Leave it to the esoteric, funky cocktail gurus at Bar Ferd’nand in Seattle to have a bottle of this beautiful Amaro on their bar shelves. The Amaro Sibilla is another reason to love Varnelli, one of Italy’s top Amaro and Liquori producers. When Heather, Bar Ferd’nand’s resident cocktail goddess, had me taste the Amaro Sibilla I was surprised by the depth of flavor lent by the honey. This product has an almost-caramelized beeswax finish that gives way to a range of delicious, mouthwatering bitter notes.
Amaro Sibilla is a special concoction of local herbs and roots, masticated and heated over a wood fire, then sweetened with the honey produced in the Marche’s Sibillini Mountains. Varnelli’s website suggests the amaro be consumed neat to aid digestion, or as a hot toddy, with a piece of lemon peel. On a more seasonally- appropriate note, this amaro would also be delcious mixed with soda water, or shaken with white vermouth and touch of lemon.
The best part is, unlike a lot of Italy’s great amari, you can find this in the US! What a fantastic way to end a hot weather BBQ… sipping a little Amaro Sibilla under the summer sunset…
There’s only one cocktail I ever truly crave- a Negroni. A perfect blend of equal parts sweet vermouth, Campari and gin. Recently I had a variation on this classic at Seattle’s Bar Ferd’nand that has become my new favorite iteration. Replace the Campari with Cardamaro, a bitter-sweet amaro tinted with citrusy undertones and a lovely fennel finish- and you get a Cardagroni. The boys at Bar Ferd’nand really know how to improve on a good thing.
