The Trident is a quietly radical three-ingredient stirred cocktail: equal parts aquavit, Cynar, and dry Manzanilla or Fino sherry, with a dash of peach bitters. Robert Hess created it in 2002, well before the modern cocktail revival had a full vocabulary for what he was doing. The Trident is structurally a Negroni — three equal parts, one of them a bitter amaro — but every ingredient is shifted: aquavit instead of gin, Cynar instead of Campari, sherry instead of sweet vermouth.
A Negroni in shape, but with the spirit, the amaro, and the fortified wine all swapped out. Each ingredient is doing what its counterpart would do — different vocabulary, same grammar.
Hess and the Pre-Revival Era
Robert Hess was one of the early American cocktail historians and writers — his website DrinkBoy.com and the Museum of the American Cocktail (which he co-founded with Dale DeGroff and others) were among the resources that made the modern revival possible. He created the Trident in 2002, published it on his website, and it spread through bartender community channels long before the drink-revival movement had infrastructure like PUNCH or Imbibe to record it formally.
The drink predates most of the modern equal-parts cocktails that became canonical — the Naked and Famous (2011), Division Bell (2008), Toronto-style amaro drinks. The Trident's geometry — Negroni-shape with non-Negroni ingredients — became a template that later bartenders used repeatedly.
The Spec
One ounce each of aquavit, Cynar, and Manzanilla or Fino sherry, with two dashes of peach bitters. Stirred for 30 seconds, strained into a chilled coupe, lemon peel expressed and dropped. The sherry must be Manzanilla or Fino (dry, slightly saline) — Amontillado or Oloroso would tip the cocktail too rich.
Why Aquavit Works
Aquavit's caraway-anise profile is one of the more polarizing spirit characters, but here it slots in where gin would — providing the cocktail's herbal-aromatic top end. Linie Aquavit (the Norwegian standard) is the most widely available; Krogstad (Portland, OR) and the Aalborg label also work. Avoid anything heavily dill-forward; the cocktail wants caraway as the lead.
Cynar, Not Substitute
The published recipe is specifically Cynar. Other amari change the drink: Averna pulls it sweeter, Ramazzotti pulls it more medicinal. Cynar's artichoke profile is what bridges the aquavit's herbal lift and the sherry's saline depth.
Garnish
A wide strip of lemon peel, expressed over the surface. Some bars add a brandied cherry; Hess's published version is just the peel.
Bottom Line
The Trident is the closest thing the modern era has to a sleeper cult classic — well-documented authorship, simple build, idiosyncratic flavor, and obscure enough that most home bars don't keep all three ingredients. If you happen to already stock aquavit, Cynar, and dry sherry, you have the cocktail equivalent of a found object: a remarkable drink for the cost of stirring three ounces together.