The Wm Brown Weekly

Last week I popped into Krasi, a Greek wine bar in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, for a long lunch of zucchini carpaccio, tomato fritters and chicken souvla capped by ouzo. However, the most memorable part of the meal may have been its start, when I noticed a spritz cocktail called Amber Antics made with something called St. John Commandaria.

I’d never heard of it, but having grown up obsessed with medieval history I was very familiar with the Knights of St. John, a crusader order that holed up in Cyprus after losing the Holy Land. Commandaria, I soon learned, is a style of dessert wine made in Cyprus from grapes that are picked late to max out their sweetness and then produced through the solera aging system. The end product is sweet and nutty like a PX sherry but feels considerably lighter and lush with a nice citrus touch—in other words, perfect for summer.

I enjoyed it neat after Krasi’s wine director Jeremiah Cates poured me a small measure to sate my curiosity, and also loved it in the cocktail, which the restaurant cans in-house (I was also given a few to take home). It’s incredibly simple, with just Commandaria, orange wine (Krasi uses Mylonas Naked Truth Savatiano, from Greece) and a topper of Italian lemon soda. I’ve produced the recipe provided by Krasi beverage director Lou Charbonneau below; and if you’re looking for an Aperol Spritz alt, you could swap out the lemon soda for prosecco. —Eric Twardzik