Amaros (and digestifs)

Its heyday has passed but eGullet is a good place to check for discussion of exotic drinks going back to the 00s when craft cocktail ppl were discovering them afresh and trying to work out what to do with them. There's an Amer Picon thread: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/9916-amer-picon-torani-amer

oh i posted this in a cocktail thread a couple of weeks ago but if anyone is idle there are so many wonderful vintage cocktail books archived online here.

https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/

that egullet thread brings me back. they were at the tail end of their prime when i found the place but there's a wealth of info on there. some really incredible science of shaking and stirring posts that still inform how i mix drinks. sincere 2000s message boarding at its best.

holy crap Yerac that website is nuts. i love perusing stuff like that. thx

I love Picon biere, and I thought it was one of the few remaining things that you still can't easily buy in the U.S. (a friend brings back a bottle from Paris every few years). Has that changed?

Last night we had some of the Nocino (walnut liqueur) that I brought back from Switzerland in like '06, it's still delicious.

still no picon in the u.s. as far as i know

Yeah, you still can't get the original Amer Picon in the U.S., as far as I know. Where are you, Euler?

There are a couple of substitutes that I'm aware of -- the most common is Torani Amer. Also, some people just use other amari, like CioCiaro or Ramazzotti, for recipes that call for Amer Picon.

(CioCiaro is what I've personally used to make Brooklyns and picon bieres.)

ah, thanks, I was struggling with how to use CioCiaro upthread, never thought of using amari boilermaker style

euler is in paris iirc

bigallet china-china is another good substitute--even more pronounced orange flavors than ciociaro.

Yeah, I get the impression that the orange notes are key. Jamie Boudreau (of Canon in Seattle) uses Ramazzotti but mixed with orange bitters and orange tincture.

Golden Moon Distillery in Colorado makes a Picon they claim is faithful to the original recipe:

Golden Moon Amer dit Picon is produced using the finest hand-selected herbs, spices and botanicals available. We have recreated the original processes and acquired the original type of ingredients used by legendary distiller Gaetan Picon to create his amer (bitters) in the 1830’s. Bottled at 78 Proof, Golden Moon Amer dit Picon is the perfect ingredient for the legendary Picon Punch, the Brittany cocktail, and a host of other classic cocktails. It can also be enjoyed by itself.

http://goldenmoondistillery.com/ourspirits

Looks like they've got distribution local to me, going to see who stocks it.

no distro near me but that's awesome!

yeah I live in Paris

I really like Picon! I've been mixing it with grenadine and soda water, sort of a Picon Punch but without brandy.

I think I need to buy a shaker if I'm gonna keep making cocktails. Stirring it with a butter knife doesn't work that well.

to get your start with stirred cocktails (as 99% of picon cocktails would be) just get a nice long barspoon and strainer and use a regular pint glass.

what is the strainer for? for seeds from a lemon for instance?

1. put your ingredients in the pint glass
2. add ice
3. stir until chilled
4. strain into a chilled cocktail glass

yeah, if you google image boston shaker vs cobbler shaker you will see that you usually need a strainer for the boston shaker set up. I much prefer the pint glass method.

oh ice, yeah that would be nice, we don't normally have it here (it's something I like usa fridges for) but I could make some.

I don't bother straining stirred drinks (beyond removing the ice) but yeah, ice is fundamental to most cocktail recipes (apart from the whole room-temperature scaffa thing)

I had a picon bierre last night, inspired by this thread, the bar I was in just happens to have it on the first page of their menu. It was very nice and took the edge off the overly hoppy beer they made it with.

a picon biere made with a hoppy beer is an interesting idea. i've only ever had it made with, like, kronenbourg.

I'm sure there's a better name than "beer negroni" but beer + Campari + vermouth is lovely

I've only tried with lighter lager-ish beers though

It would probably be better with kronenbourg. As ever I am a grumpy old bastard who things hops should be in balance with the other flavours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zTBmq9_9UA

I was give a bottle of Aromes de Montserrat it’s a on the chartreuse spectrum but tastes more cedary. Definitely not great for drink it on its own, what should I mix it into?

Reading this thread in a fancy resto just having a couple refreshments. ordered fgti's smokey mezcal Montenegro rec. Am fairly uninitiated in mezcal but this is rly lovely!

This thread is akin to the floyd - rules!

Picked up bottles of Zucca, CioCiaro, Branca Menta, and Amaro di Angostura in Atlanta this week. The Ango is amazing -- reviews all talk about cinnamon, but what I get is a luscious allspice liqueur. Branca Menta smells like Scope but is rich on the palate. Thumbs up for all four.

you should make my favorite cocktail that has zucca: https://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2011/05/throw-gun-2.html

Nice, I had a shot of the Amaro di Angostura in Indianapolis a few years ago and was impressed.

CAD: I'm not a huge fan of egg-white cocktails, but that looks good.

One of my favorite Zucca cocktails is the house cocktail at a place in my neighborhood called Sportsman's Club: https://chicagoist.com/2014/03/24/behind_the_stick_familiarity_brings.php

(I use Campari in place of the Luxardo Bitter. And any high-proof bourbon or rye will do.)

Thanks for those recipes. CAD, that Throw the Gun #2 recipe says 1 egg -- does that mean the whole egg? I thought cocktails just used egg whites.

it is indeed a whole egg. there is an entire category of whole-egg drinks historically known as "flips" from which that drink descends.

Every now and then, the 2 1/2 decent liquor stores in Tupelo will sneak something new and interesting into stock -- got a bottle of Amaro Montenegro today while I was looking for Everclear.

ooh jealous, that was one of my favorites from the Italy trip notes upthread

did you find everclear? It's kind of crazy how much cheaper italian amaros can be in countries outside the US (I mean if you can find them). We took a bottle of aperol from here to the US because it's so much cheaper here.

Everclear itself is sold out everywhere, but one store had plenty of Diesel 190-proof grain spirit. With a name like Diesel, it ought to make some great sanitizer.

i had everclear one night in my life. Never again.

A good and relatively simple Montenegro cocktail is the Cobble Hill:

2 oz rye
0.5 oz dry vermouth
0.5 oz Montenegro

Muddle a couple of cucumber slices in the mixing glass, add other ingredients, and stir with ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.

love cucumber in cocktails.

I'll give that a go -- bought a cucumber this afternoon. (Every other salad ingredient was sold out, but an onion-cucumber salad is fine by me.)

My favourite thing to do with Montenegro: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/01/jackson-cannons-adriatique-aperitif-aperol-orange-juice-amaro-cocktail-recipe.html

cucumber and whiskey seems very unintuitive to me, meaning... I'll have to try it!

Yeah, somehow it works! Also, maybe this is obvious, but the cucumber is strained out of the cocktail. So you're just getting a subtle note of it.

there's a pizzeria near me that has Elisir Novasalus on the menu and I'll often have one if I end up there for a late lunch. It's pretty crazy.

Drinking this: https://www.cocchi.it/en/wines/dopo-teatro-vermouth-amaro/

It's described as a "vermouth amaro" and I guess that's pretty accurate. Reminds me of Bonal, and I haven't had Punt E Mes but I read someone say it tastes similar. Anyway, it's pretty nice straight over ice.

those vermouth amaro things are funny b/c i feel like they're all separated from regular sweet vermouth by a few degrees of bitterness at best. yet i have ruined a cocktail or two using one of them as a straight replacement for a normal sweet vermouth.

mmm unexpectedly found a bottle of Amaro Lucano at a store I don't usually go to, drinking some on rocks now

Prompted/inspired by erstwhilXor Tep, I've been infusing amari with coconut. I have a large tub of unrefined, very coconutty coconut oil that I wasn't sure what to do with, and this works perfectly. I did some Campari first. A Jungle Bird with pineapple rum and coconut Campari is some good-ass drinking, let me tell you.

Now I've moved on to Amaro di Angostura, which I infused for 3 days and strained this morning. The amaro is delicious, not coconutty until the swallow and then BAM, and will pair up well with rum; but what I'm really looking forward to is the banana bread I'm going to make with Angostura-infused coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.