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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/490399
www.cheersonline.com 19 April 2015 • The rise of bitter Italian spirits T oday's cocktail culture has a well-established reputation for rediscovering a style of drinking or ingredient that goes from obscure to ubiquitous in the blink of an eye. Take the case of amari, that multitude of bitter Italian tipples. Apart from a few well-marketed brands, amari rarely peek their heads outside fine-dining Italian restaurants. Until recently, that is. Now bars and restaurants all across the country are incorporating amari in their drinks; as replacements for aromatic bitters, as one of a handful of ingredients in more assertive cocktails, or as leading lights in drinks on their own. Not so long ago mainly a Northeast-Pacific Northwest phenomenon, more bittered drinking has come on full force around the country. Why are these bitter potables, which can be spirit- or wine-based and infused and/or aged with herbs, flowers, vegetables, botanicals, nuts, berries and spices, so hot right now? It's inevitable, says Joaquin Simo, partner in New York cocktail bar Pouring Ribbons and Alchemy Consulting. People go through stages of cocktail drinking, and as a palate evolves, exploring ingredients with more complexity and depth makes sense. "I think it's part of how our collective national palate is growing increasingly able to appreciate bitter," he notes. "Now people are drinking single-make, pour-over, single-village coffee without cream or sugar, and bitter dishes like kale salad are everywhere." THE BITTER TRUTH Of course, cocktails have always offered more bitter options. The crimson aperitif Campari has come in and out of fashion as an ingredient numerous times in the past 60 years, whether in Negronis, Americanos or simple Campari and Sodas. Moxie Kitchen + Cocktails bar manager Johnny Schaefer says that guests still ask for a cocktail made with barrel-aged gin and Fernet Branca, even though it's no longer on the Jacksonville, FL, restaurant's menu. The Rose Among Thorns cocktail at the Up & Up in New York ($14), made with aquavit, gin and Amaro Montenegro. Fernet Branca has long been the favored flavor for late-night, restaurant-industry worker shots, especially in San Francisco. A number of bars in the Bay City have even put the dark, black-licorice flavored amaro on tap. But beyond the recent international adoption of the Aperol Spritz cocktail, few other amari have penetrated drink consciousness. They remained for the most part digestifs, meant to aid digestion, sooth dyspepsia, and otherwise serve as a mood-lifting medicinal tonic. But now, it has become increasingly common to find operations stocking—and using— five, 10, 20 and more amari. The average customer may still need a bit of reassurance when they spy a bottle of Cynar, with an artichoke on the label, being used to make their drink. But at bars like Pouring Ribbons, known as a place for frequently changing and carefully concocted drinks, resistance is minimal. A STARTING POINT Consumers in general are a lot more comfortable now with more of these bitter flavors, Simo says. "Fewer and fewer customers need explanations about what these ingredients are." Still, you have to remember that that most amari are acquired tastes. "I hated my first few tastes of Campari, but when [mixologist] Tony Abou-Ganim showed me how well it went with orange juice and in a Negroni, it was a revelation," says Simo. Schaffer points out that once a customer learns to appreciate the attraction of PHOTO CREDIT: MIGUEL EMMANUELLI "I THINK IT'S PART OF HOW OUR COLLECTIVE NATIONAL PALATE IS GROWING INCREASINGLY ABLE TO APPRECIATE BITTER." — Joaquin Simo, partner in New York cocktail bar Pouring Ribbons and Alchemy Consulting