First met this in a restaurant in Florence (Auditore). At the end of the meal the young chap offered limoncello. I looked at him and said "what would your grandad have served for the digestivo" and he came back with a glass of Montenegro. Its a good in all kinds of drinks one might take at the end of the evening - not beating you over the head with dramatic bitter flavours.
Just had one made the original way with lemon balm syrup - our local is a fancy country place that grows a lot of its own produce. Including lemon balm, and syrup or cordial is easy to make. No gin as this was a summer lunchtime offering. Very nice as a garden cooler.
The gadget for making these is a nutribullet. Blend the fresh peach (or nectarine) with a handful of ice, lemon juice to taste and a tablespoon or so of the fizz to loosen the mix. You can then pour the rest of the fizz into the nutribullet and stir gently if necessary before serving. Gives exactly the right fluffy texture.
Incidentally I have seen in various recipes that the peaches are cooked first. This works perfectly with ripe uncooked fruit.
Yes, it requires an electric juice extractor, but you can also buy carrot juice in supermarkets.
Comment was a bit tongue in cheek - kind of 'what contains 3 units of alcohol and needs a juicer'? I'm sure it tastes great.
Does 'freshly extracted carrot juice' require a juicer, Nutribullet, or some other piece of equipment usually found in the back of the cupboard of someone who went on a 'detox' after Christmas :)
A favourite of mine but (oh the sacrelige) I used to make it with parma violets gin (either Imaginaria or Miss Mollies, can't remember now) in the creme de violette measure, plus a teaspoon of the liquid from a jar of maraschino cherries as well as the maraschino liqueur.
Fernet Branca is the work of the Devil :)
I have Robert Vermeire's book. I also have a Collins glass very similar to the one pictured. What I couldn't find this New Years Eve was the French brandy - housewights must have been partying again! So it got two measures of Calvados instead. A very fine cocktail.