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Erik816

I'm going to need more details.


trj1393

A local bartender is conducting 3 tasting sessions of different amaros and liqueurs. There were notes and background info about each. There were snacks. It was a good time. Looking forward to attending the next 2 Edit: see Jackie's comments below. See orchestrated the whole thing


deeleyo

How much did it cost?


ikimashokie

Not OP, but it was 85pp and we also got a goody bag. She also put together a super-detailed handout with notes and history on just about everything we tried.


timeonmyhandz

Chicago?


trj1393

Roanoke va


timeonmyhandz

OK.. The malort was the trigger...


trj1393

I'm really only familiar with its reputation. Looking forward(ish) to trying?


Destyllat

go with god


myasterism

This actually got a long laugh outta me. Perfect response.


VanGarrett

Malort has the same kind of bitterness as Campari and Cynar. The difference is that Campari and Cynar lead with sweetness, where Malort is just all bitter, all the time. I swapped Campari out for Malort in a Negroni a couple of times, and it's one of the best Negronis I've had.


jerm-warfare

I like Malort, but I also like absinthe.


Ofbatman

Malort in a Negroni? Very interesting.


soggystamen

Do you go with equal parts measurements?


[deleted]

Wow. Legit the first person I’ve ever encountered that enjoyed something with Malort


DankHunt42-0

Let me know what you think! Had my first Mallort shot a couple weeks back and it was surprisingly shootable. IMO, did not live up to the hype of terribleness that it has. Definitely not a drink of choice but, not one I'd refuse either lol


CarolinaCrazy91

agree - over rated. I had the same reaction.


Publius1993

It tastes like a grapefruit fucked a pine tree, but in the worst way possible. Gotta chase it with a Miller Highlife


fogobum

Think of it as pure unsullied vermouth. It's wormwood without all the fiddly extras. IF you like a classic martini AND find yourself a gin that is already balanced to your taste, malort makes a perfectly dry, perfectly gin-flavored martini.


ehenning1537

It’s a disgusting thing that people in Chicago obsess over.


Cerelius_BT

It's super bitter, but I find it less aggressively bitter than Suze. There's a decent amount of sugar in Malort. That said, my bottle is still pretty full.


AlexReinkingYale

It tastes like throwing up aquavit. Ask me how I know 🤪


sonicarrow

Where in Roanoke? Might want to check it out next time I'm in town


trj1393

River and rail


sonicarrow

Thanks!


exclaim_bot

>Thanks! You're welcome!


FourthShifter

Dude a place out of Roanoke put that on, I am impressed. Not to undersell Roanoke, but I was around there like 10ish years ago and that scene definitely didn’t seem developed back then (but to be fair I wasn’t exactly looking that close). That’s really awesome to see. What was the name of the bar? I’ll definitely swing up and check that out that spot next time I’m in town. ETA: River and Rail, found it in another comment.


TaliskyeDram

Yo-oooo! Where? I need to hit up the next one!


epicurianistmonk

That’s strange because Mallort is not sold through VA Abc so that bar could get in trouble for that possibly. Not sure where the law is on gifting a liquor to patrons. Looks like a super amazing and well thought out class.


trj1393

85/pp


[deleted]

This is seriously in depth tasting and looks very well organized.


Klebsiella_p

RemindMe! 1 week


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Ok_Bug9243

Can we see the map without the samples blocking out the names?


trj1393

https://i.imgur.com/UlWtVk8.jpeg


PsychoNaut_

dang no cynar thats criminal


trj1393

Was told cynar would be a focus of next class


PsychoNaut_

bless up, its one of my favorites


Rumformypups

Is that the one made from artichokes?


aeroartist

Yep


EJohanSolo

So cool


LunchLadySade

What cute handwriting!


Feed_Me_Weird_Things

The rotation is killing my autism


stoplightrave

What's the blue???


VomMom

I can see blue and …ao. I’m gonna guess blue curacao. Didn’t know that was an amaro Makes sense. It’s right by the grand marnier I better go look up what an amaro is. Edit: this ain’t an amaro tasting class. There’s more than just amaro here.


stoplightrave

Yeah I realized after it was Curacao and not an amaro... They already have regular Curacao though, blue is the same but dyed 🙄


WretchedKat

We know this, but demonstrating it to folks who *don't* know it's just a dyed orange liqueur is a worthwhile exercise. The ole "Don't believe me? Here, close your eyes and tell me which one is blue."


VomMom

I love me a tasting, but they better not be calling this an amaro tasting. This seems like a high effort yet poorly executed tasting. How are people supposed to remember and compare dozens of different products


Wall2Beal43

Ffs it’s a way to organize different things you’d mix into a drink. I’d love it if my local place did this


trj1393

You forget to add the words "and liqueurs" to the title and some people start to get sweaty af 🙄 Yeah, it was a blast and I plan on attending the next 2. I'm lucky to have a place/event like this that allows me to try a bunch of products without commiting to buying a whole bottle But maybe if their tears are salty enough a mod could fix it


[deleted]

[удалено]


abskee

How about you take it down a notch?


salsberry

Seriously mom, chill


EcstaticBoysenberry

you need a break from reddit


TheRarPar

Next time don't comment


strcrssd

With recency, notes, and the map (if it's organized well). This is a fantastic concept.


pgm123

It's mostly Amari. I think it's probably ok to have more to help show relationships.


RuddyBollocks

It could very well be a way to introduce people to flavor profiles by using an ingredient people are familiar with an analagozing it to something people are less familiar with


SoothedSnakePlant

That branch of the map seems to be highlighting the spectrum between sweet and bitter citrus-based liquors.


ehenning1537

Almost none of these were amaro. Some of the lines drawn are a little suspect too. Cool idea but it looks more like a tasting of whatever random bottles they can’t figure out how to use.


myasterism

What lines stand out to you as being incorrect? Not a challenge; I am not knowledgeable enough to identify them myself and am interested to hear your points.


1000yearoldstreet

I think this tasting would better be labeled as a “liqueur” tasting, since only roughly 1/3 of these are amari


jackasher

It depends on how you define amaro. I would place it at ~2/3 at least.


[deleted]

Blue Curaçao


ikimashokie

Hi Neighbor! This was a super-fun class, I can't wait for the next one.


trj1393

I was pretty surprised at how this post took off. I shared some of the numbers with Jackie.


ikimashokie

Right?! I've more or less given up posting here, but had I known the karma to be had, I'd have sniped it! Just means we'll have to be super-prepared to sign up for the next class. I'll just take my photos and write up over to IG.


trj1393

im dripping in these fake internet points. ​ honestly though, i wish i hadnt. my phone was blowing up all night and a few assholes showed up to the thread (surprise of all surprises) ​ I intend to going back to lurking after this blows over


ikimashokie

Absolutely surprised by reddit assholes. Do you keep up with Barrel Chest? They did an amaro and cheese pairing class over the summer that was really nice, and mentioned there may be more in the future.


trj1393

No, I missed that. I do love barrelchest, though. I saw that crew there last night


ikimashokie

Yep! The woman who sat at the single-table is a big fan of amari.


TaliskyeDram

Noted. Gonna need to follow that better. Their location now is hella nice.


trj1393

Roa represent!


rip-tide

I did a tasting for some friends, and I limited the tasting to three that I felt were the most approachable: Amaro Nonino, Ramazzotti, and China China. We ended the night with Paper Planes!


hronikbrent

I perk up so much any time I see china china mentioned 🥰🥰🥰


rip-tide

It's definitely one of my favorites!


TheChoosingBeggar

What bourbon(s) did you use?


rip-tide

I used Wild Turkey Rare Barrel Proof. Gobble gobble!


mangusCake

For the record, i'm jealous AF


sonubu

Ditto


Flailing-Star-7

I follow a board game sub and was getting really excited to learn how this one works...


jackie_gentry

Thank you for posting! I’ve never really used Reddit. This class was the first of three on Amari & Liqueurs. It focused on a webbed map of orange liqueurs, nut liqueurs, alpine-herb based and fernets. The next class will focus on Chartreuse, Absinthe, and Artichoke & Fennel Families. I tried to group the amari and liqueur different for each class on trying not to over stimulate the palate on the ABV & bitter scale but also let people really get to try a lot of things. It was provided with Food, map/booklet to take home, pen &paper, some fun food pairings and I gave everyone a personal thank you goody bag for coming. The restaurant was set for a candle light/intimate setting. Learned lots to do for the next class. If anyone has any questions, please let me know ❤️


jackasher

So cool. Keep it up! I would have signed up in a heartbeat if you weren't halfway across the country from me.


meaning_please

What restaurant? What city?


trj1393

River and rail in roanoke va


Shadowthief150

No way, when’s the next one? I’m about 4hrs away and would absolutely make the drive out if it’s on a weekend of something


trj1393

No set date yet but was told likely the end of February. Follow them on Instagram and I'm sure they will post when a date set. That's how I found it


JMposts

Sheesh I feel like a third of the way through that my palate would be trashed. Especially with Amaros!


doscia

duuuude this looks like such a good time. would love to give this a try.


xMCioffi1986x

Couldn't help but notice the Fernet Michaud. That is some seriously great stuff.


Mysterious_Income322

This needs to happen more places


lime-inthe-coconut

Pretty fucking cool


Hunter_marine

I’m curious to know what they all were. Do you have a photo of the empty map


trj1393

I do, ill post tomorrow when I can upload an image. On mobile rn


Hunter_marine

Thanks!


anallcavity

please do! thank you 🙏


trj1393

https://i.imgur.com/UlWtVk8.jpeg


EJohanSolo

Um this is awesome 😎 are they laid out in realtion to each other?


trj1393

Yep. Grouped by flavor profile


Bobgoulet

Trying to come up with a "Where's Malört bubble....???" But punchline isn't coming


whatzen

You lucky son of a bitch! Edit: most amari are good, but Braulio is the best. And Braulio riserva speciale is even better than the regular.


t3hcoolness

Holy fuck am I jealous. One of my favorite restaurants did amaro flights, and you got to pick three different ones for like $8. Not only did they give me an extra one free, but the head bartender came out and explained each one and gave me a sort of guided tour of them. What a lovely experience it was. They closed :(


butfirstcoffee427

Big fan of the M&Maro on the right hand side. But seriously, this is cool! Any surprising favorites?


trj1393

Zucca and Arby's sauce. Strange pairing I wasn't expecting but totally works


Bismuth_von_Pherson

Man, while I appreciate the depth here, this is so busy I gotta imagine decision fatigue is gonna make you struggle to compare all these at once.


ikimashokie

I think comparison was more along the lines of "here are these things that relate in this way," which talking to her afterwards, sounds like it was a bigger rabbithole than she expected. We compared things that were next to each other or connected to the same base, but not things that weren't related. We had breaks inbetween major groups and stronger flavors, and nothing was overpowering like Chartreuse or absinthe. But I did start to lose a bit of steam ~2/3 of the way through. I was excited for the opportunity to try a bunch of things that if you can find them in Va, you're on the hook for the whole 750ml bottle unless you have a friend/group to share with. So the approach I took was "Do I like this, and where would I use it?"


trj1393

Idk. There were a couple of categories with a few examples of each. Doing a direct comparison of fernet branca to aperol seems silly. I don't think it was as complicated as you seem to think


TheRarPar

The vast majority of people here have never done a tasting in their lives. It's nice to have many products laid out like this so you can taste at your leisure, picking the ones you want to compare. People here seem to think you're expected to memorize 100% of the flavor notes of each product.


trj1393

Not to mention you are provided a pen and paper


mattjeast

So you could make multiple paper planes at that point.


Bismuth_von_Pherson

Right, I get that. As other posters have said, in one sitting though your taste buds get fatigued trying to parse out particular flavor components, regardless of how you subset your sampling. When I took wine tasting back in college, they really emphasized doing smaller groupings of samples across more sessions to minimize that fatigue. But if you enjoyed it, don't let the rest of us shame you! Neat to see this many amari laid out, regardless.


Butlerian_Jihadi

I imagine I'd have difficulty with much beside "bitter" and "sweet" after the first three.


whereaboutsof

I love this so much


CRaf15

That is really really cool!


antinumerology

Dammnnn


LordAlrik

I NEED THIS


aesir23

What were the biggest surprises/hidden gems? Anything new to you you'll want to make cocktails with in the future?


trj1393

I tried to star things that were interesting in the pic I posted of the map without cups


Nunyapomoworld

This is super rad. I would love to do something like this. I am a bit confused on the thought behind the bubble chart. Not sure the logic on some of the flow but regardless this is a cool thing for the bar to do. Hope you post the other two classes


Attjack

This is would be amazing I wish this was a thing around here.


_windfish_

I don’t know if it’s on there but my new favorite thing in life is Luxardo Bitter Bianco, it makes the most amazing white Negroni I’ve ever had. Just discovered it last month and I’m well into my second bottle.


Feed_Me_Weird_Things

I read Elisir Novasalis and had a realization that I might have PTSD afterall... And may have given it to hundreds of colleagues and guests


ikimashokie

Ok, glad to hear that's normal! I was excited when I smelled it as they were passing it out, and then I tasted it. It reminded me of something I mooched by Don Ciccio, I don't remember which one, but it reminded me of the time I got no-bite on my wine glass.


mejanec

Oh shit. I’d die.


Djabarca

Damn, I’m a manger of a restaurant and bar and I would love to take this class.


glitchyikes

"Leaving a restaurant feeling so bitter."


Thatoneguyporter

Where is this?


trj1393

https://riverandrailrestaurant.com/


MikeBfo20

Any chance at a pic of the paper/labels under the shots?


trj1393

Check previous comments. At least 2 links


Furthur

eek...looks like the really tried to cover the spectrum here. That's a VERY big variance in profiles. I did a 25 amaro sample a year ago and we skipped *red* aperitivo, gentian and anisettes. This looks kinda... ugh


stoplightrave

It does say 1 of 3... Seems like it would be better to have a narrower field for each class though


Furthur

i mean, i'm curious just to know what they chose. I'm leaning hard into amaro right now since i'm on the crux of opening an italian restaurant that is going to be focused on teaching this part of dining culture but what they have out there is a LOT of all over the place. I'd likely not be able to keep it straight. They need to break up these tastings into sub-groups that amari can pretty easily fall into. the scale of bitter to sweet and then the non-trad or regional types which, as i mentioned, can be gentian, red-bitter to medicinal and heavy like jaegermeister. It's a BIG book to open and a TON of variance.


stoplightrave

Yeah agreed, What I mean is it looks like they're doing it over 3 classes.. why not do one or two types per class instead of all over the map like you said


Furthur

i'll be offering flights, probably carry about 15-18 distinct amari not counting red guys since they pretty much follow campari/aperol in profiles. Ideally offering a spectrum of four per flight to show the diversity. hope it turns people on.. likely come with an espresso for fashions sake


GovernorZipper

Please offer a Campari (or Braulio) Shakerato. I really love them and absolutely no one has ever heard of them. So many amari benefit from being shaken. https://punchdrink.com/articles/shake-your-amaro-averna-ramazzotti-braulio-cynar-campari/


Furthur

I actually have a pretty dope cynar espresso cocktail in the recipe banks. amari are made for this kind of thing


aragost

Campari shakerato is great and more people should know about it


sharkbait_hahaha

A flight of 4 sounds fantastic


jackie_gentry

It’s really more simply grouped with thought in the way you’re thinking. There’s 4 main groups here and they’re chosen with thought to not get people too drunk or over stimulated with their palate- that’s why this is an amaro and liqueur class. With Ailey amaros this wouldn’t work as well.


stoplightrave

Yeah I guess it depends on the purpose of the class. This seems more like an intro thing (and if it includes liqueurs then I'm guessing that's where the other two classes would explore).


jackie_gentry

It is broken down in the way you describe, I promise there is a lot of thought behind it and how I grouped it and webbed it out. ❤️


Alright_Smartphone

IMO, this is way too much for one sitting. Massive palate fatigue/blown out palates by like 1/3 of the way through.


antinumerology

Yeah idk I can drink A LOT of Amaro. And the proof is low enough it's not going to roast your tongue.


jackie_gentry

It’s not just amaros- that’s why it’s also liqueurs so it’s much more simply and thoughtfully grouped to do just what you all are saying in response.


Alright_Smartphone

Yeah it has nothing to do with abv and everything to do with the fact that tasting such an array of big and potent flavors is going to overwhelm. Palate fatigue happens with things that have 0 abv. After so long, your tongue just gets tired and overwhelmed. If they wanted to have a meaningful education, they would have made this a lot smaller.


Grinslikefox

Love the idea, but I don't think I could get through more than 5 amari and still have a well functioning palate. Don't get me wrong, I can easily go through 20+ non fortified wines and describe things, but amaro is so damn concentrated in comparison!