"digestifs" news and stories

Every day, I'm pummeled with press releases touting "innovative," "thrilling" beverages that promise to change the way I get drunk. Largely, I hit delete. Yet every blue moon, my curiosity is piqued. Case in point -- a recent missive touting the creatively punctuated E**X**R, "a digestive liqueur that blurs the lines of conventional wisdom."

Oh, really? But I put a sock in my cynicism once I saw the elixir's pedigree. It's crafted by the Bitter Truth, makers of a marvelous line of cocktail bitters, including a killer celery creation that has a home in my bar. (Seriously, it is the goodness, especially in a gin and tonic.) E**X**R, the release continued, is "at once velvety smooth and clean, aromatic and herbaceous." It could tart up a pre-dinner Manhattan (not my cup o' tea) or be savored "neat after a rich meal to aid digestion." Sold! Since I like to eat till my belly resembles a bowling ball, I requested a sample.

In my lifetime of overeating, I've become intimately acquainted with digestifs. To move food along, I'll often tip back a taste of Fernet Branca, Italian Averna or maybe even Jägermeister -- yes, that black nectar began as a wind-me-down, not a pick-me-up.

The French call the before-dinner drink an apéritif and the after-dinner version a digestif. The Italians say aperitivo and digestivo. In English, we call them aperitives and digestives. No matter what language you prefer, attempting to define a hard difference between the two can leave you scratching your head.

Aperitives are meant to stimulate your appetite, with the root of the word going back to a Latin base meaning "to open." These drinks are supposed to get your stomach ready for food. The exact origin of a drink before dinner is unknown. Commercial production of vermouths in Italy popularized the drink before dinner, often served with finger foods such as nuts and olives.

You may find ouzo before dinner in Greece, pastis served in France or sherry in Spain. The Italians love to serve bitter liqueurs known as amari before dinner. Campari and Aperol are wonderful examples.

With the holidays upon us I want to look at some libations that can be used to stimulate your appetite, perk up holiday cocktails, and settle down your stomach after a little overindulgence at the groaning banquet boards.

Bitters, Digestifs, and Apéritifs (BD&A's) are similar to Liqueurs, but much bitterer in taste and usually without the extra sweetness to them. Like Liqueurs, BD&A's were originally created as medicines made from herbs, roots, twigs, vegetables, fruits, and berries. To lessen the harsh taste they were sweetened, just not as much as their cousins, liqueurs. There is not always a hard and fine line between Bitters, Digestifs, Apéritifs, and Liqueurs, and some can be classified in one, two, three, or all four categories.

Bitters come in several styles and many were formerly sold as patent medicines. There are the ones like Angostura Bitters from Trinidad, and New Orleans's Regan's Orange Bitters and Peychaud's Bitters which are used in small amounts, added to a cocktail to bring together the flavors and cut the sweetness. Then you have ones that are sold in tiny, 2/3 oz bottles such as Underberg from Germany, which you knock back in a quick gulp after a meal to settle your quaking belly. Many others I also classify under apéritifs and digestifs when you cut them with seltzer and ice.