Amaro: Putrid or Pivotal?

fernet branca bottle

Grub Street may call them “putrid,” but Brad Thomas Parsons (our resident bitters expert) calls amari “pivotal in the current cocktail renaissance,” in his latest piece on the amaro scene in Seattle.  In a top-ten list of bitter liqueurs “at least worth trying,” the “Sloshed” column calls out Fernet Branca as “dirt-infused toothpaste” and Cynar as “not-pink Campari.” On the nicer side, is the mention of Amaro Nonino noted to be best consumed “after a lovely meal in Milan” (though we’d drink it at breakfast, or after a 10-mile run at the gym). Some might dismiss these old-school ingredients as the latest craze to hit the moustache-and-bowler hat bartending set, but most of them hold a long tradition in the ritual of consuming an apéritif or digestif in France and Italy, which is reason enough to give them a fair shake. Well, maybe not Malört. [Grub Street] [Photo: Flickr/m rosasco]