Liquore Strega - inspirational for lovers and witches

While Strega is Italian for "witch," this Italian liqueur was initially marketed as a love potion back in the 1860s when it was first conceived. Supposedly, when two people drink Strega together, they are united forever. So forget the roses for that special someone - go for a bottle of Strega instead. Of course, the united forever part of the equation also has its hazards, so choose carefully with whom you share this liqueur.

For those of you not interested in drinking this as a love potion, you'll find that it's a quite pleasant sipping liqueur. It's made from about 70 different herbs and spices including cinnamon, orris root, juniper, and mint. Saffron is used to color it a light yellow. It's soft and smooth, with a nice complexity to its sweet and bitter disposition. It's meant to be drunk as a digestif over ice or simply by itself. Plus it comes in a lovely bottle with wonderfully old-fashioned labels.

There aren't a lot of cocktails that use Strega, but I did comes across this one from the 2010 Manhattan Cocktail Classic that looks like it's worth trying.

Love Potion #44
(created by Paul Zablocki)
2 oz. Rittenhouse rye
1 oz. Carpano Antica vermouth (I suspect it would work fine with Punt e Mes vermouth too, which is cheaper than Antica)
1/2 oz. Strega
Shake or stir with ice

Strega is available at a decent number of Western Washington liquor stores.

Ramazzotti Amaro

Amaro is an Italian liquor that is often drunk as a digestive since it contains herbs such as gentian and cinchona purported to aid digestion. Ramazzotti was developed in 1815 in Milan and is made from 33 herbs and roots. It's a pleasantly bitter liqueur, with notes of coffee, root beer and a hint of sweetness in the finish.

In Italy, it's traditionally drunk neat or on ice, though Americans are probably more likely to encounter amaro in an upscale cocktail since the digestive hasn't really caught on (as this article on digestives notes http://www.scordo.com/2009/11/before-and-after-drinks-italian-amari-aperitif-cocktail.html).

You can find Ramazzotti or Averna (another good brand) at a number of Seattle liquor stores, but not at a lot of stores outside of Seattle. It costs around $30. I can't vouch for any soothing effect it might have on the digestion, but it's tasty enough to pick up a bottle if you can find it.

Here's a decent cocktail recipe adapted from the book Left Coast Libations that uses Ramazzotti:

Foreigner
Strega
2 oz. rye
1/2 oz. Ramazzotti amaro
2 dashes orange bitters
2 dashes peach bitters (I didn't have the peach, so just doubled up the orange)

Rinse a cocktail glass with Strega
Stir or shake the other ingredients with ice and strain into the Strega-rinsed cocktail glass.

Update - Sept. 2011: I just tried another cocktail recipe which is even better than the one listed above. It's adapted from the 2009 Food & Wine Cocktails book and is really tasty.

Bywater Cocktail
1 3/4 oz aged rum
3/4 oz green Chartreuse
1/2 oz amaro
1/4 oz Velvet Falernum

Shake with ice and serve.