I was in Nashville last week to film a wedding and visited a few bars, one of which was supposed to be the best/newest in USA called Fox Bar. They were good but not sure how they got that title. The cocktails were ok, I had one shaken, one stirred, one on the rocks, they had a tiki one there called Tales from the Deep served in a Fox tiki mug. As much as I love Ardbeg it just tasted like a smoke bomb. Next door was probably the coolest bar I ever been in, a 1930s circus theme called Tiger Bar. This was far better but still did not impress me outside of the music/vibe (all 1930s music which I love). One new spirit that kept popping up even in regular bars was Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto. It is an Italian Liqueur featuring citrus and herbs from Southern Italy (Calabria & Sicily). Again, while I was not impressed with the cocktails I am thinking of spending the $40 for a bottle to experiment with. There was one cocktail at the Tiger Bar I wish I had called “Snake Charmer” and included olive oil. Anyone had it? Any one ever had Italicus? Is it worth the high price tag?
I guess the reason I was disappointed was because there was only one rum drink, a few gin, but plenty of vodka and tequila drinks on the menu. I am sure most of you know vodka didn’t really make it to the USA till the 1950s. Tequila I don’t know about, but I am sure they were not drinking it during prohibition in this area. I went with what I thought was a sure fire hit, one of my favorites called the Corpse Reviver I first learned about in Ted Haig’s Forgotten Cocktails, but I think I make it better at home, and they use Swedish Punsch instead of Lillet Blanc. The menu is beautifully designed, I’ve attached it. Funny to see a Grasshopper on there too.
Chopper remains the best of the tiki bars (or any) for cocktails, Pearl Diver was just ok. I am thinking its really not a cocktail town, they have several distilleries and its mostly a whiskey/beer sort of town, which is fine, but again, not sure how these places got the title as “Best” in the country.
Given the highly stylised bottle, I didn’t expect much from Italicus, and it exceeded my expectations. If you only have one or two citrus liqueurs, it’s not a bad choice, but as someone who has a LOT of citrus liqueurs, it doesn’t fill a need in my collection.
I’ve had some excellent drinks made with Italicus out at bars, including one that was sort of like a tequila Martini. Consequently I bought a bottle for home, but I don’t find I reach for it often.
Could be worth the purchase if you enjoy experimentation or newer specs.
Rosolio is about as esoteric it gets. There’s clearly a liqueur tradition lurking there, but its parameters and definition feel awfully murky. Italicus seems to be a bergamot rosolio—a bergamot liqueur—but what else is implied I’d love to know.
This is from Wikipedia, it does sound interesting, and still having relatives in Sicily its something I will likely want to experience even if it was not memorable in the cocktail:
Italicus uses CalabrianBergamot oranges, Sicilian citrons, chamomile from Lazio, and herbs from Northern Italy: lavender, yellow roses, lemon balm, and gentian.[1][2] It is classified as a type of rosolio, a light, sweet, and floral aperitivo traditionally made using the common sundewherb.[1][3] The recipe for Italicus includes the creator’s family tradition of adding citrus to the liqueur.[1]
The spirit has a fragrant smell, of citrus, bergamot, herbal bitterness, and the suggestion of sweetness. It tastes similar, of citrus, grass, and flowers, with sweetness and some bitterness.[1] The unaged, nonvintage spirit is 20 percent alcohol by volume.[4]
Italicus is produced at Torino Distillati, a family-owned distillery in Moncalieri (near Turin) established in 1906.[5][4]It is bottled in an aquamarine-colored bottle made of ribbed glass, and colored to represent the Amalfi Coast. The bottle’s stopper shows a figure made to represent both Bacchus, Greek god of wine, and the Vitruvian Man.[2]
Yeah, I’ve seen that—reads suspiciously like a press release. The Wikipedia page on rosolio doesn’t feel very authoritative to me, either.
Turning to the Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, David Wondrich’s Rosolio entry outlines a historical arc beginning in the 1400s as a sundew aphrodesiac, evolving into a mainstream European herbal liqueur featuring saffron and spices, to a generic, sweet liqueur in the 19th Century with spice or floral notes and—most commonly—citrus-dominant flavoring. Italicus sounds like a modern version of that last trend.
My tentative takeaway is that—for the purposes of the cocktail era—rosolio is a squirrely sector of regional Italian liqueurs (Piemonte, Sicily) with unique flavoring that is a bit more nuanced and complex than blunt and straightforward. Like amari, one rosolio is not likely a substitute for another. Any drink calling for rosolio without specifying which one is leaving a great deal of discretion to the bartender.
Edit: I once had a bottle of Stock Rosolio. It was definitely of the rose petal/citrus/spice persuasion.
I would wholeheartedly recommend purchasing Rosen Bitters (Distilleria Dell’Alpe Rosa Alpina Liqueur) however. Never had anything else like that—does that qualify as a rosolio?
Way to bury the lede, guys…made from CARNIVOROUS PLANTS?
Those Distilleria Dell’Alpe products look cool, but the Rosa Alpina Liqueur looks it might be more like a “red bitter” (Campari-esque) than a rosolio. What does it taste like?
