Amaro Abano is an alcoholic bitters — the kind you drink straight up, as opposed to a concentrated bitter that you put a few drops of into other drinks. It is meant to be drunk as a digestive after a meal; you can have it on ice or not. It is dark brown and somewhat…
Bitters
Amaro Felsina
Amaro Felsina is an alcoholic bitters with a slight orange taste that can be served as an aperitif or a digestif. It can be served straight up or on the ice, and with or without a twist of orange or lemon peel. It is sold in 700 or 750 ml bottles, and has an alcohol…
Amaro Felsina Ramazzotti
Amaro Felsina Ramazzotti is a reddish-brown digestive bitters. It is mid-range in bitterness in terms of Italian bitters, and relatively smooth. It has a sweet medicinal taste with notes of orange and vanilla. The ingredients are secret, but the manufacturer says that there are 33 ingredients, including gentian, cinchona tree bark, rhubarb, cinnamon, oregano, sweet…
Amaro Lucano
Amaro Lucano Bitters are less bitter than some other Italian bitters, though one would not describe it as sweet. The recipe, consisting of herbs and roots, is a trade secret. It has a light body and is 30% alcohol. You can serve it neat, as a digestif, or on ice as an apéritif, with a…
Amaro Montenegro
Amaro Montenegro is a clear, amber-coloured Bitters that is somewhat sweet with a spicy, citrus taste. Somewhat less bitter than other Bitters, its bitter notes come at the end of the taste. it is made from over 40 herbs and spcies from around the world. Some tasters have guessed that its ingredients include vanilla and…
Amaro Nardini
Amaro Nardini is a herby-tasting bitters based on grappa, whose ingredients include bitter orange, gentian, and peppermint. Its aroma contains scents of mocha, toffee and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Its taste is mostly experienced in the centre of your tongue. Though milder than many other Italian bitters, some find it too medicinal. It…
Amaro Nonino
Amaro Nonino is a digestif made by the Nonino company in Fruili, Italy. It is a reddish-amber colour and has a herby fragrance, with a mildly bitter spicy taste, with a touch of liquorice and sweet, burnt orange. The taste lasts in the mouth. It is a bit less syrupy than some other Italian bitters….
Angostura Bitters
Angostura Bitters are an aromatic bitter “sauce” made from tropical spices and herbs. It’s sold in small bottles. The exact recipe is a closely-guarded secret, divided into four pieces and stored in four separate safes. One of its main ingredients is gentian, a European root. The label is too large for the bottle. Company mythology…
Branca Menta Bitters
Branca Menta Bitters (20% alcohol) is Fernet Branca with mint added. It is made by the Branca company and was produced in the US at one point, until popularity died down. Cooking Tips Branca Menta Bitter can be used in mixed drinks, or drunk straight up on ice. Substitutes 6 parts Fernet Branca, 4 parts…
Calisaya Bitters
Calisaya Bitters is not a brand name of bitters, but rather a type of bitters made by a few different distillers in Spain and Italy. It is based on Calisaya bark (aka cinchona bark, aka quinine), herbs, and spices. The alcohol content can range anywhere from .7 to 30%. Brand names include Ferro China, China-Martini,…
China Martini Bitters
China Martini is a brand name of Calisaya Bitters made by Martini & Rossi in Torino, Italy. 31% alcohol. Literature & Lore There is a popular misunderstanding that China Martini Bitters contains a root called “China Root” in English (aka “smilax china”) that was used in medicine. Instead, what it contains is Cinchona root (aka…
Cora Bitters
Cora Bitters are a greenish-amber colour liqueur that has a sweet and bitter taste with tones of cinnamon and orange. Made in Piedmont, Italy, Cora Bitters has an alcohol content of 28%. The company Società G. & L. Fratelli Cora was founded in 1835 by two brothers, Giuseppe and Luigi Cora. They also made vermouth…
Fee’s Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters
Fee’s Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters is meant as a flavouring for drinks, not something to be drunk straight up. The ingredients listed are: “Angostura Bark, Spice flavors, Citrus Oil and Gentian in a solution of water, alcohol and glycerine and caramel color.” A small tinge of cinnamon comes through in the taste. It is one…
Fernet
“Fernet” is a generic term for a type of bitter produced by several manufacturers in Lombardy, Italy. It will be a herb-tasting liqueur meant to be used as a digestif. “Fernet” generally indicates that the liquor was distilled from beet molasses. Note that this is not the case, however, with Fernet Branca, which is made…
Fernet Luxardo Bitters
Fernet Luxardo Bitters have traces of menthol and eucalyptus in the taste and aroma. The ingredients include liquorice, cardamom, cinchona bark, cinnamon, gentian and saffron. Fernet Luxardo Bitters are made in the Veneto Region of Italy.
Gammel Dansk Bitters
Gammel Dansk Bitters is a digestif to be drunk straight up at room temperature, either on its own or with a chaser such as beer. Enthusiasts in Denmark like to have a small glass in the morning, with coffee as the chaser. It can also be used as a mixer. The recipe apparently calls for…
Luxardo Abano Bitters
Luxardo Abano are herby-tasting bitters with a winey-aroma reminiscent of white pepper. Despite the Sicilian scene shown on the label, it is actually made in the Veneto region of Italy. Luxardo Abano Bitters are 30% alcohol. Language Notes Abano was the name of the Roman spa in Sicily shown on the label.
Meletti Bitters
Meletti is an amber-coloured bitters used as a digestif. Its ingredients include caramel, saffron, and possibly white pepper. The flavour of the ingredients is extracted with alcohol flowed repeatedly through it. Some water and sugar is then added. Though it has a syrup-like consistency, it has a dry taste, not a sweet one. Meletti Bitters…
Orange Bitters
Orange bitters are an unsweetened, strong alcohol infusion made from dried Seville orange peel, soaked in an alcohol to let the flavour go into the alcohol. The alcohol used is often either gin or pure alcohol. The two most common brands are one made by Chateau Thierry and by Fee’s. The Fee’s brand, called Fee’s…
Pomeranze Bitters
Pomeranze is an orange-flavoured Bitters that comes in green and red versions. The taste of both colours is the same; you choose the version based on which colour is appropriate for the colour of drink you are mixing, or based just plain on which colour you fancy. The ingredients include bitter oranges. Pomeranze Bitters is…
Rabarbaro Zucca Bitters
Rabarbaro Zucca Bitters is an aperitif made in Milan by the Ettore Zucca company. Its ingredients include rhubarb and melon. 16% alcohol. Language Notes In Italian, “rabarbaro” means “rhubarb”. Zucca, meaning squash, refers to the name of the inventor of the squash.
Torani Amer
Torani Amer has ingredients similar to those in Amer Picon, but has a different taste. It is 39% proof. Torani Amer is made by the Torani company of San Francisco, California. There was a false rumour in late 2005 that the company would be discontinuing its Torani Amer product.