These Californian distillers are taking amaro to new heights

Craft distilling has become something of a tradition in the United States. From honey-based vodkas to barrel-aged gins, American craft spirit aficionados are constantly reinventing the wheel.

One trend in craft spirits has unfolded in California: amaro. Distillers have taken the traditional Italian herbal liqueur into their own hands, creating new expressions of the spirit that reflect the state’s unique terroir.

San Francisco

Fernet Francisco

Fernet is a more bitter amaro, with a minty, herbaceous flavor associated with the Milan-born Fernet-Branca.

“San Francisco is the biggest fernet market in the United States,” says Ben Flajnik, co-founder of Fernet Francisco, California’s answer to Branca.

Flajnik teamed up with his friend Max Rudsten to create a new, more approachable, fernet using ingredients that represented their city.

Executed by master distiller Farid Dormishian, the result is a blend of handpicked herbs and botanicals – rhubarb as the backbone, with touches of spearmint, peppermint, orange peel, chamomile and bay leaf.

Los Angeles

Amaro Angeleno

Amaro Angeleno is a newer addition to the amaro market. Its co-founder, Stephen Sakulsky, has deep roots in the state and a passion for all things Italian.

“My family has been in Los Angeles since the early 1900s so I wanted make a true Southern Californian amaro,” he says. “It’s heavy on the citrus because Orange County, Los Angeles and Ventura County were all citrus orchards at one point.”

The ingredients used to make the “Caliamaro” are either native to or grown in Southern California, and its quaffable flavor profile works well with the region’s never-ending sunshine. “It pairs really well with tonic water and a twist,” Sakulsky says.

Santa Barbara

Margermum Amaro

When Michael Miroballi took a job at Margerum Wines in 2009, the Santa Barbara winery had but a half-barrel of amaro aging, which would be packaged into five cases a year later.

“The first batch was a trial, then we really got into it,” says Miroballi, now Margerum’s winemaker. The winery now puts out a couple of hundred cases of amaro annually.

Besides wine from Margerum, the amaro calls for 40 different herbs, barks and spices.

“We have things in there like red oak bark from the Santa Ynez Valley,” Miroballi says. “We also use nice rustic flavors and aromatics like cherry bark and garden herbs like thyme and sage.”