Notes: Made with a number of different herbs, the primary being bitter orange, angostura, enzian, and gentian. In business since 1821, Luxardo has a long tradition of making all sorts of various liqueurs almost all of them winning high praise from various organizations and individuals in the trade.

First Impression: Aromatic bitter orange with a host of aromatic, bitter, and earthy herbal notes wrapping around the orange. Sweet, bitter, alkali and acidic do a complex dance.

Appearance: Maraschino cherry juice red (or cherry red hydraulic fluid!) – a very striking red and unmistakable in a drink. On swirling, leaves a coating on the glass with many long thin legs developing.

Taste: Heavy oily entry with a bitter orange, bitter cherry, woodruff, rosemary, lemon, gentian, quinine, cassia, cardamom, cinnamon, orris root, tansy, angelica, fennel, wormwood. Tastes is like a cherry flavored pipe tobacco with a great deal of herbal bitter and a sugar crust to it. Not as bitter as Campari, with a heavy smoked cherry component to it.

Drinks: Of course one could make a Negroni or Americano with this bitter or simply use it as an aperitif or digestif. You can also try throwing into a Martini (or make an Aviation) for a different twist on the classics – just find the right gin to do it with. An interesting spirit to work with a lot of nuances that can be teased out with the right mix of other ingredients.

Bottle: Clear glass bottle, cylindrical with a rounded shoulder 3/4 of the way up and a slightly large neck with a bright red screwtop closure. Simple paper label and a medallion / pommel stamping on the shoulder make it easier to find.

Other: Makers of a number of other products – including a number of other bitters.

Final Thoughts: A very versatile bitters with a distinctive or striking coloration that helps the aesthetics of a cocktail that calls for a bitter component (many of the others are brown or medicinal black in color). About 1/3 less the cost than Campari.

Website:  http://www.luxardo.it/