The Spirit World

If you look through enough old tomes of cocktails, you will no doubt encounter references to “Amer Picon”. This product is produced and sold in France. While it used to be relatively easy to find, over the last couple of decades it has become increasingly scarce. At the current time there is no distributer that I know of who is importing it into the US.

The flavor is robust and multi-layered, with a definite orange character to it. Some folks feel that it is a reasonable substitute for orange bitters. Originally, this product was produced at 78 proof (39% alcohol by volume), but in the 1970’s the House of Picon fiddled with the recipe a bit, and reduced its proof to almost half of that. The resultant beverage still has a lot of the character of the original, but I feel that it isn’t quite as forward in some of its previously rich and almost aggressive flavor.

BUt what to use in cocktails if we can’t buy it? It appears that the folks at Torani have taken it upon themselves to come out with their own version of this product. Torani? Yes, the same folks who manufacture the flavored syrups used at many coffee stands these days also manufactures “Torani Amer”, a product that for all intents and purposes is a great replacement for Amer Picon. They don’t list it on their website at all, and even repeated e-mails to the company to find out further details about this product have apparently fallen on deaf ears. If you live in California, you may be able to find it on store shelves in some of the more special liquor stores, but even if you don’t you might find it as near as your web browser.

BevMo.com carries it for $10.99 a bottle, although they ship alcoholic products only within California.

WineGlobe.com carries it for $14.99 a bottle and they ship to many states in the US. Details can be found here.

The other issue that Torani Amer solves is that their product is perhaps closer to what the original Amer Picon tasted like before the recipe was adjusted. Their bottle strength is 78 proof, and flavor-wise I think it comes pretty close to what Amer Picon used to taste like. But you might have to be the judge on that one.

A problem you need to solve for yourself however is what to do with it once you’ve picked up a bottle of your own. If you check out CocktailDB.com, you’ll find that it lists 44 different cocktails which call for Amer Picon, and a simply delightful cocktail can be found over on Chuck Taggart’s GumboPages.com website, the Hoskins Cocktail. A drink I usually turn to however is one of the first Amer Picon cocktails I ever had, at Boadas Bar in Barcelona, the “Liberal”:

Liberal

• 1 1/2 ounce rye whiskey
• 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
• 1/4 ounce Amer Picon
• 1 dash orange bitters

Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with an orange twist.