Forthave Spirits Red Aperitivo Aperitif 750ml

Forthave Spirits was founded in Brooklyn in 2016 by painter Aaron Fox and writer Daniel de la Nuez, who set out to understand how their favorite botanical liqueurs were actually made. The company takes its name from a fifteenth-century botanist whose plague-fighting elixir inspired their approach, and it has since built a library of amaros, aperitivos, and digestifs from a working collection of over 200 botanicals, all produced in small batches at their Bed-Stuy facility.

Red Aperitivo is built from 13 organic-certified botanicals, including bitter orange, gentian, chamomile, and rose, along with rhubarb root and several varieties of cinnamon. Forthave sources organic, non-GMO sugarcane spirit from Brazil as its base and either macerates or pot distills each botanical individually to draw out its particular character before blending. The liqueur is sweetened with organic turbinado sugar and gets its deep garnet color entirely from plant-based sources like black carrots and hibiscus, with no artificial coloring involved. It's bottled at 24% ABV.

The nose opens with rhubarb, fresh red berries, and orange peel, moving into a juicy palate of grapefruit, rose, and pomegranate, rounded out by candied strawberry sweetness. Throughout, a gentle but persistent bitterness from gentian and mugwort keeps the profile from tipping too sweet. It stands in for Campari or other Italian red bitters in classic cocktails like the Negroni, and holds up equally well with just a splash of soda water.