Bitter Tooth, Woodland Aperitivo

• Aperitivo-amaro produced by Eda Rhyne Distilling Company in Asheville, North Carolina
• Incorporates over 20 botanicals, many of which are wild foraged
• Primarily bittered with gentian, wormwood, and cinchona; other botanicals include fresh orange and lemon peels, dried bitter orange peel, angelica, yarrow, cardamom, juniper, hyssop, rhubarb root, chicory root, sarsaparilla, coriander, hibiscus flower, spearmint, cherry bark, spicebush, Ceylon cinnamon, and vanilla
• Botanicals are incorporated via a multi-stage maceration in non-GMO corn distillate; final blend is sweetened with cane sugar
• Rested for 2 months in stainless steel
• The nose openly presents fresh and dried citrus peel, bright cardamom, juniper, and ample vanilla (plus sarsaparilla and coriander). Suave and rich, the palate displays a honeyed broadness, elegantly framed by a spectrum of bitterness that’s reinforced by proof. Finish is long and delightfully moreish.
• Naturally colored with black carrot oil and hibiscus
• Non-chill filtered; 42% ABV

Along with being unabashedly delicious and uniquely reflective of their Appalachian terroir, the bitters of Eda Rhyne are uniformly adventurous in bending strict style boundaries, even for a pliant category. The newest release, the Bitter Tooth aperitivo-amaro (described variously as a woodland aperitivo, a red bitter, or a bitter liqueur) offers a case in point. Though possibly their most familiar amaro interpretation, Bitter Tooth is broad shouldered—bottled at a category-bending 42% ABV— and muscles its way through the Sunday aperitivi crowds to create a space on the bar all its own. Less a bartender’s handshake than a welcoming bear hug, it cuts a striking pose paired with a lighter sweet vermouth and a savory style of gin in a knocks-your-socks-off Appalachian Negroni. Schedule a test-drive with ice or seltzer, then let your mind run wild.