BELFAST — I really think that the best bars are the tiniest, the ones you can only squeeze five or six people around. Delvino’s Grill and Pasta House on Main Street in Belfast has one of the coziest tiny bars, perfect for the craft cocktail lover. Bartender Shawna Aitken demonstrated for us how Delvino’s signature drink the Belfast Orchard is deconstructed.

Citrusy, flowery, spring-like, this cocktail, despite its name, doesn’t have any apples in it. Rather, it’s redolent of blood oranges, due to the Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur, which is made exclusively on the island of Sicily. And it’s a gluten free cocktail because all the wheat is filtered out of the organic vodka when it is distilled.

It’s very simple. To make this at home, all you need is:

·1½ ounce Armenian Harvest or any top-shelf organic vodka

·1½ Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur

·1 teaspoon of peach purée

·1 whole orange cut into sections and squeezed with a juicer

Shake ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice; strain into a martini glass and garnish with an edible orchid.

As Aitken says: “It’s the blood orange that really makes this drink. You can’t just use Triple Sec to get the same flavor. Solerno should be in everybody’s home bar.”

Perhaps they should call this the Belfast Grove instead?

To stay on top of Delvino’s Grill & Pasta House cocktail and other recipes visit: For more of our "What's in that cocktail" series featuring original drinks made by local Midcoast bartenders, check out our Pinterest site.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com