In Italy — no matter the region — meals customarily end with small cups of amaro, a traditional bittersweet herbal liqueur.
In America, the amaro tradition has grown steadily in popularity, especially at accomplished, innovative Italian restaurants such as Bar Marco in the Strip District.
Jason Renner, Bar Marco’s affable and famously bewhiskered bartender, champions the restaurant’s amaro program.
But early on in his career, Renner had no idea about the liqueur. He had to learn.
End-of the-meal tradition
A Baltimore native, Renner came to Pittsburgh in his late teens to study at the old Institute of Culinary Arts. Though, he quickly realized that learning culinary skills in textbooks and classrooms was not for him.
Instead, he enrolled in the well-known “school of hard knocks” and embarked on a diverse restaurant career, working as a banquet server, dish washer, line cook and even overnight shift manager at a well-known pizza chain.
“We dealt with a lot of customers who were not completely sober,” Renner recalled. “I learned how to deal effectively with intoxicated patrons even before I ever set foot behind a bar as a bartender.”
Eventually, he landed a gig as a server at an upscale South Side restaurant. That was where he started studying mixed drinks and cocktails.
“This was before the craft cocktail craze emerged,” he says. “Our bartender had a simple approach to mixed drinks: When in doubt, make it red and the customers will be happy.”
Next, Renner worked as a bartender at Nico’s Recovery Room in Bloomfield, basically a shot-and-beer joint in a neighborhood with an Italian heritage.
He covered lunch shifts where the older Italian regulars spoke English as a second language. Renner eventually worked evenings and Saturday nights, which could be crushed with business. There was still no amaro on offer then, but he learned “to work fast and efficient,” making many friends in the neighborhood and the local bar scene along the way.
Renner supplemented his experience working as a part-time server at Spoon, a former high-end dining room in East Liberty. He also bartended at The Livermore, a craft beer and cocktail establishment, just as craft cocktails took off in popularity.
As his experiences increased, he joined the Pittsburgh chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild, which he credits with expanding his knowledge and local contacts.
He met legendary Pittsburgh bartender and author Sean Enright, who worked at Bar Marco, and through Enright, he met Bar Marco founders Justin Steele, Kevin Cox and Bobby Fry.
One thing led to another and Renner received an offer to move to Bar Marco as a salaried server with full health care benefits. It was appealing to no longer depend on tips while also having an opportunity to be involved creatively as a member of Bar Marco’s team.
Besides Enright, the team at that time included chefs Jamilka Borges and Dianne Destefano, now of Lilith in Shadyside.
“The current owner, Justin Steel, views Bar Marco as an opportunity to stand out in the competitive Italian restaurant market, but using high-quality items and unique, fresh ingredients in the kitchen, on the wine list and at the bar,” Renner notes. “When you come to Bar Marco, you’ll always be able to discover something new.”
As he continued learning about Italian culture and cuisine, he realized that amari could and should play an important role in Bar Marco’s customer offerings.
“In Italy, amari are considered a digestivo, that is, a small drink that helps start digesting after a delicious meal,” he notes. “The bitterness in an amaro signals to your brain and body to start digesting. And the slight sweetness and other flavors put a nice end point to the meal.”
The challenge came in selling it to Pittsburghers who, for the most part, were not familiar with the end-of-meal tradition.
Renner settled on the idea of offering amaro flights that allowed customers to try smaller samples of three styles. Three tastes cost $16 whereas a single full serving of one amaro runs $12-$14.
“The flights started selling left and right,” he says. “People were willing to try something new without first committing to a full serving.”
It also created opportunities to start conversations with customers as they began learning about and enjoying the digestivos.
“After having a flight for the first time, many customers come back and are excited to tell what they liked the first time,” Renner says. “It’s fun to talk with them and walk them through new discoveries.”
Diversity of styles
Typically, Bar Marco’s amari list carries around 25 offerings with most coming from Italy. Since each one is unique, generalizing about styles is not easy.
Amari originated in Europe’s monastic times when monks began concocting “medicinal” liqueurs from neutral base alcoholic spirits macerated with herbs, flowers, spices, and bittering agents. Aging in wooden barrels served to mellow the amari while pulling all the flavors together.
The recipes endured even as production moved to more industrial techniques. Today, they range from 16%-35% ABV.
Renner mentions several broad amari categories.
Ultra-bitter amari, such as Fernet Branca, deliver intense even abrasive bitterness balanced with notes of mint and black tea with residual sweetness. The bittering agents include bitter aloe, gentian, quinine, rhubarb and peppermint.
Rabarbaro amari rely primarily on Chinese rhubarb as the bittering agent. Renner says this style carries a “super punch” balanced with sweetness and distinct smoky notes.
Alpine amari come from northern Italy’s mountainous regions. Several well-known selections come from north of Milan in Valtellina, a region also renowned for its exquisitely well-balanced red wines made from Nebbiolo grapes. These amari typically use a combination of alpine herbs, wild berries, gentian root (for bitterness), peppermint, wormwood, juniper and yarrow. The sweetness balances seamlessly with the bitterness.
Sweeter southern Italian amari such as the Averna from Sicily and Vecchio Magazzino Doganale’s “Jefferson Amaro Importante” from Calabria balance sweet intensity and concentration. Distinctive flavors of lemons, oranges and herbs add interest.
Renner enjoys discussing and pouring all the styles and variations.
“My favorite amaro is the next one that I haven’t tried before,” he says.
Here are a few highlights to enjoy at Bar Marco
Bràulio
This alpine amaro still comes from the mountain village of Bormio, where it was created in 1875.
“Bràulio has everything,” Renner says. “It has a perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness. Then the aromas of pine needles and herbs come through. It delivers all the right notes to elevate happiness after a good meal.”
Ramazzotti
This amaro from Milan includes the kola nut in its production. Not surprisingly, Ramazzotti has a lot of sweet caramel cola flavors balanced with bitterness and aromas of brown spices and flowers. Very pleasant and easy drinking.
Luxardo Abano
A relatively new creation from 1952, Luxardo Abano is nonetheless one of the most popular amari in Italy. It comes from the Veneto region in northeast Italy, which boasts famous cities such as Verona and Venice.
Luxardo Abano features medium bitterness from wild herbs, but it also boasts spicy notes of cardamom, cinnamon and bitter orange peel. In Italy, it often is served over ice and even with a touch of soda water.
It’s very effective as a digestivo.
Cocchi “dopo teatro”
This amaro comes from vermouth, a wine fortified with neutral spirits and flavored with various plants and spices.
In the case of “doppo teatro” (which literally means “after theater), a base ingredient is Barolo Chinato, essentially a fancy vermouth that starts with Barolo red wine, the king of Piedmontese wines in northwest Italy.
The amaro also adds a double dose of cinchona, which is the bark of a flowering mountain plant. This creates some distinctive quinine notes. The sweetness is well balanced and subtle. Doppo teatro is also relatively low in terms of alcohol content at only 16% ABV.
The amaro is delicious and refreshing while still working effectively as a digestivo.
Cheers!
Dave DeSimone (daveswinecellar.com), a Pittsburgh-based freelancer, is a certified French Wine Scholar who has been writing about wine, food and travel for more than 30 years.
First Published: March 21, 2025, 8:00 a.m.
Updated: March 22, 2025, 1:52 a.m.
