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Who would have thought the artichoke could garner such interest in the U.S. cocktail community? As Italian drink culture and tradition - from the aperitivo to amari - infiltrates drink rituals stateside, Campari America mounts a new campaign in the battle for bitter: Cynar® 70 Proof. Double the intensity and proof of original Cynar, the bartender-b...

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By Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya The lowdown: Before becoming commercialized in Italy in the 1840s, fernet, an aromatic bitter that's considered a sub-sect of Italian amaro, put down roots in medicine. One of its key ingredients, myrrh, has been used medicinally for thousands of years (also makes a great gift for a potential lord and savior).   When it...

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Amaro is Italy's bittersweet export that's all the rage. "Amaro," the word for "bitter" in Italian, is also a broad and loosely defined category of bittersweet Italian-born herbal spirits flavored through maceration. While consistently enjoyed in Western Europe for hundreds of years, only recently has American interest and excitement in amaro renew...

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The introduction of Averna and Braulio amaros to its American arm follow the Italian company's purchase of Fratelli Averna for €103 million in April last year.   The Averna brand was introduced to Campari's UK distribution arm, J. Wray and Nephew UK, in September. Previously it was distributed by Instil Drinks.   Read more   Source: http://ww...

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My first book, Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, came out in 2011, and whether it was a case of prescience or serendipity, its publication coincided with a bitters boom that was taking hold in bars across America. As with any popular resurgence, there's bound to be a backlash.   Whether they were housemade blends or new releases...

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Say hello to Fernet Branca, one of Italy's most famous amari. Made by the Fratelli Branca Distillerie, the alluringly herbaceous liquor with its distinctly bitter taste and spicy finish was invented in 1845. There are other brands of Fernet, but Fernet Branca is the big daddy of them all, and the formula of herbs and spices such as saffron, myrrh,...

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by Deidre Schipani   Amaro (singular), amari (plural) is a bitter Italian liqueur whose origins go back centuries to the times of herbal tonics and elixirs. Macerations of herbs, botanicals, seeds, roots, barks and spices were blended into grape brandy or wine bases, then aged, filtered and served in small portions as both an aperitivo or digesti...

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I took my first sip of amaro — the bittersweet Italian liqueur — just after dinner on a balmy late-September night in the Piazza dei Madonna del Monti in Rome. It was close to midnight, but my wife and I had just finished dinner with our Chicago-born host and her Roman boyfriend, Lodo.   Lodo suggested a post-meal digestivo procured from a shoebo...

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by W. Blake Gray   We don't think of spirits as having terroir. Amari are a big exception.  "Amaro" means "bitter" in Italian. These traditional spirits, flavored by roots and herbs, are drunk at the end of a meal in Italy to aid the digestion.   For a long time in the U.S., an Italian restaurant might keep a single dusty bottle in the far reac...

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