Seattle’s *The Mountaineering Club* boasts over 200 spirits with a concentration on alpine amari. (Photo courtesy of the bar)

At Seattle’s Mountaineering Club, Jenna Rosenbloomcarries over 200 spirits with a focus on alpine amari. Rosenbloom, whose previous gigs include New Orleans’s Barrel Proof and Josephine Estelle, now directs this rooftop bar at the Graduate Hotel, where her drinks come with a view of Mt. Rainier. She uses the flavor variations in her collection of amari to create a range of cocktails.

“When I approach cocktail design,” Rosenbloom told me, “if I start getting up over five or six ingredients, one of them is wrong. Because there are so many products where that work has been done for me.” Rosenbloom believes that amari can represent a sense of place with their specific local flavors. She says that one of her favorites, Braulio, “has been made by the same group of people in the same cave for 100 years.”

Braulio is produced in the Italian town of Bormio, which shares its named with the mountain above town where most of its herbs, flowers, roots and berries are grown. “It tastes mountainy to me,” Rosenbloom says of its flavors that range from pine to sweet black licorice in a bitter herbal finish.

Cardamaro is another of Rosenbloom’s favorites. She calls it a “more interesting version of Cynar,” the amaro made from artichokes. Cardamaro is wine-based and infused with two artichoke relatives, cardoon and thistle. It’s spiced with flavors of ginger and walnut, its bitterness turning toward sweetness in the finish. Rosenbloom likes to use it in place of simple syrup in cocktails.

Going into the Fall and Winter seasons, Rosenbloom set out to create a twist on a classic Whiskey Sour, one that reminded her of a trek in the mountains. “We get a fair amount of requests for a Paper Plane [a classic cocktail that is equal parts Bourbon, Amaro Nonino and Aperol],” she said. Rosenbloom decided to lean into that classic cocktail trend and create a drink that combines equal parts lemon juice, Braulio, Cardamaro and Angel’s Envy Bourbon. She preferred to use Braulio and Cardamaro instead of simple syrup in her version of a sour because the amari bring bitter and sweet flavors to Angel’s Envy Bourbon, which is finished in Port casks and tends to carry a sweetness of its own. When shaken, the drink takes on a slightly creamy texture without the use of egg white. It’s savory, fresh, herbaceous—a drink to transport you with the feeling of crisp alpine air and leaves crunching underfoot.

Ingredients

Cascade Airways

By Jenna Rosenbloom

3/4 ounce lemon juice
3/4 ounce Angel's Envy Bourbon
3/4 ounce Cardamaro
3/4 ounce Braulio

Instructions

Build in a shaker, shake, double strain
Serve up in a Nick and Nora glass.

Spirits Type:

Angel’s Envy Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV:

43.3

Distiller:

Louisville Spirits Group, Louisville Kentucky

Price:

$50

Angel’s Envy Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Named for the Angel’s Share—the spirit that evaporates from the barrel as it ages—this six-year-old Bourbon is silky, filled with scents of chamomile tea, orange marmalade and a touch of vanilla cream soda. It has a quiet power, not stealing the spotlight but rewarding attention. The whiskey is finished in Port wine barrels for three to six months, adding a pop of red-berry fruit and a smooth finish.

Alissa Bica

Based in Los Angeles, California, Alissa Bica is the Associate Editor and Spirits Critic at Wine & Spirits. She is also a sommelier at 71 Above and co-runs the home wine tasting company, Côte Brune and Blonde. In any rare moments of free time, she writes about obscure grape varieties in the blog Off the Beaten Wine Path.