‘A High Life with seasoning’: The International Bar serves up the easiest low-alcohol cocktail there is

There’s something contagious about the Lo-Life cocktail at Kensington’s International Bar (1624 N. Front St., 215-792-6461, theintlbar.com). When one customer orders it, other customers tend to get curious.

“It gets a lot of buzz,” says general manager Ceallaigh Corbishley. “Last night I had someone order four of them, and at the other end of the bar a guy was like, ‘What is that? What did you just do?’ I had to tell him, ‘It’s like a High Life with seasoning.”

The Lo-Life’s recipe is dirt-simple: Crack open a tall, frosty Miller High Life; pour a little out (if you’re making this at home, go on and take a sip or two); then pour in a slug of amaro, in this case, Lo-Fi Gentian Amaro. Don’t even think about pouring it into a glass.

The $6 cocktail doesn’t pack a boozy punch — that’s part of the point — but it delivers more complexity than a basic beer. “You get the crispy lager tastes and a touch of sweetness from the High Life, and then kind of tannic flavors, but just a touch of them, from the Lo-Fi,” Corbishley says. Some customers call the rosé-colored cocktail a low-ABV citywide.

The International Bar isn’t the first to doctor up a beer, or even a High Life. The Lo-Life is a variation on the two-ingredient Spaghett, a cocktail crafted in 2016 by a bartender at Wet City Brewing in Baltimore. Wet City calls it “an Aperol Spritz minus champagne, plus the Champagne of beers.” The drink gained popularity after Bon Appetit wrote about it in 2019. You can find dozens of Spaghett recipes online, but it’s just High Life and Aperol, the bright-red, bittersweet Italian apéritif easily found at state stores.

It may be a little trickier to recreate the Lo-Life at home, only because Lo-Fi’s Gentian Amaro is harder to find. Some Fine Wine and Good Spirits shops carry it, but the California product is mostly a special-order item. Good news, though: You can swap in any amaro you like.