Amaro and the bitter liqueurs

Bitterness is the taste we are born to refuse and learn to want. Italy turned that lesson into a category: liqueurs built on roots and barks, sweetened just enough to make the bitterness a pleasure, drunk before dinner to open the appetite and after it to close the evening. Amaro simply means bitter.

What amaro is

The European Union gives two definitions that overlap in the glass. A bitter-tasting spirit drink, or bitter, is predominantly bitter, made by flavoring alcohol with botanicals, at 15 percent or more. A liqueur is a sweetened spirit drink at 15 percent or more carrying at least 100 grams of sugar per liter, or 80 grams if flavored only with gentian or wormwood. Most amari are liqueurs by that measure, and the regulation allows the word bitter on bitter-tasting liqueurs, which is why Campari can call itself a bitter while being sweet enough to qualify as a liqueur.

Strength is the first surprise. Difford's puts the family between about 16 percent and over 40. Campari sits at 24 percent in the United States; Aperol is lighter still; fernet and the alpine amari climb toward 40 and beyond.

How it is made

The method is the apothecary's. Herbs, roots, barks, seeds, flowers and citrus peels are macerated in spirit, sometimes in wine, for days or weeks. The infusion is filtered and sweetened, usually with beet sugar, and rested in tank, cask or bottle, sometimes for years. Recipes are secret by tradition and by marketing, but the botanical vocabulary repeats: gentian root for a clean, earthy bitterness; cinchona bark for the quinine edge; wormwood; bitter orange peel; rhubarb root; licorice, cinnamon, cardamom and the alpine herbs. Some houses distill part of the botanical mix; most macerate. Color may come from caramel or from the botanicals themselves.

The families

Aperitivo bitters are the light, bright, red-orange end. Campari, created by Gaspare Campari in 1860 and anchored to Milan by the Caffe Campari in the Galleria and the Camparino bar of 1915, is the reference: bitter orange, gentian-like bitterness, a sugar level that carries the Negroni. Aperol, created in 1919 by the brothers Barbieri after seven years of trials, is lower in alcohol and sweeter, with orange and citrus to the fore, and is the engine of the Spritz. Smaller rivals from Turin and Milan have returned in the last decade.

Medium amari are the after-dinner mainstream: brown, around 30 percent, bittersweet with caramel and citrus. Averna, Montenegro, Lucano, Ramazzotti and Nonino sit here. They are the easiest entry to the category and the most forgiving in cocktails.

Fernet is the hard end: intensely bitter, minty, medicinal, usually around 40 percent. Fernet-Branca, which its house dates to Milan in 1845 and describes as a formula of 27 herbs, roots and spices, is the archetype.

Alpine amari come from the mountains and taste of them: pine, wild herbs, menthol, a resinous bitterness. Braulio from the Valtellina is the best known. Rabarbaro amari are built on rhubarb root and are smoky and earthy; carciofo amari, Cynar above all, are built on artichoke and are gentler than the vegetable suggests. The vermouth-based chinati, with cinchona, live on the border.

Aperitivo and digestivo

The Italian day has two amaro moments. The aperitivo hour, late afternoon, is for the light bitters with soda, tonic or sparkling wine, served with snacks, the ritual the Camparino helped standardize in Milan. The digestivo is after dinner, neat or with a single ice cube, a medium amaro or a fernet. The tradition is cultural and gastronomic; the pharmacy origins of the drinks explain the recipes and not any effect on digestion, and this site does not make health claims.

In cocktails

The Negroni, dated by Campari to Florence in 1919, is equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, and it is the bitter's defining drink. The Boulevardier replaces the gin with bourbon or rye, and the whiskey's sweetness tightens the bitterness. The Aperol Spritz is the volume aperitivo: three parts prosecco, two parts Aperol, one of soda, over ice with an orange slice. The Americano, Campari and sweet vermouth lengthened with soda, is the Negroni's lighter ancestor. Medium amari make the Paper Plane (bourbon, Aperol, Nonino, lemon) and the Black Manhattan (rye and Averna); fernet makes the Toronto with rye and sugar; Cynar makes a quiet, excellent Cynar and tonic.

Buying by style

Buy by bitterness and by job. One aperitivo red for Negronis and Americanos, one orange aperitivo for Spritz, one medium brown amaro for stirring and sipping, one fernet or alpine amaro for accents and for guests who like the hard end. Taste the medium tier side by side; the differences in sugar and in citrus are large and personal. Opened amari keep for a long time at bar strength, but the lighter aperitivo bitters under 20 percent lose brightness after some months and are better refrigerated once open.

Folklore and fact

Two beliefs cling to the category. The first is that amaro is medicine; it was sold that way in the 1800s, which is why the recipes read like prescriptions, and it is a liqueur today. The second is that bitter means strong; the lightest Spritz bitters are weaker than many wines. The brand chronologies in this article, Campari's 1860, Aperol's 1919 and Fernet-Branca's 1845, are the houses' own accounts, and we present them as such.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 2019/787, Annex I, categories 30 and 33 (EUR-Lex).
• Difford's Guide, "Amaro" category entry.
• Campari, "Our history"; Aperol, brand site; Fernet-Branca, brand site.