Argala Bitter Liqueur 750ml

Argala was founded in 2011 by childhood friends Enrico Giordana and Piero Nuvoloni-Bonnet, who run the distillery from a converted barn in Boves, in Italy's Piedmont region, beneath the slopes of Monte Besimauda. Giordana inherited a family distilling tradition through the Giordana distillery in nearby Roccavione, founded by his grandfather and closed before his birth, while Nuvoloni-Bonnet brought memories of French pastis from summers spent in Grenoble. The bitter itself grew out of a hike the two took up Besimauda, where they nibbled on wild gentian and alpine herbs along the trail and washed it down with hibiscus tea, an experience that shaped the eventual recipe. The name Argala comes from a Piedmontese dialect word meaning a quiet, contented peace of mind.

The bitter is built from two separate infusions blended together in equal parts: a sweet hibiscus and sugar infusion, and a bitter side made from gentian flowers, orange peel, licorice, wild fennel, rosemary, and ginger, along with other wild herbs gathered from the surrounding mountains. Ingredients are drawn largely from organic farms in the Cuneo valleys. The botanicals undergo cold maceration in a hydroalcoholic base before the liquid is separated and pressed, a process that avoids fining agents and keeps the finished bitter close to its raw ingredients.

The color is a vivid, deep red from the hibiscus infusion. On the nose, gentian's herbal bitterness meets bright orange peel and a floral lift from hibiscus. The palate carries fennel and rosemary alongside a warming touch of ginger, balanced by the tartness of hibiscus, finishing dry and slightly bitter. It's built for cocktails, especially the Negroni Alpino, and works equally well in a spritz.