Welcome back to Drink What You Desire, the monthly column where we explore the art and science of mixing drinks via the lens of innate human desires. Last month we celebrated Halloween and our desire for fun and social contact. This month, in honor of Thanksgiving, we’re enabling our desire for sustenance with a drink setup that eschews the traditional Thanksgiving cocktail recipe in favor of a flexible, stomach-settling DIY amaro spritz station.
Despite my objection to the whitewashed fairy tale many of us were told in grade school about the origin of Thanksgiving, I do find a strong case to be made for a secular holiday centered around gratitude and abundance. There is also something about Thanksgiving that feels more diverse and personalized than other holidays. As such, the holiday deserves a unique Thanksgiving cocktail selection.
There’s a huge variety of food served at Thanksgiving and this means that there should be an equal number of drinking options. Beverage pairings can be tricky, however, since turkey kind of goes with everything and the wide array of side dishes—from creamy mashed potatoes and sweet-and-sour cranberry sauce to bitter greens—makes it tough to find one (or two) drinks that pair well across the board. Not to mention Thanksgiving often sees an abundance of guests, each with their own proclivities and preferences. So, you can understand how things can get convoluted pretty quickly.
Photo: cottonbro studio via Pexels
Going Beyond Red and White Wine as a Thanksgiving Cocktail
I won’t pretend to be enough of an expert about wine to give out recommendations for what to drink when you’re eating—my tendency is just to find a decent red and white wine and call it a day.
What I would like to offer some expertise in is what Thanksgiving cocktail to drink after the meal.
Whether or not you start eating at 2pm or at a more normal dinner time, the last thing anyone wants to do after dinner is mix cocktails. With that in mind, this month’s column is all about how to set up a serve-yourself station that provides a customizable postprandial tour through the world of bitter liqueurs, otherwise known as amaro.
What Does Amaro Mean?
Amaro means bitter in Italian and reflects the fact that many of the most popular products in the category originate here. It’s a diverse category for sure, but generally speaking, amaros are made from a base of a neutral spirit (sometimes wine) to which a cornucopia of botanical ingredients are added. There is no legal definition of the category and you can find amaros that are overall light and more refreshing to richly concentrated ones that are a perfect way to cap a big meal.
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46141218/header.0.0.jpeg)
A Guide to Amaro via Eater
What Are Amaros Made Of?
Most producers keep their recipes secret but ingredients such as quinine, gentian, artichoke leaves, mint, rhubarb, cinnamon, and clove are some of the many in the amaro creator’s toolkit.
To set up a DIY Thanksgiving cocktail amaro spritz station, you’ll need a selection of amaros that tend towards the more intense “digestive” style, a selection of bubbly liquids, some ice, and glassware. Once you have everything laid out, invite your guests to build their own spritzes by pouring a splash of bubbles in their glass, adding a bit of amaro, and then topping up with more bubbles. Or, they can just drink the amaro neat if that’s more their speed.
Amaro Suggestions:
This is one of the first amaros I remember tasting and I find it to be a great entry-level selection. It’s got a relatively low ABV of 16.5% and is in the mid-range of bitterness. The flavor comes primarily from artichoke leaves but the recipe includes 12 more undisclosed ingredients.
Produced by Brooklyn-based distillers Forthave Spirits, this amaro features cinnamon, eucalyptus, mint, and honey and is a great example of delicious non-Italian expressions of the category.
Made from a grape distillate base and with a higher-than-typical ABV of 35%, this amaro is both lighter and more intense than many of its counterparts. It’s also significantly less sweet than its siblings with prominent citrus notes.
This amaro is legendary among bartenders, with a shot of the stuff seen as a “bartender’s handshake.” It’s intensely bitter with notes of chamomile, myrrh, rhubarb, galangal, and mint.
It’s always good to include an alcohol-free option as even those who drink alcohol might want to opt for something without it at the end of a long day of eating and drinking. This stuff is in a category of its own and does not seek to replicate an amaro style, but it fits right in among other digestive-style beverages. As the name suggests it has a ginger kick while also featuring dandelion, gentian, and lemon balm.
Bubble Suggestions:
Sparkling Water
Feel free to go with your favorite: seltzer from a can, sparkling mineral water, or homemade.
Sparkling Wine
Cava, Prosecco, or even Champagne can offer a nice hit of complexity and texture to a spritz and there are also plenty of non-alcoholic options to keep things restrained.
Other Possibilities Include
Tonic water, ginger beer, and even cola or root beer.
