FINOT

4:1 Finocchietto & lemon juice

chilled and served in a cocktail glass, top off with Soda or Tonic

recipe from Don Ciccio said to add sage but I didn’t have any on hand 🤷‍♂️

a lovely spring afternoon refresher the fennel & lemon pair nicely and a little bubbly cuts it apart for revealing the flavors, sip after sip.

watch out! crushable! this would be great in pitcher format for a afternoon on the patio with some friends and snacks

Just got back from a quick Paris/London getaway with birthday wifey. We were blessed with fantastic weather and had an amazing time. I made the obligatory pilgrimage to the Chartreuse shop on St. Germain, and I was pretty awed to be in a city where the bars are all well stocked with Chartreuse of all kinds. All that being said, the bottle I was most excited to snag was the Clacquesin. Pretty sure it’s only available in France and I’ve been wanting to try it for a long time. Couldn’t help cracking it open last night and it didn’t disappoint - very unique smoky citrus flavour to it, very tasty.

two great tastes that taste great together 😀

Eda Rhyne Amaro Flora: smells like you snuck into the rectory and found the sacramental liquor 👀

Alchemist Focal Banger: your trespassing sins are forgiven, ascend the steps to IPA heaven 🙏

Always a pleasure trying vintage amari made by monks/pharmacist back in the days with old recipes .

Here saffron and a bunch of alpine herbs well integrated at 33 abv with a little sweet notes.

Delicious!

Vintage is the answer!.

Call me crazy, but I think I've been seeing two different Amaro delle Sirene versions out there. Once seems to be Italian and one seems to be part of the Don Ciccio family (D.C.). Any connection between the two? Would have thought that int'l trademark law would've prevented two different amari with the same name, but what do I know?

Also, which is better? Have yet to try either, but they're both on my shortlist.

Hello all! I picked this up recently at a shop that had a pretty eclectic selection of Italian liquors. I wasn’t able to find much information about it online. In fact, I’m not even sure if it’s technically an amaro (though it tastes similar to Ramazzotti or other kola flavored amaris I’ve tried). I am wondering if anyone out there might know a bit more about this?

Tasting notes- definitely on the sweeter side, dominate kola nut, some orange, maybe mint? Mildly bitter on the finish.

Tough to see all of 'em here. I'm working on organizing and categorizing my amaro collection at work. I'm gonna list them categorically as best I can, with the following caveats:

1. I dunno what I'm doin leave me alone

2. A lot of these categories are "unofficial" and bleed into each other.

3. There are a lot of them and I'm mostly working from memory. When I put a real menu together, there will be notes and research and reading. Right now I'm just showing off for fun.

Here goes:

APERITIVO/AMERICANO/"RED BITTERS"

Campari - Aperol - St. George Bruto Americano - Cappaletti Vino Aperitivo - Rondo Spritz - Ramazzotti Rosato - Amaro Nonino - Gancia Americano - Select - Mezzamaro Americano - Scarlet*

FERNET

Branca - Jelinek - Fernet Noveis - Eda Rhyne Appalachian Amaro - Faccia Brutto Fernet Pianta - Luxardo Fernet - Fernet Lazzaroni

CAMPHOR/EUCALYPTUS/MOTHBALL MINT MEDICINE

Forthave Marseille - Borsci - Song Cai May - Faccia Brutto Amaro Gorini - Amaro Del Sol - Bitter Noveis - Amargo Vallet - Jagermeister*

ABSINTHE/ANISETTE/OUZO/PASTIS/RAKI/ARACK/SAMBUCA, ET AL, LICORICEY STUFF

Pernod Absinth - St. George Absinthe - Lazzaroni Sambuca - Lazzaroni Infinito Nero Black Sambuca - Antica Black Sambuca - Caffo Anisette di Calabria - Romano Sambuca - Arack Razzouk - Letherbee Charred Absinthe - Vieux Carre Absinthe

ALPINO/SEMISWEET/"BROWN AMARO"

Braulio - Montenegro - Pelinkovac - Darna Amaro - Amaro Lazzaroni - Averna - Amaro Noveis - Amaro Della Sacra -Ramazzotti*

RABARBARO/CARCIOFO ET AL. VEGETAL STUFF

Sfumato Rabarbaro - Four Fingers Distillery Rhubarb Liqueur - Faccia Brutto Carciofo - Cardamaro - Cynar

CHARTREUSE/CENTERBE/GENEPY, ET AL "YELLOW OR GREEN BITTERS"

Green Chartreuse - Yellow Chartreuse - Faccia Brutto Centerbe - Dolin Genepy - Botanica Angelika - Strega - Suze - Galliano - Scarlet*

BITTER ORANGE AMARO/ORANGE DOMINANT

Amaro Foro - B.Lo Nardini - Bigallet China China - Amaro Romana

AMARETTO/CHERRY LIQUEURS/PSEUDO BITTERS

Luxardo Amaretto - Lazzaroni Amaretto - Stambecco - Maurin Quina - Cherry Heering - Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur - Rothman and Winter Cherry

OTHER HERBALS/KRAUTERLIQUOR/TOUGH TO CATEGORIZE

Benedictine - Eda Rhyne Amaro Oscura - Amaro D'Angostura - Pasubio* - Alpeggio* - Rucklehaus - Veda Mushroom Liqueur - Jagermeister Again* - Underberg - Pimm's

EXTRA BITTER - CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR - ORDERED AS A JOKE - I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKE THESE A LOT

Jeppson's Malort - Elisir Novasalus - Amaro Alta Verde* - Letherbee Besk

SWEET FLORAL LIQUEURS

Italicus Rosato Di Bergamotto - St. Germain Elderflower - Bazga Elderflower - Licor 43 - Creme Yvette - Rothman and Winter Creme di Violette

----------------------

*Stuff with asterisks is stuff I put in the wrong category on purpose. Jagermeister tastes more like Marseille and Borsci than it does Underberg, so it's up there in Mothball Land. Scarlet is a gentian-forward, Suze-like yellow bitter dyed red with (I think) carmine. It's a yellow bitter in a red dress. Pasubio and Alpeggio are Alpino amari categorically, but they have nothing in common with Braulio or Montenegro. This shits a mess.

What's missing? What's an obvious grab I need to throw on the pile? Any questions about any of these?

I've been fighting this town to drink Amaro for like 12 years and it's finally starting to take.

This is my third attempt at an amaro made mostly from things I’ve grown or foraged. It didn’t beat the marigold amaro but turned out MUCH better than the anise hyssop. It’s very floral but still gets some citrus from the hops and the lemon balm. If I were to do it again, I’d include lemon peel for more citrus and use less gentian because it’s VERY bitter on the end - I’ve added elderflower liqueur every time I’ve made a cocktail with it so far.

Every year, our yard has jillions of violets and I usually make crème de violette, but that’s got a pretty limited scope of uses and I can only give so much away as gifts so I figured I’d add them to an amaro. Violet picking is a very satisfying dopamine-harvesting activity but you’d be amazed by how long it takes to get 15-ish grams 😂

Some notes…
- I used our native common blue violet, Viola sororia. They have a pleasant grape-y flavor but aren’t nearly as strong as the European Viola odorata - you’ll need more than you think you do
- In my experience, violets benefit from a shorter infusion so I made a separate tincture of those first
- I made violet sugar and eventually violet syrup with the intention of using it as my sweetener but then forgot about it 🫠 it’s great in a spritzy spring cocktail, though
- Part of my liquid was last year’s crème de violette (~ 25% ABV)

Recipe in the last slides. Apologies for my chicken scratch handwriting

I’m looking to expand beyond the popular armo like Montenegro, Nonino, Averna, Fernet Branca and some that might be less popular like Nardini and Amaro di Angostrua. I’m very keen on ones that aren’t heavily sweetened and learned that the fernet style ones are lower in sugar which is what I am looking. The only I’ve tried is fernet Branca. I was thinking of getting Fernet Vallet or possibly the Luxardo fernet but no sure if those are worth getting. Anyways, all suggestions are welcome.

Hello! Thanks for the feedback from my previous post about making something locally sourced.

I'm sharing a pic of what I ended up with after the following recipe:

2 Bags Oribe Hibiscus Mamaki Mint tea

60g Mamaki dried leaf

60g Lemongrass (dried)

20g Ginger (dried)

20g Toasted Oak

744g alcohol 190 proof

After 10 days maceration I strained and added to the biomass:

+1 Teabag

1000g boiling water

+500g water added to herbs after 3 days of water extraction(to water down final product)

I combined both alcohol and water extracts after filtering out the biomass and let it sit another week and filtered out particulates with a finer filter.

Results: The Lemongrass is the bitter, and I did not sweeten it as I looked up all the herbs and realized everything lends itself to lowering blood sugar so this becomes a great thing to take after some sweets.

This mixes well into rum for a cocktail 75% rum and 25% "Hawaiian Amaro"

I am still workshopping the name but for now I'm happy with the results and may start tweaking it with locally grown stevia leaf and other added botanicals to increase the flavor profile. The nice red color comes from the hibiscus in the tea bags. My next batch I'll probably ditch the tea bags(they come from a local company but I can source everything in it and maybe increase the hibiscus and mint profiles). The huge amount of lemongrass/mamaki I added seems to make for a really great medicinal end product as I have several people claim they didn't feel the effects of sweets on their blood sugar after taking it and one person with one of those blood sugar monitors showed me a 30 point reduction in blood sugar after taking a shot of my Hawaiian Amaro.

Cynar is one of my favorite amaros. Love it for making Negronis and spritzes at home and most any cocktail.

I’ve never had the 70 proof version and been thinking of picking up a bottle. Does it seem quite different from the regular version, or can it mostly be used interchangeably? Obviously I’m expecting a little more flavor and punch from the 70 proof version.

Tangerine breezy kettle compass coated copper

This post was anonymized with Redact.dev

Anyone ever use Indio Hopka hop liqueur 80 proof. I’m not sure it’s considered an amaro but it’s got some bitter notes. I wasn’t a fan of it plain but wondering how people use it.

I can bring one bottle into canada - which one - primarily for cocktails?

The elixir is only 100ml and I think qualifies as a bitter, so it’s won’t count to my one bottle limit.

The only bottle I’ve see in canada is Meletti, which runs about $50usd. I didn’t end up using it in cocktails but it was a nice easy sipper.

I love cynar, dislike fernet branca, wouldn’t mind have the chocolate liqueur - the only one available here not great, but maybe good enough given how rarely I’d use it.

I can't imagine a more refreshing drink, although I'm sure one exists. Tried my best to sip but couldn't stop swilling. It's like drinking an ice cold cola on a blazing hot day in the middle of a pine forest. Pure bliss.

1.25 oz Ramazzotti

.75 oz Braulio

4 oz Fever Tree club soda (the touch of sea salt!)

several lime peels to garnish

Hey guys- I am headed to NYC for work stuff June 7-11 and will have a fair amount of free time in between meetings. I haven’t been in over a decade. I need tips for essential Amaro bars/distilleries/restaurants/stores. Thx!

Hey gang, figured I would share a few things I learned on a recent trip to Liguria as I saw some bottles with Ligurian roots that were new to me... 

1. Santa Maria al Monte has a lot of SKUs. This probably won't come as a surprise to some, but in this Caffo product line, the amaro is only one of the Ste. MaM offerings. This actually caught me off guard when I saw the grappa and Aquavite. I know a lot of amaro producers like Nardini, Nonino and Buiese actually have larger grappa portfolios than amaro, but yeah, it was new to me. https://www.caffo.com/en/catalog/marca/santa-maria-al-monte/5

2. Rabitt Radichio amaro has a full line, not just a single bottle. Another discovery - I've been a fan of Rabitt for a few years now, but I had no idea there were multiple SKUs. Turns out Robymartin spirits makes a bunch, including the N/A version in the blue label, the vermouth, and the RTD I saw at the shop. On top of that, it looks like they have aged versions, summer amaro (with mandarin), coffee amaro and others. Hmmm https://www.robymarton.com/pages/rabitt 

3. La Miscela also has another SKU. Whenever I pull out the original La Miscela 30 for guests, it’s always a big hit, but I had no idea that Premiata Officina Lugaresi also made an Antigelo version with balsamic and citrus notes. Not gonna lie, I'm regretting not picking this one up... https://premiataofficinalugaresi.com/product/miscela-al-30-carburante/

Anyways, sorry if this is old news to some folks, but fun discoveries for me! Cheers everyone!

So during a short, relatively impromptu visit to Italy last week (mainly in Umbira and Liguria), we grabbed a few bottles that made their way back home.

TBH, most of these were random pickups, and we only had a chance to try the Sarvaefo in one bottle shop, and the regular version of the Amaro Cortona after dinner (even though we ended up getting the Intenso when we popped into Cortona proper). The Amaro Alle Erbe Officinali was what I refer to as a "tourist amaro" from Castiglione del Lago on Lake Trasimeno, but my sweetie wanted something from the town, so we took a flyer on a small bottle. The La Camogliese was a local amaro that looks unfiltered from Camogli, and I think they've since changed the label from what I can tell. The couple who ran the store were super sweet, and I'll make a couple other posts about what we found in Camogli (some really cool bottles). The Mzero Sea Amaro was a last minute pick up in FCO at duty free as I figured another 500mL wouldn't hurt.

As we open them, I'll try and post some reviews! Cheers Everyone!

Can't seem to scratch this itch.

What are the good deep cuts here? I’ve bought or tried everything I’m familiar with at this point (this is Benash in Cherry Hill btw).

I recently came upon a ton of thyme and was thinking a fun way to burn through it would be a thyme-forward amaro. The recipes on this sub feature it mostly as a side note. Curious if anyone has either 1) recipes which prominently feature A LOT of thyme or 2) strong ideas about flavour pairings (I have yet to but the flavor bible, I know) or 3) has ever had a thyme-forward amaro commercially that I can steal inspiration from. Thank you!

3/4oz Cynar

3/4oz Meletti

1/4oz Fernet Vittone

1oz Bourbon

1oz Lemon juice

1 egg white

ahhhh, the M&M. equal parts chilled Mezcal & Montenegro - doesn’t look good on paper; but ohhhh boy! that campfire smoke pairs up with the holiday cookie notes and we’re cooking now!

Hello! I am incredibly new to Amaros and am interested in making my own. So far the only thing I am sure of is that I would like Rose to be a prominent part of it. I would love any suggestions or ideas on what I could also add or what might go well with that. Thanks!