Availability:
Aperitifs
![Picon Amer Aperitif (700ml)]()
Picon Amer Aperitif (700ml)BELGIUM$54. 99Bottle$659.88 DozenABV: 21%A much desired cocktail ingredient but generally hard to find is Picon Amer, with distribution for a long time limited to France. Despite being produced since 1837, making it a bar standard in early cocktail guides, it remains elusive outside of Europe. The proprietary recipe has no doubt changed slightly over the years, as has the ABV. However, orange remains the dominant flavour. Quinine, cinchona and gentian are also known ingredients (not surprising as "Amer" translates to "bitter".) Although it was popularised as a key element in cocktails like the "Liberal", the "Brooklyn" and the "Picon Punch", Amer is traditionally enjoyed straight up or over ice as an aperitif. It reportedly has more bitterness than Picon Club and Picon Biere. While bartenders often cite alternatives, such as Amaros, cross tastings suggest nothing quite equates to the distinctive taste of Picon Amer - if you can find it! 21% Alc./Vol
![5010103234993_1.jpg]()
Picon Amer Aperitif (1000ml)BELGIUM$69. 99Bottle$839.88 DozenABV: 21%A much desired cocktail ingredient but generally hard to find is Picon Amer, with distribution for a long time limited to France. Despite being produced since 1837, making it a bar standard in early cocktail guides, it remains elusive outside of Europe. The proprietary recipe has no doubt changed slightly over the years, as has the ABV. However, orange remains the dominant flavour. Quinine, cinchona and gentian are also known ingredients (not surprising as "Amer" translates to "bitter".) Although it was popularised as a key element in cocktails like the "Liberal", the "Brooklyn" and the "Picon Punch", Amer is traditionally enjoyed straight up or over ice as an aperitif. It reportedly has more bitterness than Picon Club and Picon Biere. While bartenders often cite alternatives, such as Amaros, cross tastings suggest nothing quite equates to the distinctive taste of Picon Amer - if you can find it! 21% Alc./Vol.![8003760000558_1.jpg]()
Rabarbaro Zucca Liqueur (1000ml)ITALY$54. 99Bottle$659.88 DozenABV: 16%Ettore Zucca created this amaro liqueur in 1885, a bittersweet Italian aperitif, made using rhubarb. The recipe also includes zest, cardamom seeds and various herbs. Long popular in the cafes and restaurants of Milan. Expect flavours of cola, burnt coffee and gently bitter herbal notes. 16% Alc./Vol. Other reviews... 4.5 Stars - diffordsguide.com![Raymond Ragnaud Vieux Pineau des Charentes (750ml)]()
Raymond Ragnaud Vieux Pineau des Charentes (750ml)Cognac, FRANCE$64. 99Bottle$779.88 DozenABV: 17%Whilst popular in its local home of Cognac, this classic aperitif is less well-known around France and abroad. It's a quasi-fortified wine, made from a blend of partially-fermented grape juice and Cognac eau-de-vie. The blends are aged for various periods depending on the style desired. The youngest and most brightly coloured examples are a minimum of 18 months old. Vieux (old) Pineau des Charentes, like this, are oak-aged for at least 5 years, while 'Extra Vieux' (very old) examples remain in cask for a minimum of 10 years. The longer they're aged, the deeper and richer the colour and flavours become, leaning towards honey, vanilla, dried fruits and almonds. Older versions are delicious on their own, or typically drunk chilled as aperitifs. 17% Alc./Vol.
![Raymond Ragnaud Pineau des Charentes (750ml)]()
Raymond Ragnaud Pineau des Charentes (750ml)Cognac, FRANCE$49. 99Bottle$599.88 DozenABV: 17%There are a number of Vins de Liqueurs (aka 'mistelles') produced around France. These sweet to semi-sweet wines made with unfermented grape must and fortified with the brandy of the given region are often little known outside their place of origin. As with many liqueurs and spirits, their beginnings are murky. Where Pineau des Charentes is concerned, Cognac legend has it that it was created by accident centuries ago when a farmer dumped grape must into a barrel that contained eau de vie. He later he found the blend to be delicious. Word spread and Pineau des Charentes became a local specialty. Raymond Ragnaud is one producer who proudly continues the category. The family has grown grapes since 1860; in 1920, Paul Ragnaud settled at the Château de Ambleville. He was succeeded in 1941 by his son Raymond who oversaw the vineyards and began to market the cognacs he had inherited. Francoise Ragnaud-Bricq, has carried the family tradition of producing high quality cognac and Pineau des Charentes. Combining two-thirds unfermented grape must with one-third young cognac - the alcohol prevents fermentation - the mixture is aged for various periods of time, but at least twelve months, depending on the desired style. Over that time it picks up its distinctive aromas and flavours. These include semi-sweet notes of fresh apricot, figs, vanilla, honey, fruit nectar, almond and spice. Typically arriving at around 17% ABV and consumed chilled, this classic French aperitif can also be incorporated into cocktails or thickening sauces. 17% Alc./Vol.
![Ricard Plantes Fraiches Pastis de Marseilles Aperitif Anis (700ml)]()
- Nick's Import
Ricard Plantes Fraiches Pastis de Marseilles Aperitif Anis (700ml)Marseille, FRANCE$69. 99Bottle$839.88 DozenABV: 45%A new variation on the Marseilles classic is 'fresh plants', and as the name suggests, it sources the freshest ingredients from local producers on the Valensole plateau in Haute-Provence. Harvested on sun-drenched plots and distilled the same day, the botanicals add their unique aromatic qualities: in this case, a very pure anise profile, enhanced by subtle vegetal notes. Traditionally consumed from a large glass generously lengthened with very cold water (7 to 10 times the volume of pastis) and with lots of ice cubes. 45% Alc./Vol.
![Rinomato L'Aperitivo Deciso (1000ml)]()
Rinomato L'Aperitivo Deciso (1000ml)ITALY$54. 99Bottle$659.88 DozenABV: 14%A ruby red aperitivo made in Piedmont via a collaboration between bartender Giancarlo Mancino and his American partner, Fasel Shenstone. Botanicals include wormwood, orange peel, rhubarb, peppermint, turmeric and gentian making for a profile that is lighter than Campari, stronger than Aperol and with less sugar than Gran Classico. Enjoy chilled on its own or in cocktails like a Negroni, Spritz or simply over ice with a slice of orange. 14% Alc./Vol.
![Saint Felix Bitter Citrus Aperitivo (700ml)]()
- 92
Saint Felix Bitter Citrus Aperitivo (700ml)Victoria, AUSTRALIA$44. 99Bottle$539.88 DozenABV: 18%This delicious aperitivo is a new take on the classic genre. Saint Felix combine maceration and rotary evaporation to naturally extract a medley of citrus flavours. Ingredients include bergamot, blood orange and Australian lemon myrtle balanced with comparatively bitter botanicals such as rhubarb root and sarsaparilla, finished with a blush of native rosella flower. It's on the sweeter, softer side for a bitters, which makes it more approachable than traditional products like Campari, for example. Enjoy a generous pour over ice topped up with soda and a slice of lemon. 18% Alc./Vol.
Gold Medal - London Spirits Competition 2022
![55482214_1.jpg]()
Stockholms Branneri ROD Aperitif (500ml)SWEDEN$54. 99Bottle$659.88 DozenABV: 22%A fortified Swedish apple cider infused with rowanberries and roots for the perfect balance between bitter and sweet. Orange peel, gentian root and marsh-mallow are part of what gives this personality. Enjoy in a spritz with sparkles or tonic water. 22%% Alc./Vol. Organic.![45604170_1.jpg]()
- Nick's Import
Tempus Fugit Spirits Kina L'Aéro d'Or QuinQuina Liqueur (750ml)SWITZERLAND$59. 99Bottle$719.88 DozenABV: 18%The late 19th to early 20th century was the 'Golden Age' of French aperitif wines known as Quinquinas or Kinas. Kinas were originally created to make quinine more palatable when administered to soldiers in the disease-plagued 'colonies'. They took a life of their own as producers found combinations of ingredients that delighted the public and they took on their own styles following the tastes of the regions in which they were produced. Produced by the Oliver Matter Company, Kina L'Aéro d'Or reflects an 'Alps-Provence' style: White wine made from the Piedmont-grown Cortese grape is infused with Cinchona bark (which produces quinine, the principal bitter taste), Orange Peel, Wormwood and other exotic spices to give a beautiful deep golden hue, an aroma of quince and fine marmalade, with a complex, mildly bitter taste that teases the tongue as its well-balanced sweetness prolongs the finish. Wonderful on its own, chilled, on ice, or mixed with soda or tonic water, for a refreshing, low-alcohol drink. Kina Aéro d'Or is absolutely spectacular in classic cocktails such as the 20th Century, Vesper or Corpse Reviver #2 and will easily find its way into many more cocktails of your own. The label and title, L'Aéro d'Or (meaning 'the Golden Aeroplane') is a tribute to the first flight across the English Channel, made in 1909 by Frenchman Louis Blériot in his creation, the monoplane. 18% Alc./Vol.![The Splendid Gin Summer Cup (700ml)]()
- Reduced
The Splendid Gin Summer Cup (700ml)Tasmania, AUSTRALIAReduced from $54.99$36. 99Bottle$443.88 DozenABV: 25%Once-off wholesaler clearance. All stock must go!
No doubt inspired by the original Pimm's bottling, this refreshing, lower alcohol mixer is the first of its kind produced in Australia. With an exotic bunch of organics including roasted dandelion root & native Tasmanian mountain pepper berry, blended with Splendid's original gin, they've have created a delightfully refreshing & versatile tipple displaying high notes of citrus with an underlying herbal body of native pepper, earth & toffee. Pour it long with a handful of ice over apple, mint, strawberry & lemonade. Better still, bring out your inner ‘sipster’ and drink neat on the rocks with a twist of lime. 25% Alc./Vol.
Notes from the producers... Nose: Citrus, herbaceous, earth, toffee. Palate: Highly layered, subtle herbaceous notes and sweet caramel followed by a refreshing citrus with hints of pepper. Finish: Long and full with classic gin characteristics and extremely moreish.
![165015613_1.jpg]()
- 89
Select Aperitivo (1000ml)ITALY$44. 99Bottle$539.88 DozenABV: 17.5%It seems almost every region of Italy has its preferred 'aperitivo', and in Venice, it's 'Select'. Created in 1920 by two brothers at the Pilla distillery in Venice, a city renowned for liquors, it's made by carefully blending, boiling and macerating 30 botanicals, including juniper berries and rhubarb roots; the juniper adds balsamic and floral notes, while the rhubarb contributes the required bitterness. Select went on to become the star of the Venetian cocktail scene and a key ingredient in the original Venetian Spritz. The recipe is simple: 3 parts prosecco, 2 parts Select, 1 part soda, one green olive and lots of ice. The result is a well balanced, bittersweet taste that's deliciously refreshing. In short, if you like Aperol, you should love this! Tasting note: Crimson to ruby red. Fresh, pleasantly bitter aromas include rooty-dried herbal / potpouri-like notes as well as orange zest, grapefruit and sweeter hints of cranberry juice. Silky textured with delicately bittersweet citrus pith and peel flavours. Lighter and drier through the finish. Ends brisk, medium fresh, mildy bitter. 17.5% Alc./Vol.
