amaro (plural: amari) is Italian for “bitter”
Millennia ago, the ancient Greeks and Romans turned to mixtures of aromatic and botanical roots for medicinal purposes, but the origins of amaro as we know it today can be traced back to medieval friars and monks in abbeys and monasteries across Italy, whose interest by alchemy and the unique restorative properties of herbs and botanicals led them to create bitter tonics.
These secret formulas were preserved in wine or alcohol and used as an elixir to stimulate appetite and aid digestion.
Broadly speaking, amaro refers to the class of aromatic, herbal and bittersweet liqueurs produced in Italy, traditionally served as a digestif after a meal.
Amaros are created by steeping and/or distilling bitter husks, herbs, seeds, spices, citrus rinds, flowers and other herbs in a neutral alcohol or wine that is sweetened with a sugar syrup.
Most amaros are then allowed to rest for a period of time to help further balance the blend and some also spend months or even a year of additional aging in barrels for added complexity.
Common bittering agents used to produce amaro include cinchona bark, gentian root, wormwood, and angelica root, along with additional ingredients ranging in number from a dozen to over forty that may include herbs and spices such as cardamom, chamomile, rhubarb. , mint, orange peel, fennel, artichoke, licorice, eucalyptus, juniper, ginger, thistle, cloves, anise, saffron and sage.
Typically with an alcohol volume between 16º and 40º, the bitterness scale can range from syrupy sweet to more than dry, with a variety of flavors from bright citrus to floral, vegetable, woody, minty and medicinal.
While Italy is the birthplace of amaro and home to the largest selection of what is commercially available, the practice of serving a spirit closer to the end of a rich meal is not strictly an Italian affair.
Technically, a digestive might be a glass of cognac, port, brandy, schnapps or even whiskey, but bittersweet herbal liqueurs that are supposed to aid digestion and well-being have been produced in Western and Central Europe for centuries:
there are, for example, Underberg and Jägermeister in Germany, Gammel Dansk in Denmark, Unicum in Hungary, Becherovka in the Czech Republic; and there are flavored and fortified aperitif wines such as Suze and Bonal in France, among many other brands.
So Amaro serves two purposes: the aperitif and the digestive.
