Amor y Amargo

Amor y Amargo
443 E 6th St
(between 1st Ave & Avenue A)
Manhattan, NY 10009

Amor y Amargo's, Ravi de Rossi's new project, used to be Carteles, the Latin sandwich shop underneath the trendy, rum-soaked upstairs bar, Cienfuegos. Now Ravi brings some love and bitters with this new cocktail joint specializing in French, German, Italian, and American liqueurs, spirits infused with various herbs, fruits, roots, and other ingredients.

Most people know bitters as those things that flavor Martinis (dry vermouth), Old Fashioneds/Manhattans (sweet vermouth), and negronis (Campari), but this is one of the few bars that give these liqueurs their rightful prominence on a cocktail menu.

I had a coppa of the house-made sweet vermouth, a cuvee of wine, port, and various spices. Sweet, grapey, and bitter at the same time, this fortified wine had a nice bit of sparkle. Following this was another coppa of amber vermouth, which had the body of a young tawny port, and resonated with notes of citrus, ginger, and honey. I learned that vermouth is fantastic by itself, not just as a sixth man on the cocktail court.

Next were the cocktails. Avery Glassman, one-half of the team that has brought Bitterman's bitters to the East Coast from "Portlandia", is responsible for the most of the cocktail menu. Amaro is a difficult ingredient to mix in cocktails: the melange of various herbs and spices requires one to find an high-proof alcohol that does not overpower it, but at the same time, blend nicely into them.

I appreciated the Francaise Four-Play the most: a plucky blend of bonal quinquina, yellow chartreuse, cognac, Lillet blanc, Bittermen's Hellfire Shrub bitters, topped with a lemon twist and a splash of club soda. Technically, this would be a menage-a-trois, since cognac is not a French liqueur, but a fortified wine spirit, but who am I to argue with this fizzy orgy of herbs, ginger, and citrus. The Mud Season (Rhum Agricole/Zucca Amaro/Mirto/Sweet Vermouth/Bittermen's Hopped Grapefruit Bitters) managed to harmonize all the ingredients in the same drink, a difficult task given the diverse flavors in the Zucca, Mirto, and sweet vermouth.

Additionally, they offer each of their amaros for $4 per 1 oz. shot for customers to sample, which is a notable discount from having to buy a bottle from a liquor store. They plan to get some German bitters in the upcoming week, which are considerably more complex that the Jagermeister that you used to Jager-bomb in college.

Ravi de Rossi continues to expand the bartending discourse after Death & Co., Mayahuel, and Cienfuegos. Although Amor y Amargo might be the least approachable for the cocktail initiate, he is doing a public service by prominently featuring these underrated liqueurs on a more public stage.