Summer Amaro Recipe

Here is a recipe out of one of my new favorite books - Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas

Summer Amaro - Ingredients - makes 28 ounces

1 tablespoon chopped dried orange peel
1 teaspoon anise seeds
1 teaspoon grains of paradise
2 tablespoons cinchona bark
half cup dried cherries
zest of two oranges
zest of two lemons
six fresh sage leaves
six fresh basil leaves
3 cups high proof vodka
half cups simple syrup



Using a mortar and pestle, lightly break up the dried orange peel, anise seeds, grains of paradise and cinchona bark. Place all of the ingredients except the vodka and simple syrup in a quart sized glass container with a lid. Pour in the vodka adding more if necessary so that all the ingredients are covered. Seal the jar and shake it. Store room temperature out of direct sunlight for three weeks, on occasion

After three weeks, strain through fine mesh strainer to remove the solids, then strain the liquid through a damp cheesecloth lined funnel.

Add the simple syrup to the jar and stir to incorporate than cover and shake to fully dissolve the syrup. Store room temperature out of direct sunlight for at least two weeks shaking on occasion. Taste to see if the Amaro is to your liking, if it’s too strong you can add more syrup or filtered water.

Once done use a damp cheesecloth lined funnel, decant the mixture.

This is a not too sweet and not too intense Amaro, great on the rocks, or in any cocktail that uses Fernet.  Here is one of my fav’s:

Ingredients
    2 ounces rye whiskey
    1/4 ounce Summer Amaro
    1/4 ounce simple syrup
    2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine rye, Summer Amaro, simple syrup, and bitters in a mixing glass and fill with cracked ice. Stir for 20 seconds and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze a piece of orange peel over the drink and use as garnish.

Copperworks American Single Malt Whiskey Review

Copperworks American Single Malt Whiskey Review

Vital Stats: 106 proof, distilled from 100% barley and aged 30 months in 7 casks of new American Oak barrels. $59.89/750ml

Release 002
Production details: This release 100% two-row, pale malted barley, with 50% Great Western Malting’s WA Select Pale Malt and 50% being Great Western Malting’s Northwest Select Pale Malt.

Release 006

Production details: Five Malt recipe (75% pale malt and 25% caramel malts). The release combines seven barrels of Copperworks whiskey matured in new American Oak with a half cask of whiskey matured in a used Oloroso Sherry cask.

Release 011
Production details: Release 011 of Copperworks American Single Malt Whiskey 100% malted barley. It combines whiskeys made from two different recipes: five barrels made from our Pale Malt recipe and matured for 32 months in full-size, charred new American Oak barrels, and half of a barrel made from our Five Malt recipes and matured for 33 months in a barrel which previously contained Oloroso Sherry.

Nose: light roasted smoky cocoa beans, cinnamon, caraway
Taste: hints of nutmeg, burnt butterscotch, coffee, graham cracker with a touch of black pepper
Finish: long finish, dry malty, burnt sugar sweetness hints of clove and rosemary

Each release of Copperworks Malt Whiskey is different, so the big number on the bottom label is really important to get all the technical details of each release. Every product Copperworks makes, including the whiskey, begins as a beer with no hops. This batch was aged 30 months in 7 casks of new American Oak barrels.

Overall: 

This whiskey is one of the many new single malt whiskeys being produced here in the Pacific Northwest and aged in new American Oak barrels. The new barrels make for a rich, bold flavored whiskey even at just 30 months the barrel.  Of the 30+ American Single Malt Whiskies, I have personally tried this is one of my favorites. At 106 proof some may find this runs a little hot so I would also recommend adding an ice cube or a few drops of water.