In 2020, while we were enduring the stay-at-home, Lance and I made the most of it by cooking together, going on drives, and holding Happy Hour for Two every Friday. We alternated who was responsible for the cocktail, and snacks were also bartender’s choice.
Pineapple Rum Daiquiri
Since that time, I’ve gained an education, an appreciation, and vast understanding of the world of spirits.
But before then, I knew very little about liquor, very little about liqueurs, and very little about aperitifs aka amaros aka bitter liqueurs.
I don’t like being intimidated by food or drink, but unfortunately, when we haven’t experienced or been exposed to something this is often exactly what we feel: intimidation—causing us to either run towards or far away from the subject in question*.
*Another example: I am completely intimidated by sports. I cannot kick or throw a ball or anything resembling a ball well at all**. Growing up, sports were a make-up-the-game-as-you-go thing between me and my brothers. We did not participate in real sports. We knew neither the language nor the rules. As an adult, I continue to run as far from participating in sports, in action or words, as I can because it simply isn’t in me***.
**I am extremely serious. You should see me at axe throwing or even attempting to play cornhole.
***There are, of course, exceptions, which all began with major intimidation.
Making a cocktail is an art just like forming the perfect croissant or smoking a beautiful piece of meat*. You have to understand the ingredients you are working with, how they function, and the right ways to use them in order to craft something not only pleasing, but innovative and palatable.
*I imagine it is also like learning how to throw or kick a ball, but I wouldn’t really know, now would I?
As part of delving deeper into the spirits world*, Lance and I created a series of in-home tastings to better understand the major players in cocktails we were making.
*And yes, every time I type this or some form of it, I am thinking about Halloween fast approaching and how despite never wanting summer to end, I’m so so so excited for all the fall things.
We started simple, sampling a handful of different whiskeys against one another. Gins were particularly interesting because each uses a unique set of botanicals, ranging from being more floral, citrusy, earthy, or piney. Each gin we tasted had distinguishable flavors, while with other spirits it was often difficult to pinpoint their differences.
The best way to sample different brands
We even made a series of martinis (cut down versions, be assured) to understand how different garnishes (onion / olive / orange twist / lemon twist) enhance the cocktail’s flavor.
But the especially inimitable, intimidating tasting we did was of bitters.
These are not the bitters sprinkled in to uplift the flavor profile of a cocktail. Rather, these bitters, or amaros, are a kind of liqueur drunk, most often in European countries, but also by some here in America, before or after a meal (aperitifs – before the meal // digestifs – after the meal).
They’re also used, as many liqueurs are, in crafting cocktails.
One famous aperitif you may have heard of is Aperol, of the Aperol Spritz, an Italian cocktail that has been having its ten minutes of fame for what feels like thirty.
Not part of our amaro tasting, but included in the background for some reason: two bottles of Grappa–a different spirit for a different time
Our amaro* tasting consisted of eleven different amaro bottles. You know how when a recipe calls for something specific you don’t have; knowing there are similar ingredients in your pantry, you go with something you already have instead of buying the rare and costly ingredient Ina Garten wants you to use?
*Aka: bitters
Yeah, Lance doesn’t do that. If a recipe calls for Amaro Nepeta, he isn’t going to use the Amaro Averna we already have. He’s going to go out and buy a full bottle of Amaro Nepeta.
And I’m okay with it, really, I am, but when the numbers of bitters entered the double digits, that was when we decided we needed to taste each individually to better understand them.
Bitters have a high alcohol content percentage—the ones we tasted ranged from 28 to 36 percent. In addition to researching and tasting for specific flavors*, we asked this question of each: Would you sip it? Out of eleven, I said yes to six**, though I do wonder if that answer would change after more than one sip.
*Among them: cinnamon, eucalyptus, honey, orange, vanilla, coriander, mint, oregano, lemon, and licorice.
**Here are three tried and true amaros, perhaps the only amaros we should have on our shelf: Amaro Averna // Amaro Montenegro // Vecchio Amaro del Capo
What these experiences have taught me, ultimately, is the same thing I recognize whenever I participate in a food or wine tasting: mindfulness. High quantities of alcohol, and even food, can be dangerous. But if we respect the things we taste, appreciating each bite of food, each sip we take, we not only satisfy our palate, but our minds as well.
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