Over the last half-decade, America’s adaptation of Italian aperitivo has moved at record pace. There are now dozens of cocktail bars that have designed themselves around the Italian tradition of enjoying a bitter drink and snacks to open the evening. They have typically fallen into two camps: those that have sought to faithfully recreate this northern Italian tradition stateside down to the design, and those that have taken a looser, more novel approach modeled around Italy’s core drinks, with plenty of zigging and zagging from there (disco aperitivo, anyone?). The arrival of Miami’s ViceVersa has defined a third track. Bartender Valentino Longo, who cut his teeth in Rome and London (Stravinskij Bar, Ritz London) before making a name for himself here, has blended a reverence for Italian cocktails with a studied, high-concept approach rooted to both place and personality. The result is a highly personal menu of revised classics, alongside new signatures, that feels modernist without sacrificing the soulfulness that is endemic to Italian cocktails. The space and the design are an obvious nod to Italian Futurism by way of Miami Beach. And with help from the team behind the now-closed Jaguar Sun restaurant, the food menu forgoes your classic aperitivo snacks in favor of more substantial offerings, anchored by a selection of pizzas. The sum of all these parts is a brand-new vision for the aperitivo bar with new rules, set by someone who knows them well enough to break them.
When Bryant’s remodeled in 1938, two years after opening its doors as a beer hall, it became the first cocktail lounge not only in Milwaukee, but in all of Wisconsin. After rebuilding in the wake of a fire in 1971, today, it still stands largely unchanged, a testament to the enduring appeal of good hospitality and simple drinks enjoyed in the comfort of a plush booth with the lights turned low. Although walking through the doors might feel like a time warp, under the stewardship of John Dye, a keen preservationist who bought the space in 2008, the bar manages to be more than just a time capsule. Its rolodex of more than 600 original cocktails, created over the course of the bar’s 86 years of operation, matches fidelity to the past with an eye toward the future—always championing the flavors of the Midwest. The bar has no menu; instead guests order by sharing their mood and tastes with the bartender, who might serve anything from a Pink Squirrel, a Midwest staple that likely originated at Bryant’s, to the Stop-and-Go Light, made with rum, brandy and crème de noyaux courtesy of the bar’s current head bartender, Jackson Mercier (one of Punch’s Best New Bartenders of 2024). As contemporary bars continue to mine the past for inspiration—scouring eBay to recreate a throwback aesthetic that has remained constant here—Bryant’s will remain a beacon of timelessness for decades to come.
ViceVersa’s
MiTo
At ViceVersa, the Milano-Torino, typically equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth, is turned into an elaborate cocktail unto itself.
ViceVersa’s Milano-Torino serves as the base for the entire Negroni Family section of the menu.
The bar’s spin on the spicy Margarita, the Brucio in Bocca (left), and the Vice President, a bittered take on a rum Manhattan (above).
The Negroni Sbagliato is served in oversized Campari goblets—one of only three bars in the U.S. to have access to the glasses made famous at Milan’s Bar Basso.
Bryant’s Wisconsin
Old-Fashioned
In classic Midwestern fashion, this version is topped with soda.
Bryant’s is home to several original ice cream cocktails, like the Pink Squirrel (pictured), the Blue Tail Fly and the Banshee.
The Pink Squirrel (left) and the bar’s interior (right), largely unchanged since 1971.
The Brain Buster is a longtime Bryant’s original recipe containing, among other proprietary ingredients, lots and lots of rum. Any guest who finishes one can claim a bumper sticker declaring, “I was brainbusted at Bryant’s.”
The Negroni Sbagliato is served in oversized Campari goblets—one of only three bars in the U.S. to have access to the glasses made famous at Milan’s Bar Basso.
ViceVersa’s MiTo
The Brucio in Bocca is the bar’s spin on the spicy Margarita.
At ViceVersa, the Milano-Torino, typically equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth, is turned into an elaborate cocktail unto itself.
ViceVersa’s Milano-Torino serves as the base for the entire Negroni Family section of the menu.
The Brain Buster is a longtime Bryant’s original recipe containing, among other proprietary ingredients, lots and lots of rum. Any guest who finishes one can claim a bumper sticker declaring, “I was brainbusted at Bryant’s.”
The Brain Buster at Bryant’s.
Bryant’s Wisconsin Old-Fashioned
In classic Midwestern fashion, this version is topped with soda.
The Pink Squirrel and the bar’s interior are both largely unchanged since 1971.