Amaro Montenegro
An Italian amaro (bitter herbal liqueur) with a balanced, slightly sweet, citrus-herbal flavor. It's made in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region at 23% alcohol, typically in a 750 mL bottle.
Origin
Bologna, Italy, first produced in 1885 by Stanislao Cobianchi and renamed in 1896 in honor of Princess Elena of Montenegro.
History
Stanislao Cobianchi, who fled a religious education planned by his father, traveled the world by cargo ship collecting botanicals before returning to Italy to create his own herbal elixir, first sold in 1885 as Elisir Lungavita. It was renamed Amaro Montenegro in 1896 to honor Princess Elena of Montenegro's marriage into the Italian royal family. The recipe, a blend of roughly 40 botanicals including orange peel, vanilla, and a mix of herbs and spices, remains a closely guarded secret to this day, passed down through the company's master herbalists rather than written down for public use.
Flavor profile
Balanced and approachable for an amaro: bittersweet orange and vanilla up front, with baking spice and a light herbal bitterness rather than an aggressively bitter finish.
Tasting notes
Sweet orange peel and vanilla lead, with warm spice (clove, cinnamon) and a gentle, rounded bitterness that fades quickly rather than lingering, which is part of why it's often recommended as an entry point into amari for people who find Campari or Fernet too intense.
Substitutes
- Averna, for a similarly approachable, less aggressively bitter amaro.
- Cynar, for a different but comparably balanced bittersweet character in a mixed drink.
- A splash of orange liqueur with a dash of aromatic bitters, as a rough stand-in when no amaro is on hand.
