Veneto
Padova
Not long ago, after receiving a call from a well-known Roman Wine Shop, I met a young liqueur producer for a tasting of his product portfolio and was very favorably surprised. His name is Dave Garzon, 100% Venetian, a former globetrotter bartender, now a successful entrepreneur, first as a consultant and now as a producer of fantastic spirits, his partner in crime Francesco Mortai, Bolognese class ’73, manager and owner of clubs and bars in Venetian until 1999 when he decided with Dave to marry Food & Beverage. In 1999 together they give life to the Flairtender company for Food & Beverage consultants and then finally they created the ABOUT TEN Liquori in 2011, a liquors company that puts in just a few years in its portfolio four products of excellent workmanship following 3 important Rules in their work.
NO TERRITORIALITY OF THE PRODUCT – The botanicals used in their mixes do not represent territoriality as was used in the liqueur of the past, but range from choosing spices from all over the world and not in the areas of production. Among these, the Brazilian Tonka Bean, the Italian Juniper, the Calabrian Bergamot or the Chinese Rhubarb: therefore no limit to the creativity of the aromas.
PURE CRAFTSMANSHIP: The About Ten works only with natural extractions, calling itself “the artisans of themselves”.
NO ANCIENT RECEIVED RECIPE: but rather recipes made by themselves thinking their products at 360 degrees, without being inspired by anyone or other existing recipes, but through great research and many tests in the laboratory.
The About Ten portfolio consists of
CINICO – firstborn, liquor with the predominant taste of Cinnamon, but also in the mix of Rhubarb and Ginger.
GREEDY GIN – It is a citrus, floral and balsamic Gin made up of 18 botanicals from all over the world but with an important base of Italian citrus fruits.
ECCENTRICO – third product, perhaps not the first, but one of the few liqueurs in the world obtained by maceration of Tonka Beans.
BITTER TENACE – and finally the last born at About Ten and the one that most inspired us of Amaro Obsession which I will now tell you about.
Bitter Tenace, last born. Presented for the first time in May 2018 at the Perfect Serve Bar Show in Amsterdam where we of Amaro Obsession presented our seminar. It was born from the idea of creating a Bitter – Amaro with natural characteristics, both in color (its color is derived from the extraction of herbs and spices) and in the use of botanicals, many of which are used in the production of other products of the portfolio. The underlying theme of the About Ten products are the aromas and flavors; their presence and their persistence is important in their creation; result only of good craftsmanship. The Bitter Tenace is a “savory” Bitter where a bitter note prevails, given by the separate extractions of Rhubarb and China (present in Cynical and Eccentric), enriched with wormwood Romano, the Artichoke and the Gentian. In addition, a spicy note, obtained from the separate extraction of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and Tonka Bean. The balsamic-spicy note instead comes through the use of Cardamom (the latter extracted by distillation). Next come flowers like Lavender (the same variety found in the Greedy Gin), Rose and Chamomile. Finally, the citrus note which, compared to the classic Bitters, is kept slightly lower using Bergamot, Sweet Orange and a Bitter Orange. In total 16 different natural elements are used, extracted individually using a pure grain distillate. The extractions take place individually (for infusion, maceration and redistillation) once the aromatic peaks have been assembled, after a very light filtration to eliminate the naturally formed sediments, the mix is left to rest in steel silos for about 3 weeks to then be bottled. Each product in the portfolio shows an adjective as a name, all the names refer to an aphorism on the label: Bitter Tenacereports an aphorism of the first woman who flew. In all the labels a volatile is represented referring to the name of the liqueur: Bitter Tenace has a Chaffinch which is notoriously “tenacious”. The flight represents, belonging to the world without borders; the flight also represents looking further afield; like the company philosophy according to which, which insists on operating in a different and surprising way without standard ideas or lack of originality. The label definition of “Bitter naturally Amaro” indicates a “non-distinction” between Bitters as we know it (placed in consumption for the aperitif), and Amaro (placed as a digestive for after-dinner). In reality, the two things match and Bitter Tenace is in effect both an excellent Bitter for mixology and an excellent digestive. This is to remind everyone that Bitters like Amaro are part of the Amaro Macrocosm, they can be considered a sub-category which, due to taste and preparation, is more suitable as an aperitif than as a digestive
To learn more about Bitter Tenaceand his brothers contact
About Ten
Via delle Gramogne, 65
35127 Padova PD
Tel. +39 3939784300
Matteo Zed
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