Bring Amaro Instead of Wine for Your Next Dinner
If someone takes the time to open their house and feed you, a polite adult solution is to bring a gift. Anyone can grab an average-priced bottle of wine with a beautiful label, but interesting, thoughtful guests bring amaro .
If you are not familiar with Amaro , you should check it out immediately. The category is broad (and somewhat difficult), but refers to Italian herbal liqueurs, which range from syrupy and bittersweet to dry and crisp. Their strength also varies greatly and falls from 16% to 40%.
So while they can be difficult to narrowly define, they are a lot of fun to drink and talk to, and bringing a bottle of amaro instead of wine has many benefits:
- This will serve your host longer. Even if your host chooses to share, the amaro bottle will be much smaller than the wine, which means you can enjoy your gift for much longer.
- This is the beginning of a conversation. If you like wine bottles, check out the amari labels. They tend to be more florid and, in the case of Cynar, have your guests asking questions like “Wait. Is that an artichoke ? “
- Calms the stomach. Cooking bittersweet amari really soothes a full and restless tummy. It’s like medicine, only more fun.
- It’s not that expensive. A bottle of amaro usually costs between $ 20 and $ 40, depending on where you live, which is the minimum price for a good bottle of wine.
- It makes you seem very sophisticated. If you really don’t know your wine, bringing a bottle might seem like a bit of a last minute. However, after drinking a bottle of amaro , you look super cool and worldly.
If you’re unsure of where to start, try the bittersweet Campari, the woody-herbaceous Cynar, or the complex and spicy Bigallet China-China. If you’re worried about overdoing it with bitterness, it’s best to start with a lighter and sweeter nonino, or you can simply lean over to the abrasive and present a bottle of Fernet Branca. Also, don’t be afraid to visit the locals. Many small-scale American distilleries come into play with Amaro with Campari copy cats and their own versions of the fernet. (Nothing replaces real Campari for me, but I’m always ready to try.)