“Pineapple amaro” sounds engineered in a lab to get tiki nerds and aperitivo devotees—plus anyone who enjoys a shortcut—to gather around its golden bottle. It sounds, perhaps, too good to be true. But I’m happy to report that Heirloom’s Pineapple Amaro is actually as good as it sounds.
Flavored spirits have gotten a bad rap. Some are cloying or gimmicky, others delicious but not versatile enough to justify the shelf space. But this spirit folds seamlessly into so many drink templates that it more than earns its place on any home bar.
One of the most obvious applications for the amaro is in tropical drinks, lending a bitter edge to the Piña Colada or Mai Tai. While Tammy Bouma, a Denver-based bar manager, recommends it as part of a split base in a Daiquiri, she also likes it in a range of nontropical drinks, too. Try it as a replacement for the Cointreau in a Margarita, she says, “or in a Black Manhattan variant, especially for warmer weather.”
But the best thing about pineapple amaro is its ability to shine on its own. Punch contributor and amaro expert Brad Thomas Parsons enjoys this bottling and Dolin Blanc vermouth in a Milano-Torino-like preparation, and he’s found that it fluffs up well when given the shakerato treatment. Served neat, it’s a brighter take on a digestif; topped with bubbles, its aromatics open up. “I am just such a sucker for it,” Bouma sums up. “It works anywhere I would look for a modifier—but mostly I drink it with soda water.”
