Iseya Distillery Scarlet Verde Amaro

30% ABV

A stunning sipping Amaro that comes from a blend of 40 herbs, Wormwood being the most prominent. GREEN GREEN GREEN evoking a spring meadow and citrus, with a delightful balance between bitter and sweet.

Producer Notes:
A truly unique take on the category of amari (bitter liqueurs), Scarlet Verde Amaro bottles the essence of green herbs and bright citrus. Made with more than 40 herbs, many of which are grown without intervention at Iseya Distillery's farm including the wormwood that takes center stage in this expression. It is positively bursting with fresh green flavors that stir the senses, evoking feelings of strolling in a sunlit meadow amongst spring flowers and citrus trees. Serve it with a slight chill or stir it into any cocktail calling for a green herbal liqueur to see what magic you can conjure.

About Iseya Distillery:
Osaka-born Tatsuya Motonaga cut his teeth working at some of the most creative and botanically driven cocktail bars in Asia, including Tokyo’s Bar Benfiddich and WA-SHU in Taipei, Taiwan, before the events of 2020 necessitated a career shift. Drawing on his deep, long-held appreciation of amaro, Motonaga took it upon himself to travel across Europe, visiting over 70 distilleries in an effort to better understand the methodology and production techniques of some of the continent’s oldest producers of botanical spirits and liqueurs. Equipped with this centuries-old knowledge, Motonaga returned to Japan and in 2021 established the Iseya Distillery in a 100-year-old house located less than two kilometers from Lake Sagami.

The Iseya Distillery rents a neighboring farm that grows many of the botanicals used in the production of Scarlet liqueurs, all of which are farmed by Motonaga himself without pesticides and with minimal human intervention. Dried and fresh botanicals are macerated in stainless steel tanks using neutral spirit distilled from sugarcane, and the botanicals are organized either individually or in groups according to four categories: grasses and leaves, roots, woods and barks, and peels. The infusions are meticulously blended, sweetened using beet sugar, honey, or refined sugar depending on the expression,  and then rested in oak casks before being bottled, labeled, and waxed-sealed by hand.

Representing the first commercially packaged and exported Japanese amari, Scarlet has captured the hearts and minds of bartenders and spirits enthusiasts the world over with its expertly crafted range of both continuously produced and limited release bitters, establishing the fledgling brand as one of the most exciting new additions to the contemporary craft landscape.