The other night we had the honor of attending a rather lively party that started out at the Chapel Bar (a funeral home in a previous incarnation) in Seattle. I’m always hesitant about ordering a mixed drink at a new place until I know they know what they’re doing, so I started with a Hendrick’s on the rocks with cucumber, always a safe choice.

But once I had tasted someone else’s The Carpenter and the Walrus (bourbon and sweet tea with bitters, surprisingly good), I realized Chapel seemed to have a grip on their cocktails, so I ordered a Pomegranate. It was tequila, lime and pomegranate juice – a very nice combination, and one that kicked rather a wallop. The ladies next to me were drinking the same thing but with vodka, basically a tart Cosmo – it didn’t really do anything for me, I preferred the tequila. Soon after this, we made our escape, needing to sober up before the drive home.

But the notion of pomegranate juice in a cocktail was an excellent one, inviting further experimentation. We happened to have a bottle of Pom in the fridge, leftover from Easter mimosas (another great use for the stuff – just a dribble in a glass of prosecco). So Jon consulted his bartending resources and came up with a new drink for us to try: the Diva Quaranta.

We know nothing about this drink, which is composed only of gin, campari, pomegranate juice and simple syrup. It’s in our (rather new) copy of Mr. Boston, but an online search turned up nothing except a brief mention of its possible namesake, Lidia Quaranta. Am I really the first person to ever mention this cocktail online? Weird.

In any case, we loved it. For color, you can hardly beat the combo of Campari and pomegranate (we were supposed to layer the Campari on top, but we just shook it all up together). The cocktail glowed like a jewel and had a fabulous tart fruit flavor, underlaid with gin. I still like the Jasmine best for a Campari cocktail, but this was good stuff. I ate a piece of pickled herring on a cracker and it went strangely well.

What’s your favorite pomegranate juice cocktail?

Diva Quaranta

according to Mr. Boston’s Official Bartender’s Guide

• 1 ½ oz gin
• ½ oz simple syrup
• 1 oz pomegranate juice
• ½ oz Campari

Shake the gin, simple syrup and pomegranate juice with ice, strain into a glass, top with Campari and garnish with an orange twist. Or just shake it all up together like we did.