Amaro Formidabile: The Award-Winning All-Natural Handmade Italian Bitter

Posted by Rowena Dumlao Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 9/07/2019

Amaro Formidabile: The Award-Winning All-Natural Handmade Italian Bitter

Amaro Formidabile stands out from the rest of the amari for two reasons. It is made with all natural ingredients and done manually by its creator Armando Bomba. Unlike the other amari in the market, Amaro Formidabile is produced by cold maceration in grain alcohol of various botanical ingredients without any aid of additives, colorants, caramel or any type of aroma that's either synthetic nor natural that are extracted from raw materials that most industries use.  

It has garnered a couple of prestigious international awards namely the Gran Medaglia d'Oro (Grand Gold Medal) at the Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2018 and the Medaglia d'Oro (Gold Medal) at the International Spirits Challenge 2019.

What is an amaro?

Amaro is an Italian herbal liqueur that is typically produced by macerating different types of herbs, roots, flowers, bark and citrus peels in alcohol, adding sugar syrup and aging it in casks or in the bottles. It is usually consumed as an after-dinner digestif but can also be drunk as an aperitif. Historically, it is a drink that was given life by the monks in the old times as a health elixir and in the Renaissance Period, when spices arrived from far places, apothecaries started to sell them. Appreciation for its particular bitter-sweet flavour as a drink to enjoy came first from the aristocrats, after which, its popularity as a digestif in Italy became widespread. Every amaro producer keeps his age-old traditional recipe a secret, each product distinct with its special taste from the vast diversity and quantity of herbs used, some from 13 until close to 70.

What is Amaro Formidabile? 

Amaro Formidabile was born after years of extensive research and experimentation in the laboratory of Armando Bomba in Rome. The production is still small at ten thousand bottles per annum (but with a future project to increase it). To attain the aromatic structure of his amaro, Armando uses a selection of natural ingredients with high percentages of concentration like Red Cinchona, Chinese Rhubarb Damask Rose Petals, Wormwood, Absinthe, Gentiana, Bitter Orange Peel, Lemon Peel, Cloves, Burdock, Kola Nut, and Star Anise. The process of creating amaro is intricate and requires a lot of attention. In a nutshell, the botanical ingredients are macerated in a hydroalcoholic solution then undergoes varying maceration with between 21 to 27 days, soft separation of the extract from the herbs, filtration, combination with a mixture of sucrose, water and alcohol then stabilization of about 13 days. Then for around 45 days, the product is left to mature in stainless steel tanks then bottled to settle down before it hits the store shelves.

The result is a vibrant and intense amber liquid given by the Red Bark of the Cinchona Succirubra tree. It has a medium thick density, almost syrupy, with a right balance of the bitter - sweet concentration. The aroma has a complexity of various nuances of citrus peels, light smoke, various herbs, marzipan and roasted cocoa beans whereas the texture is silky, warm and almost chewy. It is very intense in the mouth with an explosion of miscellaneous sensations that the multitude of botanical ingredients provide like dried sweet spices, woodsy flavor, chocolate and citrus peels. The persistence in the mouth is very long as the bitterness and sweetness harmoniously linger together.

  To enjoy the best qualities of Formidabile, it should be served cold in small liquor glasses and strictly no ice as digestif for the highly digestive elements of its botanical ingredients. It can be accompanied with candied orange peel, dark chocolate or Amaretti biscuits.