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
Attempting to “review” Malört has always been something of a fool’s errand. Despite some die-hard adherents, most people consider the stuff to be a inside joke concocted by Chicagoans and which should never be consumed outside of a bar bet. Malört is having something of a renaissance these days, however, rising up the pop culture…
Like so many stories, Atost was launched during the pandemic of 2020 by two California natives, Cindy and Kyle Pressman. Cindy’s grandparents, agave farmers migrated from Mexico to work in the citrus fields of California. The Pressmans wished to create a product that would celebrate their hometown of Ventura, California but also honor Cindy’s heritage…
Chartreuse substitutes — all herbal and green — continue to explode in availability, the latest being Luxardo’s Del Santo. I’ve never heard of it, but the company says it’s been available in Italy “for decades,” but its arrival in the U.S. is new as of this year. The recipe is described as “a balanced blend…
Mine Hill Distillery can be found in the hills of Connecticut, where in 2018 it was seen fit to turn an old cigar factory into a distillery cranking out all manner of spirits, including bourbon, rye, vodka, gin, and even amaro. In 2023, the operation was purchased by Zachary Karabell and an investor group, and…
Ho ho ho! Forget milk and cookies, what Santa needs this year is a shot of good, hard alcohol to help get him through whatever 2025 has in store for us. Shopping is tough, so if you’re considering a special bottle for a special someone in your life, look no further. We have you covered…
I’m a sucker for a Spritz, but can anyone outdo Aperol? California-based Mommenpop recently hit the scene with an enticing pitch: Its aperitifs are made from Northern California wines fortified with Napa-made grape neutral spirit, to which real, whole, organic California citrus is added alongside “select botanicals.” Mommenpop’s aperitifs are as natural as you can…
The Nonino family has been distilling grappa and amari in Friuli, Italy since 1897, and has been helmed by three female distillers over its lifetime. The current boss is Francesca Nonino, the third generation of the Nonino family, and the creator of a new product, an Aperol-adjacent aperitivo that, of course, is also called Nonino.…
Summertime is spritz time, and there’s a new, lower sugar aperitivo on the market looking to bring some Alpine influence to that most refreshing of warm weather cocktails. Doladira’s creator, Meredith Erickson, first teased an early version of the product as a Rhubarb Elixir in her 2019 cookbook, Alpine Cooking, but its popularity with readers…
With non-alcoholic spirits on the rise, the aperitif space has of late taken center stage as one of the most promising sectors for exploration. We’ve encountered NA amari that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, so we had high hopes going into this two-fer review of Lyre’s spin on the category. Reviewed herein: One…
Pentire is a UK-based brand of non-alcoholic spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails, and we open our coverage of the brand with this NA amaro, a hearty concoction made from “naturally distilled coastal botanicals carefully blended with Blood Orange, Sea Rosemary and Oakwood.” The idea, as the name of the product suggests, is to evoke the sea……