Juicy Jumbo Cocktails at I Más!

I Más!
Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 11. Milan Tel 0258100992.

In Milan this past Saturday I had the first cocktail I’ve had in years. Nothing against the colorful concoctions, I simply prefer to get my buzz on slowly, and minus the sticky sweet aftertaste of pineapple and grenadine. I suppose Mojitos technically count as cocktails, and I’m picky about them too. More mint and lime, less sugar!

However, the special house cocktails at the Spanish restaurant and tapas bar, I Más!, looked so big and beautiful that I had to try one, just to see if I could finish it!

We’d had an aperitivo at a bar nearby, which consisted of a few glasses of wine and very few snacks, so we decided on I Más! mainly because they were still serving Tapas…. And we would need to them.

One foot in the door, and there they were, three goblets, each roughly the circumference of a cantaloupe, filled to the brim with at least 20 cubes of ice (a real rarity in Italy), naturally-colored liquid, and chunks of fresh fruit, mint, and plump maraschino cherries.

I don’t know how the server managed to lift the tray, but she was doing a lot of it. Every table was enjoying one of these gargantuan cocktails and so did we.

To soften the blow, we ordered some tapas, none of which cost more than €3: Pan-seared Chorizo in a spicy, oily sauce with a touch of apple vinegar (we sopped it up with the bread and would have used our fingertips), crostini with queso de cabra, chicken-stuffed pimientos in a warm tomato sauce, and marinated anchovies. Everything was fresh and savory, with just enough oil to give it a sinful touch, without leaving oil slicks on our lips or a regretful conscience.

And then the cocktails:
We sampled a Dolce Vita, which came in a 12-inch, v-shaped glass with a thick stem. It was something of a Campari-fied Cosmo, with Vodka, Cointreau, cranberry, lime, Campari and club soda.

The Marcella was our hands down favorite, with a rum and ruby red grapefruit base.

The drink called ‘Cherries’ was none other than fishbowl with a stem, and combined grapes, cherries, campari, gin, and a lot of citrus.

Each one had a unique fresh flavor that never tired. They were refreshing and went down without any initial jolt, only to follow up with a pleasant warm rush that only made you want to drink more. Truly thirst-quenching.

There were four of us and we ordered at least six of these monsters. While I don’t remember the last few hours of the night, the fresh fruit must have packed a vitamin punch, as I awoke the next day at noon, fresh and headache free!