Amari
Amari is the plural of amaro (Italian for bitter), which is a category of bittersweet liqueurs primarily served as a digestif. Amari come in a wide variety of styles — but most are built around a certain herb, flower, bark, or nut. A typical amaro will be a blend of multiple botanicals, and most rely on very old, secret, family recipes. While many amari are opaque to the point of being nearly black in color, a whole spectrum of colors represents the amari universe — including clear amari. Amari can be consumed neat, on the rocks, or — increasingly — as part of a cocktail.
Top Amari/Amaro Posts:
Jagermeister Manifest
Cynar 70 Liqueur
Campari and Tempus Fugit Gran Classico
Los Angeles-based Greenbar Distillery is the home of TRU organic vodka, Crusoe rums, and Bar Keep bitters… plus this truly unique product, a bitter liqueur made (in part) from poppies. Distilled from molasses a la rum, the finished product has quite a list of odd botanicals inside, including California poppy, orange, lemon, grapefruit, bearberry, California bay…
Cynar’s a highly-regarded classic of the amaro world. So why produce a new version of this vibrantly bitter, artichoke-infused concoction? Because they can. Cynar 70 is designed to put the liqueur into a category alongside Jagermeister and Fernet, both bitter aperitifs but bottled at a much higher proof than Cynar or Campari, which have the same…
Peychaud’s is one of the most classic bitters brands — and lately owner Sazerac (Buffalo Trace’s parent company) has been pushing the brand even further. First came a barrel-aged version of Peychaud’s Bitters. Now comes a whole new category of product: Peychaud’s Aperitivo. If you’re familiar with Aperol or Campari, you understand the basics of…
Anguish & Regret — what a name! — is a spin on a liqueur known as malört. Malört? It’s a liqueur introduced in the 1930s in Chicago by a Swedish immigrant who was obviously pining for his aquavit in some fashion. The name malört is Swedish for wormwood. Today, Chicagoans still love malört, and a small cottage industry…
Bored with Fernet? Hardcore bartenders — and few other people — take things one step further: They drink Angostura bitters as a shot. (Never mind that they are not classified as a potable beverage.) Now you needn’t be that insane to get the flavor of pure Angostura in a proper beverage, as the Trinidad-based distiller…
Braulio’s an Italian amaro… alpino. Alpino? From the alpine mountains, which gives it a bit of a different spin than what you might be used to. Braulio originated in 1875, and it’s created with a blend of 13 herbs. Only four are known to the public: gentian, juniper, wormwood, and yarrow. The rest of the ingredients remain…
Amaro Lucano recently returned to U.S. shores and broader distribution here. Hailing from the small town of Pisticci in Lucania, Italy, the amaro is made from a secret blend of 30-plus herbs and essential oils. As amari goes, Lucano has a traditional and relatively centrist profile, aptly riding the line between bitter and sweet. On the nose:…
That bright red color and an Italian name can only mean one thing: Campari, right? Wrong! Introducing Meletti 1870, a bit of a Campari lookalike that’s designed to be used in Negronis and Americanos and other strong/bittersweet cocktails. Of course, you can sip it straight as an aperitivo, too, and in this fashion you will find this…
Made in Bologna, Italy, Montenegro (“the liquor of the virtues”) dates back to 1885. Amaro Montenegro is on the sweeter side of amari, with a character that folds lots of citrus, spearmint, honey, and licorice into its classic, bittersweet body. Light on its feet, it offers lightly salted caramel up front, then moves toward some subtle…
Kuemmerling is a classic Krauter Likor, and one that’s almost exclusively available in mini format (pictured). A bittersweet herbal liqueur that dates back to 1921, it’s an easily drinkable digestif that’s hugely popular in its homeland of Germany. The nose offers sweet raspberry paired with licorice and cloves. On the palate, the herbal character —…