Online School of Cocktailory 🍸
For drinking #alonetogether
Section 106: The Flip
Amari (plural for an amaro) aren’t in a lot of flip style drinks, but they are fun to experiment with since they provide both spice and bitterness like a typical cocktail seasoning ingredient. There are no regulations on production or classification of Amari which makes them pretty hard to categorize since they all taste and act completely different. In some recipes they’re a seasoning, sometimes they act as a fortified wine, and sometimes they’re the core spirit.
Most are made by macerating herbs and whatnot in a neutral grain alcohol (or something else) for various times to get different strengths of flavors extracted. Then sometimes it’s sweetened, or not. Then sometimes it’s aged, or not. In the end most are bitter (amaro means bitter in Italian) but they all vary on the bitter-sweet scale. We’ll go from light to dense:
Aperitivo bitters are low alcohol, slightly bitter, and kinda dry. They’re associated with the Italian term for leisurely drinking before a meal to stimulate appetite, and are the core alcohol paired with seltzer or prosecco. The most common examples are: Aperol with its spiced orange flavor at 11%, Campari has a floral orange flavor at 24% and French Suze which is earthy, sweet & citrusy at 20% ABV.
Light Amari have a light sweetness and mild bitterness that can be used in place of a fruity liqueur. Common examples are: Amaro Meletti which is a flavor mix of cinnamon, toasted caramel, orange, lemon, and cool mint at 32%. Amaro Montenegro has a cola, rose petal and burnt orange smell at 23%. Amaro Nonino Quintessentia is another bartender favorite which is built on grappa rather than a plain grain alcohol, and smells like orange candy, herbs & birch bark at 35% ABV.
Medium Amari are usually a red color, have a sweet burnt caramel flavor, and are more bitter than the previous styles, so they are used in small amounts as a seasoning. Averna is very popular, sweeter then most Amari, but that balances the strong anise, lemon and juniper flavors well. It’s known as the intro to Amaro. Cynar (or cynara, aka artichoke) smells earthy, also has a eucalyptus flavor, and is pretty bitter. Ramazzotti has a birch, cooked fruit, and herb smell. It can be used in place of sweetener and bitters.
The Dense Amari category covers anything very sweet and/or very bitter, and only a tiny amount is used in cocktails since they can taste medicinal, although it’s sometimes taken as shots. There’s just no solid rules with amaro. Luxardo Amaro Abano is made with cardamom, cinnamon, orange peel, cinchona, and a bunch of other secret ingredients. It smells like citrus and baking spices and is pretty strong. Fernet-Branca is very bitter, and not to everyone’s liking. When thinned down you’ll taste caramel, coffee, anise, burnt orange, and mint.
The Coffee Flip is a good example of a flip with Amaro, although feel free to make up your own.
Combine and dry shake the following ingredients:
½ oz Averna
½ oz vanilla simple syrup
1½ oz Appleton Estate rum
1 whole raw egg
Once everything’s nice and mixed and fluffy, add:
1½ oz chilled coffee & ice,
and shake again to chill. Strain into a wine glass, and garnish w/ fresh nutmeg.
For other versions of amaro cocktails, try:
Aperol Spritz
Campari Aranciata
Suze White Negroni
Brooklyn
Cynar Flip
Yard Bird
Winter is Coming
Cheers party peeps, and here’s to a rockin 2021. May we all survive the next year with the ninja life hack survival skills we’ve learned in 2020.
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