Email Interview with Stephen Sakulsky of Amaro Angeleno

Kapu: What inspired the creation of a new Amaro based on the ecology of California?

A few things inspired us. One my family has been in Los Angeles Since the early 1900’s. I am a true Angeleno, love this city and state. I grew up surfing up and down the coast, skiing in the mountains. and hiking in the hills. Southern California is truly the greatest place to be. It is so vast with different landscapes and cultures. Secondly, my biz-partner Wes and I have been in hospitality for over a decade and myself personally involved in the running of Italian restaurants here in Los Angeles. A little over 3 years ago I met Wes at an Italian restaurant and we started growing the amari selection. We grabbed at it all, including any domestic amaro that came our way.

Stephen: However when it came to the domestic we thought something was missing. When you look at amari in Italy from the mountains you have dark and strong Alpine amari and as you move down and get to Sicily you're getting lighter sweeter amari that have high citrus notes etc. Each and every Amaro are very representative of the land, culture and people where they are made. They are all Of Place.

When we, at Amaro Angeleno, started looking at the American Amaro market we were not seeing anything that were "of place.” We just saw these "gentian bombs" trying to mimic what the Italians do. With that said, we made a true Southern California Amaro. An Amaro of Place. It's high citrus because LA/OC were all citrus orchards at one time. It's light because we're by the ocean and it represents our southern Californian lifestyle. It's approachable and drinkable. Which makes it able to be enjoyed by a large diverse population, such as Los Angeles.

Kapu: The wine and orange invoke the agricultural heritage of the state. What other environments informed that flavor profile?

Stephen: Yep, the big notes are the citrus and vinous quality. When in R&D we made sure that all the ingredients were either native to or grown here in SoCal or relevant to our culture. I can’t say what all of them are (State Secret) but they are all readily grown here. However we had some ingredients that we had to replace due to their classification by the FDA. Also, as I mentioned above, we wanted it to be versatile so everyone can enjoy it. Not just the bartenders and industry folk but my 75 year old mother and people who don’t necessarily like bitter. We wanted it to be able to be enjoyed/used by all people and cultures.

Kapu: How long was Angeleno in development?

Stephen: We were in R&D for over 2 years. We did a test batch and “aged” it. However we didn't want to be sitting on a lot of product for a year of aging so the main thing was to figure out a way around the aging process or at least to speed it up. We figured it out and cut down the year to 2 weeks…

Kapu: How did the you arrive at brandy as a base spirit? Did you distill your own during R&D? Which grape varietal?

Stephen: In the beginning, we started with store bought bottles of cheap high proof vodka and vermouth. But once we got to the distillery, we all agreed that we could cut out some phases and costs if we bought bulk wine and distilled it. We not only use brandy but fortified wine as well. (we make both) That was the first thing we did. I personally drove 18 tons of pinot grigio down from Paso Robles to the Distillery. We almost died because the truck was over loaded by 2 tons and going down the SLO incline the truck had to be put into neutral and we just had to barrel down the hill, because the brakes were burning up and the truck was red-lining. Once we got the brandy and fortified wine made we really got to work in developing the final flavors and ingredient ratios. We had to start from scratch with the brandy and fortified wine. We wanted to makes sure we could keep producing the same amaro every time. Wes has a degree in chemistry so he came up with all the math and ratios to make it so we can get the same product time after time no matter how much we’re producing, 1,000 bottles or 10,000 it is all the same.

Kapu: Are the verbena, thyme, and gentian mentioned in the tech sheetall the native varieties?

Stephen: The verbena and thyme and rue are grown and picked at a local farm in Los Angeles. The gentian is grown here but getting our hands on the true native gentian species is tough and costly.

Kapu: Is honey used as the sweeter? If so, is it California honey too?

Stephen: No, honey and really not that much sugar at all. The only sweetness is coming from the fortified wine (pure cane sugar) and the orange peels.