 If you're wondering why anyone would want to drink a cocktail that contains only Campari and salt, the answer is I have no idea. I saw this drink in Beta Cocktails, formerly known as Rogue Cocktails, a book that was first published in 2009. Now, I've never actually seen an original copy of this book. Apparently, they're about as rare as copies of the Necronomicon Bounded Human Flesh, but I did score a reprint online. If you'd like your own copy, I'll link to where I got it below. So yeah, Campari, you either love it or you don't, although I am of the opinion that nobody truly dislikes Campari, they just don't like it yet. As for me, I fucking love it. Whenever I come up with a new cocktail, I have to fight the urge to add some because it makes so many things taste better. But what about a cocktail that's just Campari and salt? And more importantly, why? Well, anyone who cooks and for that matter, anyone who eats knows that salt affects flavor. Precisely how it does so is kind of complicated, but while researching the subject, psychophysiologists at the Monelle Chemical Senses Institute in Philadelphia were experimenting with combinations of sweet, salty, and bitter solutions, and they concluded the following. Salted mixtures of sweet and bitter turned out more sweet and less bitter than unsalted mixtures of sweet and bitter. And Campari, in addition to being bitter, also has quite a bit of sugar. So if the research they did is correct, then Campari and salt should be sweeter and less bitter than Campari alone. Got all that? Great, on to the drink. Measure three ounces or 90 mls of Campari into a mixing glass and add three to five drops of saline solution. Add the biggest ice you have and stir, stir, stir. The recipe says to do either a pinch of salt or saline solution. Feel free to salt bay it up, but a pinch is a little imprecise, so I went with the solution, which is one part salt dissolved in three parts water by weight. And here I am, weighing ingredients again. Strain into the up glass of your choice and garnish with an orange peel. The Campari martini. Cheers. Now that is really interesting. First off, it is not salty at all. Bitter notes of the Campari are so prominent, but they're not as aggressive. And the sweetness really pops. It's almost like there's a strawberry flavor coming through. Kind of hard to explain, but this is kind of making Campari taste more like the way it wants to taste. Will it turn a non-Campari drinker into a Campari drinker? Who cares? If they don't like it, it just means there's more for you. If you have a bottle of Campari laying around, you absolutely should make this. It's too easy not to. And if you make a lot of drinks at home, keeping salt water around is a no-brainer. Next time you make your favorite cocktail, add a few drops and see what happens. If you liked it, it like, consider subscribing if you have it already, and if there's something you think I should try, let me know in the comments. Take care and Campari forever.