been characterised by short-time work, home offices and a mood that was sometimes optimistic, sometimes pessimistic. So the signs heralding the warmer half of the year are truly music to the ears.
Just ten people are allowed to meet again at the present time. If you go to the restaurant around the corner for a takeaway menu at lunchtime, it can happen that there are guests at the table who are served their food on porcelain, not in disposable bowls. The carpenter or the painter can fortify themselves and warm up at the same time in this restaurant that has been converted into a construction workers' canteen.
But changing careers just for the sake of eating out would be a bit over the top. Better alternatives are, for example, to treat yourself to a long weekend in a hotel restaurant or to have the food and drink of your favourite restaurant delivered to your home.
The social exchange is missing and what would bring more people to exchange than the aperitif. For most, it means the start of a well-deserved evening, for many Barkeeper it usually means the start of the working day.
But before the rush can be managed, the bar (at the moment, unfortunately, often just the house bar) must be well prepared. Because if the guest has been sitting at his seat for hours and is engrossed in an animated discussion with his vis-à-vis, he may wait a quarter of an hour or more for his fancy cocktail.
But not with the aperitif. After all, it is usually the first drink of the evening and it should come quickly. After all, the aperitif doesn't really start until everyone has toasted.
The requirements for appetising aperitif drinks are that they should be complex in taste but simple in preparation. For precisely these reasons, there is absolutely nothing to be said against a good bottle of sparkling, rosé, white or even apple wine or a round of beer to ring in the most pleasant part of the evening.
When it comes to mixed drinks, which are particularly popular before a meal, it is noticeable that most of them can be prepared directly in the guest glass. Spritz', highballs or simple two- or three-part drinks with a simple but effective decoration are best. In any case, it is worthwhile to include a 'brakeman' with aperitifs, that you do not tip the drink but rather sip it.
This can mean the shape of the glass, ice and carbonation, as with the Aperol Spritz, or the bitter note and higher alcohol content, as with the Negroni. Since many guests like to be surprised even at the aperitif stage, it is a good idea to offer your own house aperitif.
The possibilities are endless, not least thanks to the steady growth of aperitif liqueurs, bitters and vermouths that have been conquering the bottle shelves of many illustrious cocktail bars for some years now. Starting with vermouth, which has experienced a meteoric rise in Switzerland.
After Matter Spirits, Gents or Jsotta made a name for themselves early on with their vermouths, today almost every wine region in Switzerland has its own vermouth line. Wine-based aperitifs are accompanied by bitters - both not infrequently from the tinkering rooms of one of Switzerland's many new gin brands.
This is understandable for several reasons. For example, the herbology, the business plan and the distribution network that one has acquired or built up in the creation of the gin also helps in the development of a vermouth or a bitter.
If you then add the three ingredients in equal parts to a tumbler filled with ice and decorate it with a slice of orange, you also get one of the most popular cocktails in the country at the moment: the Negroni.
Matter Spirits, Alata (Morand) and the Lateltin company (Jsotta & Ginuine) are among those who already have all the ingredients for a quasi "own Negroni" on offer. Companies like Macardo, nginious!, Gents, Zeltner Distillerie, Heiner's Destillate or Deux Frères are close...
Fruits and herbs
But not all aperitifs produced in Switzerland fall into the category of classic red to orange bitter aperitifs or vermouths. In the case of "Biermut" from Unser Bier, for example, a beer-based vermouth, it is in the eye of the beholder how narrowly they want to see the category of vermouth.
From a purely etymological perspective, the term vermouth ultimately refers to the wormwood herb. And from wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) it is only a short way to the Swiss original aperitif: absinthe.
Poured over cold, still water, this legendary spirit has a particularly seductive appeal. But absinthe can do more, such as adding complexity to various cocktails.
Other products are more along the lines of the Italian Amari and sell as both an aperitif and a digestif. Herbal, often also fruity, but with a still bitter basic note, these spirits lend themselves accordingly before and after meals.
Not all aperitifs produced in Switzerland fall into the category of classic bitter aperitifs or vermouths.
Interesting bitters and herbal liqueurs, which are by no means exclusively intended for aperitifs, are called Souboziane (Gagygnole), Bitter Diablerets, Amaro Generoso and Barbaro L'Aperitivo (Bisbino) as well as Alpstein Bitter or Sennar (Goba).
In recent years, thanks to products such as Marito Verde, Giselle, Bermontis, Sidonia (Haldihof), Mount Rigi, Salinè or the new Abbacella series from Appenzeller Alpenbitter, less bitterness and more aromas of herbs and/or fruit have made it into aperitif glasses.
Special attention should also be paid to the category of non-alcoholic aperitifs. Here, there has been a lot going on lately, not only in the ready-to-drink products, but also in those products that are oriented towards the classic bitter and vermouth.
As a spritz with Prosecco and carbonated water or filled with Tonic Water , perhaps with a squeezed slice of lemon, a slice of cucumber or a sprig of mint, and the aperitif is served. But beware: while Prosecco drives up the alcohol content, a Tonic Water complements the aperitif not only with bitter-tart notes, but also with plenty of sweetness.
There are also other filler options. Apple cider, kombucha, mate iced tea or a non-alcoholic IPA - why not open the 2021 aperitif season this way?
