Amaro

At Vessel, in Seattle, the bar manager, Jamie Boudreau, starts his cherry bitters by combining separate bourbon- and rye-based infusions with a touch of honey-flavored vodka and the Italian digestif amaro.

In addition, there's a full bar, with some excellent specialty cocktails and a good list of grappa, amari and dessert wines.

There are two dozen cocktails and shots, from whiskey punches to tiki-style drinks. (The three-rum old-fashioned should be a summertime classic.) There's a hearty focus on the bitter Italian aperitifs known as amaros.

“Yeah, okay,” we smirked. But we crafted elaborate, absurd concoctions. We layered amaros and ports in medicine vials.