The Bitter Giuseppe is a Cynar-forward stirred drink — Cynar amaro and sweet vermouth in equal parts, with lemon and orange bitters. Stephen Cole created it at the Violet Hour in Chicago around 2008. The bar opened in 2007 and was a defining venue in the second wave of the American cocktail revival; the Bitter Giuseppe is one of its signature recipes.
A lower-ABV Manhattan that drinks like an aperitivo — the artichoke vegetal note doing the lifting where rye would be.
Cynar in a Lead Role
Cynar — pronounced "chee-NAHR" — is an Italian amaro built around artichoke leaf extract, alongside the usual herbs and roots. It has a particular vegetal-bitter signature that resists the herbal-medicinal cliché most amari fall into. Cole's insight was that Cynar at 33 proof could function as a base spirit if paired with sweet vermouth — building a Manhattan-shape drink that lands lower in ABV and with a different bitter profile.
Cole is widely credited with the drink in trade-press profiles of the Violet Hour and in the bar's own published material. The Violet Hour Book (Toby Maloney et al., 2014) prints the recipe as a house creation; secondary sources are consistent on date and authorship.
The Spec
An ounce and a half of Cynar, an ounce and a half of sweet vermouth, a quarter-ounce of lemon juice, four to six dashes of orange bitters. Stirred over ice, strained over a large cube in a rocks glass, lemon peel garnish. The lemon juice is what separates this from a true Manhattan-form — the small acid component lightens the drink and makes it work as an aperitivo.
Why the Lemon Juice
A quarter-ounce of fresh lemon juice in a stirred drink is unusual — stirred drinks almost never carry citrus. The lemon here functions as a brightener, not a sour element; it cuts the Cynar's heavier vegetal notes and gives the cocktail a slight forward lift. Skip it and the drink reads heavier and sweeter; double it and you've made a sour.
Sweet Vermouth Choice
Carpano Antica is too rich and competes with the Cynar; Cocchi Vermouth di Torino is the modern reference. Punt e Mes also works and pushes the drink slightly more bitter — defensible if you want it drier.
Garnish
A wide strip of lemon peel, expressed over the surface and dropped in. An orange peel is the alternate; lemon is the published version and is the cleaner of the two.
Bottom Line
The Bitter Giuseppe is one of the most quietly drinkable stirred cocktails of the modern era — a Manhattan-shaped drink with the ABV of an aperitivo and a flavor profile nothing else quite reproduces. If you have a Bottle of Cynar already, it costs you a sweet vermouth pour and a quarter of a lemon to find out whether this becomes your house drink.