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When you write a book devoted to the subject of amaro, it should come as no surprise that the question you’re asked most by readers, bartenders, friends and strangers alike is, What is your favorite amaro? It’s nearly impossible for me to answer. Like Rob Gordon, the obsessive record shop owner played by John Cusack in the film adaptation of Nick H...

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You’ve probably seen amari, from big brands like Campari and Averna to artisanal bottles made in Brooklyn, prettily lining the back bar at your favorite Italian restaurant or assertively flavoring drinks on high-end cocktail menus. It seems like every bartender and lifestyle magazine, is obsessed with blending the bitter, sweet and herbal flavors t...

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When I lived in Rome six years ago, I grew to love the bittersweet flavor of an Aperol Spritz. The light, fizzy mouthfeel, the neon hue, the orange slice garnishing the rim of the glass . . . It’s been my go-to aperitivo ever since. So when a variety of publications (including this one) declared summer 2017 the “summer of the spritz,” I was taken a...

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When Italians first began coming to this country in numbers, back in the 1880s and 1890s, many of them did what Irish and German and other immigrants did before them and went into business serving the food and drink of the old country to their fellow immigrants. Italian food and drinkways, being rather more alien to the prevailing American standard...

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IItalians drink with a purpose. In this wine-soaked country, no dinner is complete without a bottle of vino. But just as important to the Italian way of life is the aperitivo and the digestivo—the typically bitter drinks that precede and conclude a meal. By now, you're undoubtedly an expert at sipping Negronis and spritzes, but with the ever-growin...

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In the hospitality industry, amaro is cool. It’s the shot that a friend insists on sending to the chef after a particularly special birthday meal. When an industry person comes in to dine at a restaurant, what does the team send them as a parting gift? Mini bottles of Fernet Branca, of course. And at the dive bar after an exhausting Friday shift, a...

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Standing next to a gleaming white marble bar in Palo Alto’s new Vina Enoteca restaurant, Massimo Stronati loads up a vintage cocktail cart with his amari arsenal, a dozen fancy-labeled bottles of the bittersweet Italian liqueurs that are making waves across the Bay Area bar scene. It’s no secret that California foodies have a thing for all things b...

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What’s amaro? No, it’s not what you get when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. That’s amore. (Thanks, Dean!) That bitter liqueur your old-school Italian relatives used to drink after a big meal? Yes, friends, that is amaro — and NPR’s All Things Considered reports that it’s getting an “American revival.” Author Brad Thomas Parsons, who w...

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By Rosie Schaap Don't be bitter, we're told. But in American cocktail culture — especially its most rarefied, la-di-da precincts — bitterness has become a signifier of sophistication and discernment. A decade ago, bar patrons who wished to make it clear that they weren't into the sweet stuff might have requested something on the dry side or the so...

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By Lisa Futterman   Sometimes when two people love each other, they get together and make an amaro out of arugula. Italian-style amari, those classic bittersweet digestive liqueurs, have been cropping up on cocktail menus. Served neat to be sipped after dinner or shaken and stirred into all sorts of cocktails, amaro is an of-the-moment spirit.  ...

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