Amaros (and digestifs)

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.

what ratio of oil to campari did you use?

About 1:3 or 1:4, 3 days of infusing. I put the jar in the oven on Bread Proof setting for about 30 minutes at first so the oil would liquefy and gave it a swirl several times a day. Since then the weather has gotten cold, but I'm not sure if that will slow the flavor transfer on future batches.

holy shit y'all

https://www.drinkhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Amaro-tosolini.jpg

the description there doesn't do it justice imo, yes it has a straightforward cola/root beer nose but tasting is is wildly complicated, some fernet minty stuff going on, some of that toasted butter flavor, and something I can't identify that's nut-like? pretty bitter as well, I'm enchanted.

looking for recipes led me to this fascinating page, sending up the bat-signal for WmC

https://inuakena.com/spirit-reviews/amaro-103-advanced-amari/

Oh yeah, the Amaro 101-102-103-104 pages have been a great resource for me. Another good roundup is at Kindred Cocktails — https://kindredcocktails.com/info/amaro

Tosolini sounds good, I might look for that on my next trip to Buster's in Memphis. I lost my mind the first time I went in there, spent 300 bucks before I realized what was happening. Turns out Memphis's liquor stores have Atlanta's totally beat.

i've never seen tosolini here but maybe i'll do a couple of more careful searches.

I've been drinking a lot of 50:50 amaro/vermouth mixes - I guess that would be Milano-Torino riffs? Nice and light.

what should I get next? current stock is:

Campari
Cynar
Aperol
Montenegro
Tosolini
Nonino
Vecchio Amaro Del Capo

I really love Nardini. Also there's a Seattle company that makes an Amaro called Amaricano. Quite tasty!

I went with Sibilla but have never heard of either of those, so thanks!

Right on! I haven't heard of Sibilla so I'll look for it

this was amazing, "For Whom The Sun Rises"

1.5 ounces Varnelli Amaro Sibilla
0.75 ounce grapefruit juice
0.25 ounce lime juice
0.25 ounce Maraska Maraschino (cherry brandy)
0.25 ounce simple syrup
5 drops salt solution (3 parts kosher salt to 1 part water)
Grapefruit peel (placed in the shaker)
shake, double strain, serve at room temp

sibilia is the reigning favorite in the house (followed by cynar).