EvergreenDan

Kerry, seeing the St Germain and Campari together made me think of the Bitter Elder. I'm not sure if it's been mentioned here before, but if not, it's definitely worth making. It sounds like the Brothers Perrymen is very similar, but without the lemon. I'd be surprised if you didn't like the Bitter Elder.

Just tried a rye Lion's Tail. All personal preferences being equal, bourbon works better. A rye fan should feel free to substitute with confidence, though.

I hope Crabbie's doesn't taste lousey.

Has anyone tried rye in a Lion's Tale? I originally thought that the drink was about a play between the warmth of the bourbon and the warmth of the spices. But maybe it should be a contrast, playing spice against warmth. With a large amount of rye, I think this begs for a sipping-quality rye. Also, I'd love to hear from anyone else trying Becherovka. I thought it was wonderful (pat, pat, pat).

Wow, you are right. The Lion's Tail is very nice indeed. I used 1/4 oz each St. Elizabeth's and Becherovka. The trick is to be sure that the Allspice Dram doesn't overpower the bourbon.

I went to Saloon in Somerville, MA and had their "Second Ring of Power" (I hope that's exactly right; it's not on their on-line menu), an up cocktail with mescal, Benedictine, lime, and bitters. From the flavor and color, I'd guess it had at least 1/4 oz of Angostura. Very nice, and surprisingly accessible for a mescal cocktail. Even my smoke-hatin' wife liked it. Saloon has an astonishing whiskey menu. It's nice to see two vodkas listed at the bottom of a menu with maybe 70 whiskeys of various sorts, plus a few rums, gins, grappas, etc. We stuck to the cocktails, however.

Cider is unfiltered fresh-pressed apple juice from the refrigerator case. You used to be able to buy unpasteurized but food safety laws makes that impossible now (at least in MA). Unpasteurized cider would form a light fizzy hardness after a short while in the refrigerator. Pasteurized will too if left for long enough, but it's not the same. You have to go easy on the stuff, because the non-ethanol fermentation products can lead to a spectacular headache. By contrast, what we have as "apple juice" is unrefrigerated, usually filtered, and often reconstituted juice. It has none of the autumn freshness of good cider. And then there is commercial hard cider.

That a Marita. You use 2/3's of the ingredients? You get 2/3's of the letters.

At the suggestion of chowhound user DavisSquarePro, I made his Negroni variation with equal parts Batavia Arrack, CardAmaro, and Campari. I liked it the first time I made it, but this time it was a bit too sweet. I'm not sure why as I don't think CardAmaro is much (if any) sweeter than various sweet vermouths. Maybe there is something about the juniper in gin cutting through the sugar versus the funk in the arrack reinforcing the sugar. It is promising, but I think some dry vermouth is needed, or maybe Gran Classico. More experimentation....

A touch bitter, too, right? BTW, a touch of Campari is wonderful in a Sloe Gin Fizz. The Bitter Truth Sloe Gin was described as being more bitter, eliminating the need for the Campari. I've never had it, though.

There is no psychoactive effect, other than alcohol. It tastes like black licorice / fennel. If you like that flavor, get a bottle. I personally don't drink it often except as an ingredient. As a rinse, a bottle goes a long way, as the OP noted. If you like Pernod / Ricard, then definitely try a bottle. It is more interesting, less sweet, and higher in alcohol.

I'm fond of this from time-to-time. Crowd pleaser too, if your crowd likes craft. 2 to 2 by Stephan Cole, The Violet Hour, Chicago, IL 1 1/2 oz Aperol 1 oz Absinthe, Lucid 1 oz Lemon juice 1/4 oz Simple syrup 1 ds Orange bitters, Regans' orange bitters 1 twst Orange peel (flamed, as garnish) Shake, strain, straight up, cocktail glass, garnish.

It seems that around Boston, Rittenhouse is either not stocked or is priced at $25-28, which seems to be well above what others have mentioned.

Maybe some tasting is in order. The grouping criterion goal is being able to substitute for each other, rather than actually what they have in them or even how similar they taste. To illustrate, it would (probably) be better to substitute Orchard Apricot for Cherry Heering than it would be to use Kirschwasser or Maraschino. For example, if one didn't have CardAmaro, would you use dell Erboriste, Punt e Mes, or even regular sweet vermouth? I don't know without some tasting and thinking. Cynar also sticks out. Yes, it's made out of a vegetable, but I think its role is more in the Citrus family. But again, maybe I need to sip it in contrast to say Cynar and del Capo and think. My Amer Boudreau is more pie-spice in character than citrus, probably because of the Ramazzotti in it. I need to contrast it to Campari then think about Saller and Sibilia. And Sibilia is, I think, too bitter to put it in other categories. Substituting it for, say, Saller would require a huge amount of fiddling, I think, to keep the bitterness in check. Unless we give up on that and say, "Hey, this works but the result will be massively more bitter." Can we define a "center" of each category -- the amaro that is most prototypical? This might help us decide some of the border cases.

Some good progress on characterizing individual amari, but what should the categories be? If we adopt the goal of using this taxonomy for finding substitutes (i.e. recipes calls for X; which of my amari would work?), what should the categories be? The goal is not to make the drink taste identical to the recipe, but to make it taste good. The substitute should fulfill the same role as the original, but not necessarily the same flavor. For example, I find that I can frequently substitute Cynar for Campari, even though they don't taste similar, whereas I could not substitute Ramazzotti for Campari. And bitterness is usually not a major consideration for substitution, except for the massively bitter amari. For example, Aperol is much less bitter than Campari, but can generally be substituted. The exception to this, at least for me, is mint/spearmint/mentol. These flavors are so dominant that they cut right through the cocktail and instantly define it. I'm not sure that they can be substituted except for themselves, but that's just one person's thought. So how can we improve a taxonomy like: - Bright, citrus (Campari, Aperol, maybe Cynar, maybe Becherovka (despite the cinnamon)) - Dark, earthy, spicy (Ramazzotti, Averna, Nonino, Cora(?), Montenegro(?), delCapo, Abano) - Mint/Menthol (Fernets of all sorts, Nardini) - Massively bitter (Unicum, Sibilia, dell Erboista) - Wine (Rucola, CardAmaro, maybe aromatized wines like Lillet, Bonal, etc?) What wouldn't fit in this? Would this be a useful substitution aid? Are there meaningful sub-categories? Are additional / different categories needed or better? And if this is an awesome taxonomy, what goes where?

I have done this here: Kindred Cocktails Amari list. I would be happy to update / expand / refine the list based on group feedback, including some sort of graphical representation that might help with substitution. One could map them on two axes, such as bitterness versus brightness. There are also some newer amari that need adding. Disclaimers: haven't thought this through, just musing, from memory, some may be wrong, just a start, don't hurt me: Bright amari Campari-style Campari Luxardo Bitter Gran Classico [*]Bitter orange style Aperol (Haven't had it, but might Montenegro fit here?) [*]Dark/earthy Pie-spiced Averna Nonino Ramazzotti [*]Cynar [*]Zucca [*]Dark orange CioCiaro Amer Picon [*]Mint / Menthol Fernet style Fernet Branca Fernet Menta Luxardo Fernet Highland Fernet [*]Nardini [*]...

The Penicillin recipe in Kindred Cocktails calls for 3/4 oz of honey-ginger syrup. I suspect that's where the odd 3/8 oz measurements come from. I made this with King's Ginger and Balvenie Doublewood and thought it was very nice. I also made a tequila version (anejo with mezcal) and liked that too. It is surprisingly accessible for the non-Scotch lover.

Wow. Nice selections, and pretty gutsy for your first foray!

@frogprincesse: Try King's Ginger if you can find it. I find it has more fresh ginger bite than Canton. King's Ginger : Canton = ginger beer : ginger ale I feel a slight infection coming on myself.

@Frederic: Does "release" imply that Unicum will be re-released in the US, or only the new plum amaro? I agree that Zwack Liqueur is pretty uninteresting. I've never had Unicum, and I'm anxious to try it alone and in some recipes that I've collected. Sugar is the enemy. You can always add it, but you can't take it out.

Trip to the NH liquor store. I had this Obstler at a friend's house. It is an apple-and-pear eau-de-vie, 80 proof. Very nice in that eau firewater way. The Art in the Age Rhubarb Tea is pretty interesting. I won't be the next St. Germain, but I can imagine it adding a little indescribable something if used in sensible quantities as a modifier. The Killepitsch (special edition bottle, thank god, as it's hideous) is pretty awful. The combination of bitter and cherry just brings up too much Robitussin for me. I'm going to have to work at this one. I can imagine pie-spice amari working with the cherry, moving it away from a tickle-in-the-throat.

That link describe's Unicum's bitterness as "subtle." Um. No.

Kirschwasser is a great spirit. It is not overly cherry flavored like Cherry Heering or other cherry liqueurs. Contrast Orchard Pear to Poire William eau-de-vie. I've used it successfully as a main spirit. The good stuff is spendy, though. As for cherry drinks being sweet, it's a case of cocktail design and balance. The sweetness can be balanced directly with acid (citrus, dry vermouth, dry sherry, etc.) and/or indirectly with bitterness (an amaro of some sort, tonic water, etc). The combination of bittersweet and cherry can be like cough syrup. Be subtle with more spirit than one might use with, say, orange.

@zachary: China Martini did indeed come from a swap. I also forgot Black Balsams (which I highly recommend) and today's acquisition of Leopold Fernet (spearmint, not particularly bitter, need to find a use for it). And putting two bottles of Unicum out front is just plain mean. Bastard. @yojimbo: Wouldn't Cynar make you brown with envy? Fernet Menta would make you green with envy.

Oops. And Saler's