DETAILS: At the end of a long meal, we all have our favorite beverage to reach for. Amaro is unrivaled in its palate effect, it makes a perfect opening or finish to a meal. Amaro is a type of wine that has been aromatized with herbs, citrus, roots, and fortified. Amari has a long history, tracing back to Italian monks who made medicinal elixir with roots and herbs, meant to stimulate appetite and digestion. The Italian category of Amaro is wide-ranging. Cocktail bars around the country are putting amaro in the center of their creative and sometimes avant-garde concoctions. Complexly spiced and both sweet and bracingly bitter, amaro is also a surprisingly versatile cocktail ingredient. Herbal flavors, vinous texture, and depth of flavor are harmonious and familiar to traditional wine drinkers and add a welcome breadth when used in mixed drinks.

Join Via Vecchia's Sommelier Chris Peterman and Beverage Director Mark Hibbard for this delicious and fun event. Chris will open the conversation with a discussion on Italian wine regions of Piemonte and Trentino-Alto Adige and their role in the creation of wine-based Amari like Cocchi Barolo Chinato and Pasubio. And Mark will highlight certain herbs and botanicals that create a perfect balance in a cocktail to produce a deeply complex and satisfying taste. He'll also mix you a few of his favorite Amaro-based cocktails to exhibit the truly fabulous and often misunderstood category of wine-based Amaro.

COST: $40 + tax and gratuity 

RESERVE: Reservations can be made by calling Via Vecchia at 207-407-7070 or https://vvoldport.com/events.