Cynar

Cynar is one of the small handful of Italian amari built on a single vegetable, and the vegetable is the artichoke. It comes from the Veneto, in the north-east of Italy, and it is bottled at 16.5% — light enough that the bitterness arrives without weight behind it.

• Artichoke and a long list of herbs and roots.
• Veneto, northern Italy.
• 16.5% alcohol by volume.
• Bitter, earthy, bittersweet, with a long finish.

How it tastes

Deeply bitter at the front, then the artichoke settles into something earthier and more vegetal, with a caramel note underneath that keeps the whole thing from turning harsh. The finish is long and rooty rather than sweet. It is a bitter amaro first and a liqueur second.

Good to know

Cynar belongs to the family of Italian amari — bitter herbal liqueurs whose recipes are built around a single defining ingredient, whether that is rhubarb, gentian, or in this case the artichoke. The name is a contraction of carciofo, the Italian word for artichoke.