Fine-bitter aperitif for a toast before the meal arrives
At "nur Gutes", the aperitif category represents six types of products from eleven producers between Hamburg and the Chiemgau region: aperitif liqueur, bitters and amaro, Riesling-based wine aperitif, apple vermouth wine, ready-to-serve cocktails, and eleven syrups as a base for spritzes. Bitter orange and gentian provide the foundation.
Aperitif is the term for the drink served before a meal; it is tart or bitter, and rarely sweet. With alcohol contents ranging from 13 to 35% vol, the alcoholic varieties are available as aperitif liqueurs, bitters and amaro, wine aperitifs, apple vermouth wines, or ready-mixed cocktails. It is enjoyed neat, in a spritz, or in a cocktail.
The spritz comes from the Veneto, the bitterness from the root
"Aperire" means to open, and in the nineteenth century, this Latin word evolved through French into "aperitif." It opens the evening and fills the hour while the kitchen is still busy. In Italy, this hour is called "aperitivo," referring both to the social engagement and the glass itself—standing together at a bar with olives, chips, and a few cubes of cheese.
At that time, the Veneto was part of the Habsburg Empire, and anyone who ordered wine there would have it "spritzed" with water, which gave the drink its German name. Later, Prosecco replaced the water, and then the red bitter—as produced in Padua since 1919—was added. Since 2011, the International Bartenders Association has set the formula: six centiliters of that, nine centiliters of sparkling wine, plus a splash of soda, ice, and a slice of orange.
In Florence, between 1919 and 1920, Count Camillo Negroni had his Americano lengthened with gin instead of soda. At Caffè Casoni, this became a classic, which to this day consists of equal parts gin, red vermouth, and red bitter, served over ice in a tumbler—a straight glass with a thick bottom—topped with an orange zest.
Food laws categorize the contents of such glasses. A "bitter" is an aromatized spirit with a predominantly bitter taste, and under EU law, must contain at least fifteen percent alcohol by volume. A liqueur requires the same minimum strength plus at least one hundred grams of sugar per liter. This roundness is detectable in an aperitif liqueur, while the bitter variety is drier.
"Amaro" simply means bitter in Italian and refers to a bitter liqueur. For this, herbs, roots, flowers, bark, and citrus peels are macerated in alcohol or wine before the sugar is added. Red aperitivo bitters are constructed similarly but are lighter in color and have less herbal intensity; they are meant for before a meal, while the darker amaro is a habit for after, served neat or over ice.
The bitterness comes from a few specific plants, and their names are well-known in this category. The root of the yellow gentian contains amarogentin, one of the bitterest substances in existence, which can still be clearly tasted even when diluted one to twenty thousand. Cinchona bark from the Andes provided quinine in 1820, and anyone using it must state it on the bottle. With the bitter orange, the bitterness lies in the white peel and the membranes, while the pulp remains sour.
From aperitif liqueur and bitters to the ready-to-serve cocktail
Aperitif liqueurs tend to be fruity and fine-bitter, and we have selected four of them. Amérie by Sasse, the aperitif liqueur with whole berries in the bottle, has 16 percent alcohol by volume and thrives on raspberries from the Grothues-Potthoff farm and hand-picked wild strawberries. The berries remain whole and glow red through the glass.
Rosalie, the aperitif made from rose petals, strawberries, and bitter orange, comes in at 18 percent alcohol by volume and tastes both sweet and tart. The blood orange spritz liqueur from the Ehringhausen distillery has the lowest alcohol content among the alcoholic bottles at 15 percent by volume, featuring a specially distilled blood orange spirit and Sicilian zest; the color is clear orange-red. The Aperitivo from Windspiel places bitter orange alongside tart grapefruit, and the Mediterranean citrus note balances out a fine sweetness.
Things get tarter and more herb-forward with bitters and amaro, a segment led by Mondino. The Bavarian organic amaro is called Amaro Bavarese and has 18 percent alcohol by volume. It derives its bitterness from bitter oranges from the Amalfi Coast and Spain, rhubarb, and yellow gentian, while hibiscus blossoms give it a ruby-red color.
The Stagionato beside it has spent almost a year in oak barrels, reaching 24 percent alcohol by volume, and layers velvety vanilla under the bitter orange. The Amanero, with 31 percent alcohol by volume and over thirty herbal essences, belongs at the end of the evening; its producers call it a digestivo. Cherry Bitter by Kakuzo places warm cherry beside spicy gentian and tart grapefruit, based on vodka.
A category of its own is the wine aperitif, built upon a wine foundation. Bright Lemon and Ruby Wood from Ode are based on a Riesling and reach 18.5 percent alcohol by volume. The bright one is light yellow with lemon, bergamot, peach, thyme, and artichoke; the dark one is garnet red with bitter orange, red sandalwood, gentian, and vanilla. Related to this is the Rosé Rye from the Spreewald, a Rosé from Baden with rye whiskey added.
From apples instead of grapes comes the Wehmut by Jörg Geiger, an apple vermouth wine. Bittersweet apples and wormwood are fermented in a used whiskey barrel, an apple and grape brandy brings it to 13 percent alcohol by volume, and it is served neat at 14 to 16 degrees Celsius.
Cocktails come ready-mixed, a specialty of a Hamburg house. pHenomenal bottles its Negroni at 26.1 percent alcohol by volume, using Eversbusch double juniper spirit, an Italian artichoke-based amaro, and a house cuvée of several vermouths; the color is a dark mahogany. Beside it is Autumn in New York, a Manhattan at 34.7 percent alcohol by volume made from rye whiskey from the Münsterland, chestnut spirit, and vermouth.
For a spritz base, there are eleven syrups from Schusters Shrub, made with organic apple cider vinegar and three ingredients. Topped with white wine or Prosecco, it becomes an alcoholic spritz; with water, a non-alcoholic one. Bellini, spritz, and non-alcoholic concentrates can be found with their own product information and mixing ratios in the non-alcoholic aperitifs section. Those looking for the sweeter side of these producers will find it among the liqueurs.
First the bitterness, then the form, finally the alcohol
When standing before this shelf, it is best to decide on an aperitif in three steps, because the tartness carries the flavor and the form determines the glass. First the bitterness, then the form, finally with or without alcohol—following this rule organizes the entire shelf at "nur Gutes."
Fruity and fine-bitter are Amérie, Rosalie, the blood orange spritz, and the Windspiel Aperitivo. Herb-forward and tart are Amaro Bavarese, Cherry Bitter, and Ruby Wood. Powerful and barrel-aged, Stagionato and Amanero sit at the end of the line.
The form is the second deciding factor; anything that has seen a barrel is best enjoyed neat over ice. Fruity liqueurs and lighter varieties go into a spritz because the sparkling wine offsets their sweetness. Anything ready-mixed or compatible with gin and vermouth goes into a cocktail. Finally, there is the question of alcohol, which the producers answer themselves.
Mondino includes the non-alcoholic "Senza" as a substitute in all of its recipes. The Ehringhausen distillery offers its spritz in strong, mild, and non-alcoholic versions, and a syrup from the Steigerwald becomes an alcoholic aperitif with Prosecco and a non-alcoholic one with water. This allows a mixed group to be served from the same idea, poured two ways.
Fruity liqueurs are ready if tart flavors are not preferred; those who like it dry will find what they are looking for in the amaro or the Ruby Wood. For a whole group, one liqueur goes a long way, as only a few centiliters are needed per glass. The ready-mixed bottle, on the other hand, is ready to be put right on the table.
Behind every bottle stands a producer with a first name
Rüdiger Sasse was sixteen when, in 1985, he stood in Schöppingen before the ruins of a distillery with a three-hundred-year family tradition. The Amérie is the fruity exception for him, as those who know the Feinbrennerei Sasse otherwise know it for Korn (grain spirit).
In Bremen, Birgitta Schulze van Loon has been distilling in a glass factory at the Europahafen since November 2011, and for Rosalie, she adds the petals of the Friesian rose. Strawberry up front, rose behind it, bitter orange at the end, and it stands clear and red in the glass.
A Riesling from Rheinhessen is the starting point, specifically produced by winemaker Nico Espenschied. Stefan Becker and Thorsten Konrad, two designers from Berlin, have been working on their wine aperitif since 2020.
A Bavarian master distiller learned his craft in Italy in the sixties, and the amaro recipe Hans brought back from there is still in Kaltenbach near Traunstein today. His grandson Max has relaunched it with three friends; Mondino has stood for an organic amaro from the Chiemgau region ever since, made with Bavarian spring water.
The orange zest in Hamburg is infused right in the bottle instead of being dropped into the glass later. Hendrik Schaulin has been mixing his Negroni by hand, in small batches, since he opened his house in 2012.
The distillery in Werne was built by grandparents Heinrich Glitz and Anneliese Ehringhausen in 1962; today, it is run by siblings Theres and Georg Glitz-Ehringhausen in the third generation. The name of the spritz line was given to them by Josef Ehringhausen, a pharmacist in the family who kept herbaria.
The Aperitivo by Sandra Wimmeler and Denis Lönnendonker is deep red until the tonic is added, turning it orange-red; they do their distilling in the Volcanic Eifel. Paul and Marc founded Kakuzo in Berlin in 2017 and borrowed the name from Okakura Kakuzō, who wrote "The Book of Tea" in 1906.
In the Spreewald, a rosé from Baden stands beside rye whiskey, ever since Steffen, Sebastian, and Bastian took over the distillery in Schlepzig at the end of 2016. The syrups from Hanna and Gabi Schuster, who have been soaking fruit and herbs in organic apple cider vinegar since 2012, come from the Steigerwald; Hanna brought the technique back from her time as a student in the USA.
The producers set the quantities for the glass themselves
For quantities, stick to the producers' own recommendations. For Amérie, Sasse puts three ice cubes in the glass, pours two parts sparkling wine over them and one part liqueur, plus a leaf of fresh mint. Rosalie requires six centiliters and eight centiliters of sparkling wine or Prosecco, soda to taste, and an orange zest.
Mondino calculates three to four centiliters, ten centiliters of Prosecco, and another three to four centiliters of tonic water. Windspiel uses fifty milliliters per one hundred milliliters of tonic, and at Ode, it's one-third aperitif to two-thirds filler—that is, tonic, sparkling wine, or water.
Use a large wine glass and fill it with ice before anything else goes in, because too little ice makes the spritz get warm faster than you can drink it. Top it off with something that adds color and fragrance: a slice of orange, a grapefruit zest, or a sprig of rosemary.
The ready-made Negroni wants a tumbler with three to four ice cubes, six to ten centiliters poured over, and then time, because it mellows as the ice melts. If you want to make it yourself, use two centiliters of Amaro Bavarese, two centiliters of gin, and two centiliters of red vermouth. Pour the Manhattan, stirred, into a pre-chilled coupe.
Place a plate of olives, salted almonds, cheese crackers, and a few slices of ham beside it, and this hour needs nothing more. Drink Cherry Bitter neat over ice, with tonic, or in a Negroni; simply top the blood orange spritz with sparkling wine. Save the Stagionato and Amanero for later, when the table has been cleared. Opened bottles keep longest if stored cool and in the dark.
In summer the spritz, in winter the barrel
The light-colored bottles belong to summer: Amérie on the terrace, Rosalie for a long evening, the blood orange spritz over plenty of ice. As soon as it gets dark earlier, the darker ones move in: the Manhattan in the fall, Stagionato and Amanero with their barrel notes, Ruby Wood with sandalwood and vanilla. And if you need something quick, the Negroni is ready-mixed and waiting.
In between are the days when a glass marks the occasion: Rosalie on Valentine's Day, Amaro Bavarese on Mother's Day, the spritz from Werne on Father's Day.
Here in Nordhorn, the end of the workday belongs to this hour; the ice cracks in the glass, and for a while, no one talks about food. That is how an evening begins.
