Homemade Amaro
June 26, 2019

For my first attempt, I wanted to make 3 different types for an upcoming trip. I settled on something herbal, something inspired by root beer, and something with chipotle. I am going to walk you through the process, but not put specific recipes. I want to stress that there are only a few things you need to worry about getting right, and the rest can be a really fun game of trial and error to find the right mix of flavors for you!








For all three of these I used pint sized ball jars and started with a tablespoon each of wormwood and gentian root. After adding all the rest of the ingredients I filled the jars with grain alcohol. I let them soak for a month, then strained them and ended up with a cup and a half of liquid. I made a simple syrup for each with about a cup of various kinds of sugar, and 3 cups of water and mixed it together until I got the desired flavor.
To the herbal one I added dried elderflower, and hyssop, fresh mint, rosemary, and basil, lemon and orange peel. After it sat in the grain alcohol for 4 weeks, I finished this one with just sugar and water.
To the root beer one I added birch bark, sarsaparilla, dried cherries, vanilla, ginger, and orange peel, and after the soak I finished it with burnt caramel and water.
To the chipotle one I added one chipotle pepper with the seeds removed, lemongrass, coriander, cinnamon, lime and lemon peel, and cilantro stems. After the soak I finished this one with water and honey.