Letterpress Distilling is proud to be a premier producer of some of the finest domestic Italian liqueurs available. All of our products are made with extraordinary care and attention to detail.
Amaro Amorino
Amaro Amorino (ah-moh-REE-noh) is named for my grandfather, Amorino Pinti. Raised in a hillside village in Abruzzo, he went on to open a neighborhood liquor store in the heart of Rome. It was in that store that I learned about the way spirits and wine play a role in daily Italian community.
“Amorino” means “little love” in Italian. As we all know, love can often be bittersweet. So I pay homage to that word and to my “Nonno Morino” with this bittersweet liqueur.
It slots nicely into the light- to medium-bitter end of the amaro spectrum with a solid base of Seville orange peel bolstered by carefully balanced baking spice, earthy notes, and a distinct floral quality.
Amaro Amorino Riserva
This reserve variation on our standard Amaro Amorino is a special treat. Prior to sweetening the amaro, we finish it for at least six months in used whiskey barrels at 100 proof. Bottled at 80 proof this is a more unified but assertive cousin to Amaro Amorino.
Batch Notes
Batch #1 (sold out)
Released: April of 2018
Number of bottles: 478
Barrels: Copperworks American Single Malt (#3 char)
Time in barrel: Six months
Profile: cherry cola, bitter orange, baking spice
Batch #2 (sold out)
Released: September of 2019
Number of bottles: 732
Barrels: Copperworks American Single Malt (#3 char with toasted heads) and 2bar Spirits Bourbon barrels (30 gallon, #4 char)
Time in barrel: Six months
Profile: cherry cola, light smokiness, bacon, bitter orange, baking spice
Batch #3 (sold out)
Released: December of 2020
Number of bottles: ~340
Barrels: Copperworks American Single Malt (#3 char with toasted heads)
Time in barrel: One year
Profile: dark chocolate, light smokiness, bitter orange, baking spice
Batch #4 (sold out)
Released: August 2021
Number of bottles: 322
Barrels: Lawrenceburg, Indiana Rye
Time in barrel: 11 months
Profile: pronounced orange, bright spice notes, light smoke undertones
Batch #5
Released: December 2021
Number of bottles: 356
Barrels: 2bar Bourbon (30 gallon), used once before for Riserva
Time in barrel: 11 months
Profile: deep baking spice, orange peel, soft smoke
Batch #6
Released: September 2022
Number of bottles: 351
Barrels: Copperworks American Single Malt
Time in barrel: 12 months
Profile: cereal/whiskey, vanilla, light orange, baking spice
Batch #7
Released: August 2023
Number of bottles: 590
Barrels: 2bar bourbon > Sons of Vancouver amaretto > 2bar bourbon
Time in barrel: 13 months
Profile: vanilla, bitter almond, light orange, baking spice
Genziana Fernanda
Genziana Fernanda was inspired by a recent trip to Italy when Skip and his wife met up with his mother’s favorite cousin Fernanda. After a typically large and delicious mid-day meal, Fernanda offered them some of the homemade wine-based gentian liqueur that she makes every year. Skip was blown away with the bitter, earthy, and citrusy notes and a seed was planted in his head: he needed to make something like this. Fernanda shared her basic process and Skip then developed a recipe around that process and around the luscious Viognier that he was able to get from one of his favorite wineries, Lullaby.
This first edition of Genziana Fernanda (using Fernanda’s on hand script on the label) was made in collaboration with one of Seattle’s best restaurants and wine bars, L’Oursin. It is round and fruity and luscious with a complex nutty and citrus notes and the earthy nose and medium bitter finish you would expect from a gentian liqueur.
What is gentian?
Gentian is a flowering shrub found high in the mountains of Europe. The very bitter root of the gentian shrub has been used for centuries in digestive medicine and forms the bitter notes that you find in so many amari and other bitter liqueurs throughout Europe and beyond (including Amorino).
A note on storage
Unlike our other liqueurs, Genziana Fernanda will degrade over time. For prolonged freshness, it’s best to refrigerate it after opening. The liqueur will not “go bad,” per se, but it will oxidize slowly if not properly stored. Kept sealed in the refrigerator, however, you can expect at least THREE MONTHS (probably more) of perfect enjoyment.
Limoncello
Named to the TOP 100 SPIRITS of 2021 list by Wine Enthusiast! The top rated liqueur of the year by two full points!
Skip has been tasting limoncello around his family’s table in Rome since he was a boy. When he decided to start a distillery, he knew that he wanted to pay homage to those memories.
Always looking for a way to make things better, though, Skip created Letterpress Limoncello to be “a perfect balance of sweet and heat,” as he likes to say, with a pleasant lemon finish.
Letterpress Limoncello is made the old fashioned way: real lemons and no artificial coloring (sadly, a rarity in commercial limoncello these days; go ahead and look for yourself). In addition, Skip chose to really go back to the roots of limoncello and sweeten it with Pacific Northwest honey instead of simple syrup. Before refined sugar was cheap and ubiquitous, honey was what Italians had for sweetening; once we tasted the extra complexity and superior texture the honey provides, there was no going back…
Arancello Rosso
Like the limoncello, this liqueur is sweetened with honey and beautifully balanced. Unlike the limoncello, there is a pronouced orange character. Arancello Rosso is a natural in whiskey cocktails, as a Cointreau replacement in margaritas, or just as a delicious digestivo.
Arancello Rosso began in 2015 as a spring seasonal release. It was so popular, however, that by 2018 we decided to make enough to last the whole year. It is available at select retailers and through our tasting room/website any time and for every occasion.