Faccia Brutto Amaro Gorini
Faccia Brutto is a line of liqueurs crafted by Patrick Miller, formerly of Rucola Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to opening Rucola, he worked for 14 years at restaurants around the world. He grew up in an Italian family in Los Angeles and was strongly influenced as a child by his Italian mother and grandparents.
This amaro is named for Patrick's grandmother, Lena Pianta (Gorini was her maiden name). She loved southern Italian spirits and he says this one would’ve made her bar cart. A blend of 13 botanicals including gentian, rhubarb root, fennel seed, and sweet and bitter orange rest for 3 weeks in non-GMO neutral grain spirit. The mixture is proofed down to 40% abv and barrel aged in used whiskey barrels for a minimum of 3 months. When it’s ready to go, it is sweetened with organic cane sugar as well as organic caramel color. More fresh orange peel is added that sits another several days. It’s strained again and bottled. Bottled at 22% abv.