Southside Sips: Eclipse Spritz

In case you haven’t heard, at 3:26 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, April 8, we’ll get treated to a full solar eclipse — the first one visible from New York since 1925! — the dark-making phenomenon where the moon passes over the sun, enveloping our side of the earth in shade for a full 4 minutes and 28 seconds. And if you’re in the right spot (like upstate — for you brave souls making that trek, good luck with the traffic heading home!), it’s total darkness for that little period of the two-plus hour start-to-finish duration.

Here on Long Island, we’ll get a pretty good version of this — nearly three-quarters of the total eclipse. And since we’re not going to have another one until 2079, this is pretty much your one and only chance. No pressure!

Marking the occasion, the good folks at Amante 1530 Amaro created a cocktail just for the occasion. Amante is a new Roman-made entry into the Amaro category, but their modern-sensibilities are based the foundation of thousands of years of amaro-making in Italia. Because the eclipse is smack-dab in the middle of the afternoon, their choice of a spritz is wonderfully apropos for day drinking. (Thanks, Amante!). We recommend using a brut-style Prosecco here, which is dry (if you ask for a dry Prosecco, that word on a bottle actually means sweet). Toast to the darkness and the light, because we really do need both. Discuss…