Asterley Bros’ Dispense Amaro

Drink trends seem to wax and wane, one week something is the ‘in’ spirit, the next it’s another. When we went to try this one though, our interest was piqued – we are pretty familiar with most of your more unusual cocktail ingredients but Amaro is a rare breed. What’s more, creating it in London was virtually unheard of.

Working from a Sicilian family recipe, the Asterley brothers decided to put a distinctive London twist on the traditional Italian digestif. Taking the traditional botanicals – 24 of them in this case – and their signature British vermouth, distilled from Kentish pinot noir, they played with the recipe until they had a very unique blend that works wonderfully as a digestif, unusually also as an aperitivo, and more stunning still, as the key part of the cocktails we enjoyed thanks to London’s Merchant House bartenders.

Key flavours begin with a rich citrus mix of orange and grapefruit, before developing a more heady cardamom and clove spiced tone, with herby fennel and rosemary emerging. Served beautifully with Tonic water and a grapefruit peel as a light refreshment, it makes an unusual addition to a G&T, but take it a little further with some of these cocktails for something really special. Our favourite was the Bright Young Things, but it’s worth exploring the whole range to see what the Asterley Bros really have in store for you.

Cheers!

Amaro Buck

Ingredients

50ml Dispense Amaro

Fentiman’s Ginger Ale

Method

Add the Dispense Amaro to an ice filled glass

Top with ginger ale and garnish with an orange slice

First, Messina

Ingredients

20ml Dispense Amaro

20ml Beefeater Gin

20ml Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

1 Dash Orange Bitters

Method

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

Garnish with a strip of lemon zest

Bright Young Things

Ingredients

25ml Dispense Amaro

5ml British Cassis

Gusbourne Brut Reserve Sparkling Wine

White Sugar Cube

Method

Soak the sugar cube in British Cassis and place in a chilled coupe glass

Pour over the Dispense Amaro and topped with chilled Gusbourne Brut Reserve

Mezcal Bijou

Ingredients

20ml Dispense Amaro

20ml Mezcal

20ml Yellow Chartreuse

Method

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

Matriarch

Ingredients

25ml Dispense Amaro

25ml Speyside Whisky

5ml Amer Picon

5ml Luxardo Maraschino

Method

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

Garnish with a Maraschino cherry