Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs, with Cocktails, Recipes, andFormulas - Hardcover

Parsons, Brad Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1607747480 ISBN 13: 9781607747482

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, 2016

Synopsis

Featuring more than 100 recipes, Amaro is the first book to demystify the ever-expanding, bittersweet world, and is a must-have for any home cocktail enthusiast or industry professional.

The European tradition of making bittersweet liqueurs--called amari in Italian--has been around for centuries. But it is only recently that these herbaceous digestifs have moved from the dusty back bar to center stage in the United States, and become a key ingredient on cocktail lists in the country’s best bars and restaurants. Lucky for us, today there is a dizzying range of amaro available—from familiar favorites like Averna and Fernet-Branca, to the growing category of regional, American-made amaro.

Starting with a rip-roaring tour of bars, cafés, and distilleries in Italy, amaro’s spiritual home, Brad Thomas Parsons—author of the James Beard and IACP Award–winner Bitters—will open your eyes to the rich history and vibrant culture of amaro today. With more than 100 recipes for amaro-centric cocktails, DIY amaro, and even amaro-spiked desserts, you’ll be living (and drinking) la dolce vita.

About this title

About the Author

Brad Thomas Parsons is the author of Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs and Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, which was the winner of the James Beard and IACP Cookbook Awards, and a finalist for the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. Parsons received an MFA in writing from Columbia University, and his work has appeared in Bon Appétit, Lucky Peach, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Punch, and more. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit www.btparsons.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

NEGRONI SBAGLIATO

Milan’s venerable Bar Basso opened in 1947, and in 1967, Mirko Stocchetto, a bartender from Venice, took over the bar and started adding cocktails to the menu to compete with the city’s larger hotels and cafés. His son Maurizio Stocchetto now runs Bar Basso and you’ll still find a menu of “Classic Cocktails from the Old School” behind the bar, including the White Russian, brandy Alexander, Grasshopper, and Gibson, but the Italian cocktail made famous at Basso is the Negroni Sbagliato.

Sbagliato means “messed up” or “bungled” in Italian, and as the younger Stocchetto tells it, one night in the late 1960s or early 1970s a bartender had accidentally swapped the gin with a bottle of spumante. When his father was making a customer’s Negroni he reached for the spot on the bar where the gin was always kept but instead added the dry sparkling wine to the mix of Campari and vermouth. “The customer said, ‘Let’s try it.’ And he didn’t complain.”

When I asked Stocchetto how many Negroni Sbagliatos he served each day, he just sighed and said “too many.” They normally serve it in a comically large hand-blown stemmed glass, the kind of fishbowl-sized vessel you’re more likely to encounter at a bachelorette party spilling out onto Bourbon Street, but when I ordered one he insisted on making mine in the standard rocks glass. He reminisced about hanging out at the bar as a boy, but he really lit up telling me about his time living in San Francisco in his twenties. His love of the Beats, jazz, and the NHL play-offs remains strong, but he’s particularly entertained by the American fast-food advertisements shown during his beloved hockey games. Taking a pause from serving a customer a supersized Sbagliato, he looked at me and smiled in wonder, “At Subway, they’ll put guacamole on anything you want!”

MAKES 1 DRINK
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Prosecco or sparkling wine
Garnish: orange slice or orange zest 

Build the Campari, vermouth, and Prosecco in an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Stir and garnish with the orange slice or orange zest.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1607747480
• ISBN 13: 9781607747482
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280