Love & Bitters: Ramazzotti Amaro

Love & Bitters: Ramazzotti Amaro

Sitting in a trattoria in Trastevere, The Wife and I had just sat down to order dinner as the couple seated next to us was just finishing theirs. The young blonde woman asked the server to bring a bottle of bitters (amaro); she and her bearded beau had a glass; then she walked around the table, sat on his lap, and they proceeded to kiss passionately for a few minutes. Italy; what’s not to like?

Throughout the next few days, I became enamored of amaro, and tried several varieties. For a general after-dinner drink/digestif, my current flame is Ramazzotti Amaro, an almost 200-year-old Milanese blend of 33 herbs and spices (including gentian root and anise) with snappy Sicilian orange peel -- an excellent way to finish off a meal.



What is most pleasant about bitters is that they say, in a way sweets cannot, THE END. When I have a glass of bitters, my stomach knows dinner is over, and I find that bitters have, as advertised, a settling effect, touching on taste sensors that, in American cuisine, are infrequently stimulated. I also like the way it looks: a deep red-brown, not syrupy but thicker than wine.

Anyhow, after dinner in Rome, I ordered a round of bitters, and The Wife drank hers, and though she wouldn’t sit in my lap (I would have preferred amore and amaro), I was content with my bitter cup.

Ramazzotti and several other similar beverages are available at Binny’s and elsewhere in the city, usually under $20 a bottle.

Hammond

David,

JeffB and I have expressed great enthusiasm for bitters in a couple of threads in the past. In the post I linked to in connexion with chinotto today, I mentioned several of my favourite Italian ones: Fernet Branca, Averna, Amaro Lucano -- the first of these was my grandfather's cure-all and he lived to be over 100 years old; the latter two I always have on hand and I think you might have tried them when you and C. were over for dinner sotto Natale a couple of winters back. We end each and every festive or quasi-festive meal with bitters and espresso.

The number of bitters still produced in Italy is astounding but excellent bitters are, of course, made elsewhere in Europe. From Germany comes the now -- thanks to homo fraternitatis ebrius -- somewhat disreputable but still quite satisfying Jägermeister; Underberg and Boonekamp are a couple more good German products.

I haven't had the Ramazzotti you feature in your post. I'll look forward to trying it.

Antonius

Sounds wonderful! Of course, after almost every meal in Rome I've felt that passionate. I'm still hoping to apply for a job that enables me to sit in Campo di Fiori, drink espresso and people watch...one of these days!

As someone who's suffered from an ulcer over the years, I periodically find myself asking waiters for a glass of bitters and club soda. It does a great job of settling an upset stomach. But your posting reminds me a great summertime drink. The proportions are approximate:

1/2 Ginger ale
1/2 Italian lemon soda (or 7-up in a pinch)
dash of bitters
squeeze of a lime

It's the perfect refreshing drink to enjoy while sitting on the porch on a hot summer day! (Best enjoyed while listening to the crickets, rocking on the porch swing and watching kids play on the lawn after a great dinner with a lot of produce picked fresh from the garden...can you tell that this winter/spring has dragged on a little too longe for my tastes?)

Here's a question that someone--most likely Antonius!--can help me with. In Germany, all bars have what they call Magenbitters, bitters for the stomach, as in, medicinal. They hang from a placard in c. 25ml dose-bottles. I've never tried them, but I wonder: are they some special sort of bitters, or might all bitters be considered (in Germany) Magenbitters?

Geo

PS. BTW, speaking of bitter drinks, our Milano supermarché has several bitter soft drinks, among which is Cynar from Italy. Sort of an alcohol-free Campari+soda. It is fabuluous with a bit of totally dry white rum.

Geo wrote:Here's a question that someone--most likely Antonius!--can help me with. In Germany, all bars have what they call Magenbitters, bitters for the stomach, as in, medicinal. They hang from a placard in c. 25ml dose-bottles. I've never tried them, but I wonder: are they some special sort of bitters, or might all bitters be considered (in Germany) Magenbitters?

Geo,

Those little bottles in the bar are in my experience most often Underberg, a bitter with a good dose of alcohol that is, however, especially thought of and marketed as having medicinal qualities. The Italian Fernet Branca I mentioned above, beloved in small doses as panacea by my grandfather, has also -- I believe -- more of a reputation as a bevvy with medicinal qualities than most others. But I suspect that all of the older complex herbal flavoured alcoholic drinks of this ilk were intended to be good for the stomach and maybe more.

PS. BTW, speaking of bitter drinks, our Milano supermarché has several bitter soft drinks, among which is Cynar from Italy. Sort of an alcohol-free Campari+soda. It is fabuluous with a bit of totally dry white rum.

Is there maybe a typo here? Cynar is most definitely an alcoholic drink, though not especially strong -- I would describe it as a 'light amaro'. The principle flavouring is artichoke, though it also contains a mixture of herbal flavours, and it is quite bitter. I love it, though I know a number of people who hate it. Are you confusing Cynar (relatively low alcohol digestive) with Chinotto (bitter citrus soft drink) discussed yesterday in the "Perfect Pairs" thread?:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=75468#75468

Cin cin,
Antonius

Antonius wrote:The Italian Fernet Branca I mentioned above, beloved in small doses as panacea by my grandfather, has also -- I believe -- more of a reputation as a bevvy with medicinal qualities than most others.

I picked up a bottle of Fernet Branca in Rome. I had tasted some of this brand at Bacchanalia on Oakley, and liked it, but the stuff I brought home was mint-flavored and, wow, it packs a head-clearing punch, very heavy and medicinal, though not in a bad way. The Wife will have none of it, though I like a little branca menta now and again.



Fernet Branca is also produced in Milan, which seems the source for many bitters.

Branca menta... demente!... It sounds 'crazy', as in 'great'. I've never had the mint-flavoured one...

Yes, you're right, there are a number from Milano specifically and the north generally but there are amari from just about every part of Italy. And the ones from the south, at least to my mind, certainly take no backseat to the ones from 'Padania'.

Have you had regular Fernet Branca? Do you have a preference of the Branca Menta over it?

A

Antonius wrote:Have you had regular Fernet Branca? Do you have a preference of the Branca Menta over it?
A

A, yeah, Fernet Branca is what I had at Bacchanalia, and I honestly do not recall whether I got the Branca Menta by mistake or because I thought it would actually be fun to have a mint variety. This is probably the most "herbal" of the bitters I've had -- meaning it whacks you in the mouth and shouts MINT! -- and although I prefer the regular formulation, the more powerful beverage can please at times.

Hammond

Antonius wrote:Have you had regular Fernet Branca? Do you have a preference of the Branca Menta over it?

According to its website, Sam's carries both of these in 750 ml bottles--$19.99 for the regular and $31.99 for the Menta. Thanks for putting them on my radar!

Kristen

Even though they are all bitter, I think of Cynar differently from amaro and Underberg as the latter two are after dinner and after drunkenness drinks respectively. Cynar is more of, or exclusively, an aperitif. As with Suze, another unusual tasting aperitif, Europeans wax poetically about how they set up your tastebuds. It does have an ability to change the taste of food consumed right after it, not always pleasantly. Not that you would try it, but milk tastes totally different after Cynar.
Ramanzzotti Amaro has been my favorite amaro for years. I often use the presence of amaro at a restaurant to determine how Italian or old school they are. I was very pleased recently to find that Francesca's Farno had a choice of three amaros even though the bartenders did not know that they had them. More impressively Osteria via Stato offers flights of amaro.

MLS wrote:Even though they are all bitter, I think of Cynar differently from amaro and Underberg as the latter two are after dinner and after drunkenness drinks respectively. Cynar is more of, or exclusively, an aperitif.

Indeed, I agree that Cynar is very commonly consumed as an aperitif (whereas others such as Averna are not especially if at all) but it is in Italian an "amaro." Note too that it is distinguished from the others chemically by the lower alcohol content but it is bitter and contains a blend of many herbal flavours (though probably is not as complex as items such as Fernet).

Antonius

MLS wrote:Not that you would try it, but milk tastes totally different after Cynar.

I'd love to know what brought about that particular sequence of beverages.

Hammond

Youth, ignorance, an uncle in Toulon making a point-choose one, choose all.

Thanks for the info Antonius, and, indeed, Underberg is exactly the package I remember seeing.

The bitter carbonated non-alcoholic soft drink comes in a one-liter standard pop bottle and is branded "CYNAR--flavour from Italy" and is called, simply, "Bitter". It's a *beautiful* bright red color! When I get back to Montreal I'll take a photo of it (I'm in KC as of an hour ago--got to tend my grapes and work on the garden for a few days; things are astoundingly more developed than in Montreal, where I still have nice blooming tulips in my front yard!)

Geo

Geo wrote:The bitter carbonated non-alcoholic soft drink comes in a one-liter standard pop bottle and is branded "CYNAR--flavour from Italy" and is called, simply, "Bitter". It's a *beautiful* bright red color! When I get back to Montreal I'll take a photo of it (I'm in KC as of an hour ago--got to tend my grapes and work on the garden for a few days; things are astoundingly more developed than in Montreal, where I still have nice blooming tulips in my front yard!)

Ah ha, very interesting... the Cynar-soda-pop is a new one for me. I haven't come across it around here but, insha'allah, will be headed to Italy later this year.

Happy gardening... (things have been slow and wet of late here)...

A

Now that I've read more of this thread, I must profess to having had a brain freeze.

When I first read it, my immediate thought went to bitters of the Angostura type (which is what I was thinking about when I mentioned the ginger ale, bitters, etc. recipe). My experience with Italian bitters has been limited to Campari, which I adore. But I've always considered Campari to be an entirely separate entity from Angostura bitters--the only thing the two have in common is that they sit about 6" apart from one another in my liquor cabinet.

But it does raise the question...are Angostura bitters and Italian digestif bitters generally considered to be the same thing (albeit interpretted quite differently)? Or is it more coincidence that they're both herb and alcohol-based liquids that happen to have the word "bitters" in their name?

chgoeditor wrote:But it does raise the question...are Angostura bitters and Italian digestif bitters generally considered to be the same thing (albeit interpretted quite differently)? Or is it more coincidence that they're both herb and alcohol-based liquids that happen to have the word "bitters" in their name?

Chgoeditor, I believe the short answer is that they are basically the same thing (liquor made from multiple herbs), but Angostura bitters seem much more concentrated, a flavoring rather than a beverage, and unlike the Italian bitters we've been discussing, you probably wouldn't want to drink a shot of Angostura bitters (without or without a milk chaser ).

Incidentally, adding to confusion here is that fact that British ale is also referred to as "bitters," and that's a whole 'nother thing.

Hammond

Let me add to what David says above that in Italian, there is a whole class of alcoholic beverages that are called in their plurality amari 'bitters', thus the singular amaro is a 'bitter (drink)'. They are also referred to by function: aperitivo/aperitif, digestivo/digestif.

Antonius

Technically since amaro means bitter, Cynar and Campari are amari, but neither my Cynar bottle nor the Campari (who own both the Campari and Cynar brands) bottle or website mention amaro for either beverage. I had forgotten my favorite amaro is Amaro Nonino which I first had at Vinci and have not seen at retail. Ramazzotti is much easier to find.
I'm not sure one can stretch amaro to Angusturo bitters, but I use them often not only in Manhattans and old fashioneds, but planters (and other rum) punches, and pink gin (or gin and it)-gin and bitters.
If Angusturo is an amaro, is (are?) Peychauds?

MLS, Campari may not designate itself as a bitter, but many others do:

http://www.wineglobe.com/10846.html

http://www.grandwinecellar.com/detail.aspx?ID=969

...and others.

MLS wrote:Technically since amaro means bitter, Cynar and Campari are amari, but neither my Cynar bottle nor the Campari (who own both the Campari and Cynar brands) bottle or website mention amaro for either beverage.

Perhaps for marketing reasons they don't want to use the term -- and I must say that since these two are more aperitvi than digestivi, I tend to think of them as a different sort of a thing -- but they are amari. In fact, Campari was originally sold as bitter all'ollandese : Dutch style bitter. In discussions of the genre of the amaro (as noted above by DH), one finds them included, at least sometimes, among the higher alcohol digestives.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:Perhaps for marketing reasons they don't want to use the term -- and I must say that since these two are more aperitvi than digestivi, I tend to think of them as a different sort of a thing --

A,

I, too, think of aperitivi (openers) and digestivi (closers) as different -- one you drink to stimulate appetite, the other to aid digestion -- but I'm not sure if, chemically, there is any difference between "before dinner" bitters and "after dinner" bitters. Perhaps, though these names suggest differences, there are, in the final analysis, more similarities.

Hammond

PS. I think your marketing assumption is probably correct -- "bitter" is a bad taste to some of us negli stati uniti.

DH, My question has not been about the usage of the word bitter, but about the word amaro, which prior to Antonious' post I had only thought of as an after dinner digestivo, but he is indeed technically (but I'm not sure vernacularly) correct that both Cynar and Campari are amari.
If one has ever tried them, there is no question regarding bitter.

Thanks for the clarification and further education.

I took another look at my Campari bottle and their website...MLS is correct that the word amaro/amari doesn't appear on Campari's bottle, but Campari does designate itself as a Bitter on the bottle (look at the script in the middle of the label beneath the Campari name). Interestingly, I'd always considered it to be a digestif, but now that I look at Campari's website, I see that they call it an apertif (and a bitter). I only looked on the US Campari website...maybe if you look at the Italian one you'd see them using amaro/amari. (You know, you don't want to use foreign words with us dumb Americans. )

David Hammond wrote:...but I'm not sure if, chemically, there is any difference between "before dinner" bitters and "after dinner" bitters. Perhaps, though these names suggest differences, there are, in the final analysis, more similarities.

David,

The only difference between the two groups that I perceive is the difference in the level of alcoholic content. Cynar and Campari are not nearly so strong as the typical digestives, I believe.

A

Antonius wrote:

David Hammond wrote:...but I'm not sure if, chemically, there is any difference between "before dinner" bitters and "after dinner" bitters. Perhaps, though these names suggest differences, there are, in the final analysis, more similarities.

David,

The only difference between the two groups that I perceive is the difference in the level of alcoholic content. Cynar and Campari are not nearly so strong as the typical digestives, I believe.

A

Alcohol stimulates the secretion of digestive hormones, so it would make sense that there might be more alcohol in a "typical" digestif/digestivo.

Hammond

MLS wrote:... but about the word amaro, which prior to Antonious' post I had only thought of as an after dinner digestivo, but he is indeed technically (but I'm not sure vernacularly) correct that both Cynar and Campari are amari.
If one has ever tried them, there is no question regarding bitter.

MLS,

Ecco:

"Cynar è un amaro a base di carciofo..."
http://www.yndella.com/Cynar_1_0_1678.aspx

Perhaps Campari is the odd man out here, though certainly not historically (as I said, it was originally billed as 'bitter all'ollandese' when it was first marketed in Milan in the 19th cent.).

***

Regarding strengths, I find a range from 16% to 46% with clusters around 20%, 30% and 40%. Most of the digestives I know are at the high end but there are quite a few 'amari' at the lower end.

Antonius

Back when I presented my emoticon review of Babbo, I think I neglected to mention that one of the true highlights of the meal was a relatively large postprandial glass of chef Mario's house-made amaro, which I think had walnut as its most apparent flavor.

Cynar is one of my favorites, and it's cheap. Interesting comment on the way it makes mikl taste: Cynar on vanilla ice cream is among my favorite desserts. They might even suggest it on the back of the bottle.

I'd like to work on my own "amaros," or other herbed/spiced drinks, starting with a really high quality liquor as a base. I know it's sort of presumptuous, particularly after seeing something on TV about the sheer number of ingredients and processes that go into a bottle of amaro or even vermouth.

I'm starting small. I collected vanilla beans from a course at Alinea (4 beautiful beans, used as "silverware" were going to be tossed!) and three them into a bottle of 15 yr. Barbancourt. Fantastic. And I loathe flavored rums such as Captain Morgan.

There are a number of preparations (available at wine- and beermaking stores) which can be used to make fairly decent cordials. These syrups are all from an old, respected French chemist. But if memory serves, none of them is an amaro. I searched and searched for a recipe for something like campari but was unsuccessful until I found a book entitled something vaguely like "Hundreds of secret formulas for how to make all sorts of neat stuff" and in it was what purported to be a recipe for Campari. If memory serves, angelica was one of the ingredients, and some sort of preserved citrus peel was the bittering agent.

If I ever get unpacked, I'll look for the book and let everybody know.

Sounds like an interesting project, JeffB. If you find something wonderful, well, no fair keeping it secret, right? :^)

Geo

Obviously I spoke too soon, or didn't know what I was talking about, or, what is more likely, both.

Here's what a quick search on "campari formulary" and "compari formula" determined: there's wormwood in it; the color is registered with the requisite US govt'l agencies and:

Campari is a mild bitters-type apéritif, often drunk with soda, orange juice, or in mixed drinks. The formula for Campari is a secret known only to the factory director at the main production facility in Milan. But I can tell you that Campari does contain quinine, rhubarb, ginseng, orange peels and aromatic herbs. These are combined and macerated in a blend of distilled water and alcohol for a couple of weeks

This from:

http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/print.php?p=989

Back to my vines...

Geo