The Tastiest Italian Cocktails to Make at Home

As I grow older, I increasingly crave bitter flavors. Capers, pickles, smoked fish, Gorgonzola—these are the tastes that most excite my jaded palate. Perhaps my taste buds are becoming dull with age, requiring sharper flavors to hit my pleasure buttons. Or maybe my heart grows a touch more bitter with each passing year. On the bright side, this has led me to geek out on Italian cocktails, particularly those infused with amari—liqueurs steeped with astringent botanicals like roots, tree bark, flowers, and herbs.

Many cultures have their celebrated bitter nostrums—Chartreuse in France, Jägermeister in Germany, Black Balsam in the Baltic states—but the Italians have perfected the art of crafting deeply nuanced, medicine-like drams. Traditionally, amari are used as digestifs, postprandial nips meant to settle the stomach after a rich meal. However, these fragrant potions make for cocktails that sing like Pavarotti in his golden era.

Below are some fabulous Italian bitter cocktails to make at home, a mix of familiar classics and a few one-off concoctions. Enjoy them with friends around the table, or savor them alone while brooding over a melancholic opera aria or a nostalgic love poem by Dante Alighieri.

The Negroni was long my go-to cocktail when I wanted to appear worldly and sophisticated on Hinge dates, and this whiskey riff on the bright-red classic is even better than the original. Instead of using gin, the traditional base spirit in a Negroni, use Hogsworth bourbon, the new whiskey from BHAKTA Spirits founder Raj Peter Bhakta. Hogworth adds a kiss of ancient Armagnac to the bourbon, smoothing out the whiskey’s heat with a velvety layer of dried fruit and white flowers. The Armagnac in Hogsworth whiskey dates back to 1982, one of the most legendary years on record for producing this iconic French brandy.

Ingredients: 

• 1.5 oz Hogsworth bourbon
• 1 oz. Campari
• 1 oz Dolin Red Vermouth

Directions: 

Stir in a cocktail shaker. Garnish with an orange twist and a crispy bacon strip.

One of the great disappointments of my college years was when Massachusetts outlawed FourLokos, neon-colored malt liquor infused with caffeine, during my freshman year. Fortunately, plenty of great cocktails exist that provide a similar delightful jolt of alcohol and caffeine—most of which taste far better than FourLokos. 

The Espresso Martini has been hyper-trendy for a while now, and in cocktail bars across the world, you’ll find extravagant variations with flourishes like mocha ice cream and chili syrup. I like to keep it simple: just vodka, coffee liqueur, and fresh espresso. For espresso liqueur, my preference lies with Galliano Espresso, an Italian coffee liqueur balanced with vanilla, anise, and cinnamon. It somehow tastes even more like coffee than coffee itself—like the very soul of coffee captured in glass. 

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Vodka
• 1 oz Galliano Espresso
• 1 oz Espresso
• Three Espresso Beans 
• Ice

Directions:

Add ingredients and ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with three espresso beans. 

Another close cousin of the Negroni, the Sbagliato Rosso harmonizes bitterness, sweetness, and effervescence. In Italian, sbagliato translates to mistaken or wrong—a nod to the cocktail’s accidental creation when sparkling wine was used instead of gin in a Negroni. This happy mistake resulted in a drink that is lighter and more playful than its predecessor. I add a hit of Ponti Cherry Condiment, a fruit-infused balsamic vinegar, for tanginess and texture. The Sbagliato Rosso is the perfect libation for those glorious autumn afternoons spent relaxing on the porch.

Ingredients: 

• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
• 1 oz Lambrusco di Modena
• ½ tsp Ponti Cherry Condiment (Balsamic Vinegar)
• Orange slice and maraschino cherry for garnish

Directions:

Combine all ingredients over ice in a glass. Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. 

Like my ex from South Texas, this cocktail is something of an Italian-Mexican love child. It might sound like a convoluted fusion attempt, but it works wonderfully. For the tequila, go with a dark, rich añejo, the class of tequila most resembling whiskey, which is the traditional base of an Old Fashioned. If you can get your hands on it, pour in Herradura Legend Añejo, a Jalisco tequila aged like bourbon in scored and charred new American oak barrels. When I need to take it easier on my body, I use Quarter Proof Tequila, an agave spirit with robust flavors but only 15% ABV. Tinker with different types of amari to add bitterness and depth—Nonino, Averna, or Montenegro are some of my favorites. 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Tequila 
• 0.5 oz Amaro
• 0.25 oz simple syrup 
• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters
• Orange peel, for garnish

Directions: 

Combine Ingredients in a shaker with ice. Stir the mixture until chilled, about 20-30 seconds. Stra

In the 19th century, Italian royal courtiers savored a bergamot liqueur known as rosolio in the hours between dueling, hunting, and seducing each other’s wives. Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto, an homage to this aristocratic tipple, combines Calabrian bergamot with stridently flavored botanicals like Sicilian lemons and gentian, a flower also used in Campari and Aperol. While the zippy flavor of bergamot dominates, the liqueur smells as floral as an outdoor wedding on the shores of Sicily. Italicus is complex enough to stand alone but pairs wonderfully with Italian grapefruit soda like San Pellegrino Pompelmo.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto
• 2 oz. Tonic or Grapefruit Soda
• Ice

Directions:

Pour Italicus over ice and top with tonic or grapefruit soda

While most amari use a neutral grain spirit as their base, Savoia uses fine Italian wine, with Trebbiano, an aromatic white grape, dominating the mixture. Savoia, a Piedmont amaro inspired by a 19th-century recipe, contains over 20 botanicals, including exotic ingredients like quassia wood. Quassia contains quassin, one of the most bitter flavor compounds known, but the bitterness is mellowed by the sweetness of the wine and herbs like rhubarb and cinnamon.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Savoia
• 1.5 oz Campari
• Ice

Directions:

Pour over ice in a highball glass, top with soda water, and garnish with an orange twist.

Like the Mediterranean port town of Menton, the Le Moné spritz is a Franco-Italian hybrid, a melding of the souls of the Latin and the Gallic. This cocktail is as easy to make as it is refreshing and crushable. Simply combine Le Moné, a citrusy bubbly mixer, with a good prosecco. Add ice, garnish with fresh citrus, and—pronto!—you’ve got a spritz as bright and uplifting as the sunshine of the Amalfi Coast. Serve it in a wine or Champagne glass. 

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ oz Le Moné
• 1 ½ oz Prosecco
• Ice

Directions:

Pour over ice in a wine or Champagne glass and garnish with a lemon slice.