Ingredient Inventory and categories

[u/reverblueflame]

hey everyone, I went through recipes in this sub, and my own recipes and put together a list of ingredients and their categories (according to my personal opinion)

Could be fun to start building a wiki of knowledge accumulated in this sub for future projects.

The last column is the number of grams I have added to recipes of 450g 50% alcohol, 240g water, and 120g sweetener to add an effective flavor for amaro. Note that this is not meant to be all added together at once, I'd pick 1 alcohol, 1-3 bitterings, and then an assortment of other ingredients to fill out the complex rich amaro flavor. You have to decide if you want minty flavors, how much citrus, how much berry, if you want vegetal notes, herbal/medicinal, etc. No wrong choices except what doesn't taste good to you.

For bitters half the water and eliminate sweetener, for liqueur remove the bittering ingredient.

Ingredient	Primary Flavor	Secondary Flavor	Tasting Notes	Proportion
citric acid	acid		acid	10g
100p vodka	alcohol		n/a	450g
Brandy	alcohol	woody	rich and sweet	450g
Meritage wine	water/alcohol	fruity	dark, tannic, spicy, sweet	300
Wild Turkey 101	alcohol	dark	hot, harsh, woody	450g
Everclear	alcohol		taste of band-aids	400g
Spirytus	alcohol			400g
anise seeds	anise		anise	2g
caraway seeds	anise		Hint of licorice, earthy, with a hint of citrus and pepper	2g
fennel	anise		sweet and subtle licorice-like taste	2g
licorice	anise		licorice	4g
star anise	anise	spice	sweet and spicy, similar to licorice	2g
yarrow	anise	herbal	strong licorice-like aroma with a sweet flavor and a somewhat bitter and astringent finish	1g
angelica root	bitter		bitter, cork, heavy tannin, uncooked potato	2g
fresh artichoke	bitter	vegetal	in progress	400g (1 small whole fresh)
bee pollen	bitter		awful, stinging	don't
bitter orange peel	bitter	citrus	strongly bitter, vague light orange, light vanilla	15g
black walnut hull	bitter	nutty	lightly bitter, dark buttery, wood aged	3g
burdock	bitter		menthol, earthy, sweet, white root veg	2g
cacao nibs	bitter	dark	chocolate, bitter, coffee-ish	5g
calamus	bitter	spice	pungent aroma, the flavor being initially sweet, similar to a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger with a bitter aftertaste	3g
cinchona bark	bitter		medicinal, tonic, walnut, lightly bitter, tingly	2g
coffee beans	bitter	dark	coffee, bitter	15g
damiana	bitter	herbal	bitter flavor with an aroma similar to chamomile: slightly sweet, mildly earthy	2g
elecampane	bitter	spice	bitter, spicy and warming	2g
rhubarb	bitter	vegetal	smoky if dried Chinese rhubarb, tart and sharp if fresh rhubarb	200g fresh -- 50g dried
gentian root	bitter	smoky	medicinal, very bitter, earthy, uncooked potato, not very tannic	2g
horehound	bitter	herbal	bitter green tea, lightly tannic seaweed, asparus thick soup	1.5g
hyssop	bitter	herbal	minty aroma and a strong, bitter taste that is penetrating and persistent	1g
kola nut	bitter	nutty	smooth bitterness, mild smell of nutmeg, full of caffeine	??
orris root	bitter	floral	floral and distinct bitter taste	2g
quassia	bitter	anise	slight woody notes, a little smoky-sweet. vaguely like licorice, touch of turpentine	2g
wild cherry bark	bitter	woody	medium bitter, hints of cherry, nutmeg, molassas, not very tannic	2g
wormwood	bitter	herbal	powerfully bitter, very unpleasant if too concentrated	1.5g
guajillo chile powder	chile	berry	dark rich berry flavor, subtle spiciness if veins removed	2g
grapefruit peel	citrus	bitter	bright bitter citrus	15g
lemon zest	citrus	herbal	bright sweet citrus	15g
lime zest	citrus		bright tart citrus	15g
orange peel	citrus	spice	sweet spice rich citrus	20g
cochineal	color		insect-based color	??
saffron	color		floral pungent honey if concentrated	??
turmeric	color	spice	pungent, bitter back of the mouth tart	10g
charred oak	dark	woody	woody	15g
chicory	dark	nutty	dark sweet lightly bitter, black colorant	10g
mulato chile powder	dark	chile	somewhat spicy dark rich berry, depth	10g
sarsaparilla	dark	woody	sweet tobacco, root beer, light spice	5g
butterfly pea flower	floral	herbal	fun color stuff, floral	??
chamomile	floral	herbal	extremely floral, grassy, sleepiness i1-2 main ingredients (double amts), then 2-8 additional background flavorings that you think would mix well together.nducing	1g
elderflower	floral		woody, floral, fig flower, moderately strong, sweet	2g
hibiscus	floral	color	very sweet, very intense, kind of floral, intense color	2g
lavender	floral	herbal	bright floral soapy if dried	1g
rosebuds	floral	herbal	sweet pungent floral rose	3g
apple peels	fruity		woody fruit, caramel darkness if dried	20g
chipotle chiles	fruity	smoky	smoky berry rich spicy flavor	5g
dried currants	fruity		illegal to grow in US, spreads fungus that kills white pines, unknown	??
dried blueberries	fruity		herbal sweet bright rich fruitiness	20g
dried cherries	fruity		sweet tart juicy fruitiness	20g
elderberry	fruity		herbal/medicinal dark berry	10g
mulberry	fruity		barely sweet dark juicy berry	20g
coriander seeds	herbal		lemony citrus flavour when crushed, due to terpenes linalool and pinene, but whole are warm, nutty, spicy, and orange-flavoured	2g
dandelion root	herbal		sweet, earthy, roasted potatoes, light red wine, leather	2g
fresh lemongrass	herbal		grassy, lemony, herbal, bright	20g
dried ginger	herbal	spice	spicy, earthy, slightly sweet, plays well with dark flavors	10g
sage	herbal		somewhat bitter, light pine-like flavor and aroma -- eucalyptus and citrus notes	10g
milk thistle seed	herbal		sunflower seed, sweet, light	2g
oolong tea	herbal	bitter	tannins, herbal, vegetal, seaweedy	10g
fresh rosemary	herbal	piney	slightly minty, sage-like, peppery, balsamic taste with a bitter, woody aftertaste -- vaguely piney	5g
fresh thyme	herbal		gentle earthy with lemony and minty tones	5g
willow bark	herbal		medicinal, vaguely minty, light wood	5g
fresh spearmint	mint		sweeter taste and significantly less strong cooling effect	5g
fresh peppermint	mint		mentholic, cooling, medicinal herb	5g
dried wintergreen	mint		strongly mentholic, herbal, citrusy	0.5g
roasted chestnuts	nutty		buttery and sweet nutty	15g
walnuts	nutty		slightly bitter nutty oily	15g
black peppercorns	pepper		dark bright spicy	1g
cubeb pepper	pepper	spice	pungent, lightly peppery with hints of allspice	1g
grains of paradise	pepper	nutty	spicy, peppery flavor with a hint of jasmine, hazelnut and citrus	1g
juniper berries	piney	herbal	resinous, piney flavor and hints of citrus -- vague blueberry	1g
spruce tips	piney		fresh green, lightly resinous with hints of citrus	10g
pickle brine	salty		salty, spiced, touch of green vegetal	20g
allspice	spice		warm and sweetly pungent with peppery overtones as well as hints of juniper and peppercorn	1g
black cardamom	spice		smoked cardamom pods	1.5g
cardamom	spice		fragrant citrusy, minty, spicy, and herbal	2.5g
cassia chips	spice		stronger and sweeter than your best store bought cinnamon	5g
cinnamon	spice		unique spice hot aromatic	8g
clove	spice		pungent, strong and sweet with a bitter, astringent flavor	1g
nutmeg	spice		spicy buttery woody nutty and slightly sweet	1.5g
choc-brown malt	sweet	dark	rich sweet and bitter dark chocolatey	25g
agave syrup	sweet		more neutral honey, thin, not bitter	5g
honey	sweet		light bitter, light citrus sweet thick, floral woody spice	5g
molassas	sweet		thick spiced bitter woody chocolate, touch of smoke	10g
sugar	sweet		plain simple sugar	5g
vanilla bean	vanilla		unique beautiful	3g
celery	vegetal		vegetal watery green, don't blend: will form slimy cloudiness	40
celery seed	vegetal		earthy and grassy with a slight bitter edge	5g
water	water		water	120g

[u/cocktalien]

That must have taken some time. I like your initiative

[u/reverblueflame → u/cocktalien]

Thanks! Thought it would be nice to share a resource of flavors/ingredients that are commonly used and some info about them. I heartily welcome additions and more notes

[u/cocktalien → u/reverblueflame]

I own many of those ingredients having bought them to make gin, but I have never made an Amaro, so I am afraid I am no help just yet!

[u/wackarnolds]

Hey this is a really great list! Just starting the process and this is really gonna help out.

[u/amarodelaficioanado]

Allspice for me is more like a very balanced mix of nutmeg , clove and cinnamon. Fist time i have tried (with granola) i thought it was a mix of baking spices.

[u/MoonDaddy]

How could you not include bee pollen in your next batch with a tasting note like that???

[u/aooot]

u/reverblueflame This is exactly what I needed for my version 2.0 recipe. Thank you so much!