To be a bartender is to embrace the best and worst of humanity every shift. From questions like “What’s good?” to requests like “Surprise me” – is 8 ounces of vodka neat in a rocks glass surprising enough? – to great tippers, considerate humans, and interesting storytellers, bartenders see us in every light. I once told a bartender roommate that he loves Fernet Branca because it’s all the bitterness of the bartender's life distilled into one-ounce pours. He agreed.
Of all the amari (plural of amaro), Fernet Branca may be the most popular among career bartenders and the most misunderstood by the general public. Amaro means “bitter” in Italian, and the easiest way to talk about amari is to begin with a reminder that this is part two of the introduction to bitters posted here.
Bitters vs. Amari
Stated succinctly and with oversimplification, bitters are for modifying cocktails, and amari are for drinking. Amaro is usually served in 1-2 ounce pours as an aperitif or digestif. Because they were originally designed as “medicines,” they are widely believed to aid in appetite and digestion; bitters and soda is still a trusted remedy for stomach issues. While they can and do work well in cocktails, some like Fernet Branca can absolutely pummel all other flavors in the glass into insignificance, which is why it’s not a popular choice for mixing.
Bitters and amari begin as virtually the same thing; flavorful components like herbs, flowers, roots, and even leaves are chopped fine and macerated in ethanol in a process called tincturing. The fine chop is important because it exposes more of the component to the alcohol, thereby extracting more flavor. For bitters, the proof is left at about 40%. Because they’re not typically drunk, they are considered non-potable, a technicality that has been useful for distribution and is also completely untrue. While not recommended except for people with palates damaged from smoking, some cocktail recipes do call for up to an ounce and a half of bitters, so they’re quite potable in the strictest sense.
To make amaro, sugar in the form of demerara syrup is usually added as well as water. It’s the sweetness of amaro, followed by a noticeably bitter finish, that makes them so easy to like. Just as you think you’re getting a syrupy sugar bomb, the bitterness cleans everything up on the finish. With amari like Fernet Branca, a mentholating effect creates a lively mouthfeel similar to freshly brushed teeth or sucking on a breath mint.
Finding Your Amari Palate
To get a sense of how amari are built, Mark Bitterman, in his indispensable for bar nerds book Bitterman’s Field Guide to Bitters and Amari, recommends a build-your-own recipe that consists of a tablespoon of aromatic bitters like Hella Aromatic or Angostura, a tablespoon of other bitters to your taste (orange, chocolate, lavender, etc.), a tablespoon of double-strength demerara syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water), and one tablespoon of water. Assuming you have a variety of bitters around, you can construct several mini amaro batches to test your palate.
Once you have an idea of what you like, you can start buying amari according to your preferences. The simpler solution, if less cost efficient, is to sit at a good local bar and taste through their amaro selection. That could get costly, obviously, but the experience of side-by-side tasting is hard to beat. In addition to popular brands like Fernet Branca and Fernet Menta, which are among the “high proof” amari, other traditional options include Montenegro, Amaro Nonino, Averna, Aperol, Campari, and Cynar.
