How to Use Génépy in Cocktails

Just five years ago, génépy (or genepi, as it is more commonly called in Italy) remained fairly unknown outside its native Europe. The herbal liqueur—made by steeping its same-named plant génépy, aka artemisia, in neutral alcohol—has long been a staple of après-ski traditions, often served neat or simply topped with tonic. Today, as the category continues to grow stateside—including with domestically made expressions—génépy has graduated from alpine obscurity to backbar staple, becoming a popular go-to in cocktails for a hit of herbal complexity without the intensity, or scarcity, of its cousin Chartreuse.

Génépy is not as sweet as yellow Chartreuse, nor as domineering as green, and it adds a cooling complexity to everything from Margaritas to Whiskey Sours to White Negronis. In the Petrichor, Nikki Irvine uses génépy to translate the earthy smell after to rain into a drink, while Toby Maloney describes the Swiss Kiss, which marries gin, génépy and lemon juice and a float of absinthe, as being “as cool and sophisticated as a Swiss diplomat at a party of spies.”

At San Francisco’s ABV, bar staff are known to drink ice-cold génépy topped with a few dashes of Angostura bitters. There, Ryan Fitzgerald blended it into the High Altitude Highball, made with Japanese whisky, namely Hakushu, with génépy and soda water. “Both Hakushu and génépy come from mountain areas—and both are influenced by the region they come from,” he says. 

Finally, the alpine ingredient works well alongside comforting, cozy flavors like coffee and cacao.  “One of my favorite uses for génépy is as a sweetener for heavy cream,” says Troy Sidle, former bartender at New York’s Pouring Ribbons. In the Strong Start, he shakes the two ingredients together with a pinch of salt for a frothy, aromatic topper to the rum-spiked coffee. Ryan Maybee, on the other hand, brings cream and coffee cordial together with the liqueur, crème de cacao and absinthe for the Génépy Suisse. The extra wintry drink channels an elevated, adult mocha. “The sweeter qualities of the cacao and coffee blend beautifully with absinthe, and work equally well with génépy,” he says.