Ağa Vişne Vodka

Every Turkish fridge has a bottle of vişne suyu in it. Sour cherry juice — dark, tart, a little sweet, the thing your aunty poured you when you were too young for anything else. We've simply promoted it.

Ağa is a vodka that says very little, and that's exactly what this drink needs. Distilled slow and cut clean, it doesn't argue with the cherry. It just gives it a spine. Pour two fingers of Ağa over ice, top with cold vişne, and squeeze in a wedge of lemon so the whole thing sits up straight. Stir once. Done.

What you get is a drink that tastes like the end of summer — deep red, properly cold, sour enough to keep you honest and sweet enough to keep you coming back. It looks like it took effort. It took ninety seconds.

This one's built for volume. One glass is lovely. A jug on the table with a bowl of ice and a plate of something salty is better, because that's when it does its real job — sitting in the middle while everyone around it forgets to check the time.

Cherry from the fridge. Vodka from the freezer. Company from the group chat, finally.

Şerefe.