In the last few years, I’ve assessed quite a lot of new non-alcoholic products. I’ve sampled more than my fair share of NA beers, some NA wines, NA premixed cocktails and some (frequently off-putting) NA spirits replacements. Every year as we enter the annual push for Dry January, you know there’s going to be a new surge, rationalized by the steady (but still relatively small, all things considered) growth of the non-alcoholic beverage market. One thing I’ve never seen up until now, though? That would be non-alcoholic amaro. The newly arrived Amaro Lucano Non-Alcoholic is stepping into a particularly vacant niche.
Of course, this begs the question: What does one make of non-alcoholic amaro, and how is one likely to use it? Theoretically, one would probably want this product to be good for neat drinking, so it can be used in the traditional manner as an aperitif or post-meal digestif. In that way, someone who had given up drinking (for Dry January or beyond) could still have their nightcap if the likes of Amaro Montenegro were no longer an option.
At the same time, though, one would probably like to be able to use this non-alcoholic Amaro Lucano as a cocktail ingredient, either as the base for a fully NA mocktail or simply swapping in place of a full-ABV amaro in order to make a drink a little lighter. To their credit, the Amaro Lucano site does indeed include both of these types of suggestions, in terms of recipes. They range from an alcohol-free version of the old fashioned that is somewhat oddly based around chilled black tea, to a lower ABV negroni in which the NA amaro would simply replace the likes of Campari, making the whole drink a little less stiff. I appreciate this realistic depiction of sobriety as not necessarily a one-way street. The company suggests using “this versatile spirit at a 1:1 ratio as a replacement in drinks that typically use spirits like gin or vodka.”
With that said, the usual downsides apply: At less than .5% ABV, Amaro Lucano NA will inherently have a shorter shelf life than all your other amaro, and so it should be refrigerated once open. It will also presumably have a more difficult time containing the same flavor punch, but let’s get to tasting and see how they did!
On the nose, fresh and juicy citrus is bold and dynamic up front, with underlying herbaceousness. I’m getting pine resin, rosemary, chamomile florals and some dried fruitiness. It smells overall rather on the sweeter side, with hints of cinnamon spice and just a ghost of the bitter edge of gentian.
On the palate, Amaro Lucano NA perhaps unsurprisingly registers texturally a bit on the watery side, without the body or slickness you’d find in the original version. Flavor-wise, though, this is a pleasant surprise–it’s loaded with sweet citrus with hints of berry, complex herbal tones and moderate bitterness. Quite sweet up front, it transitions quickly into a steadily building herbal and woody bitterness that lingers on the palate. There are some floral notes as well, dueling with bright and vivacious citrus, and the bitterness is ultimately dialed in to just the right middle level for the style.
The most impressive and complimentary thing I can say here is that except for the thinner texture, the flavor is almost indistinguishable from the original. That’s not something that I would have been expecting to write here, but I actually think you might be able to pass this off in many respects as a standard strength amaro. Certainly, I think it should play well in pretty much any classic cocktail where you’d be incorporating amaro, whether that’s just a splash in your champagne cocktail or as an after-dinner digestif. If what you want is an alcohol-free version of a classic Italian amaro, this pretty much fits the bill exactly.
Distillery: Amaro Lucano S.p.A. (Kobrand Wine & Spirits)
City: Basilicata, Italy
Style: Amaro
ABV: Less than .5%
Availability: 750 ml bottles, $25 MSRP
Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident craft beer and spirits geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.