Whatever Happened to Amer Picon?

Amer Picon is a bitter-sweet French aperitif. ("Amer" is the French version of the Italian "Amaro," which translates as "bitter.") It is sometime drank before a meal to stimulate the appetitite, but more often it's mixed in cocktails, most notably the Picon Punch (the "National Drink of the Basques") and the Brooklyn Cocktail.

Amer Picon was invented by a Frenchman named Gaétan Picon in 1837, and produced by the company he started, the House of Picon. The aperitif starts with dried orange peels that are macerated (soaked) in alcohol and then distilled. (This basically creates a flavored vodka.) The distillate is then infused with gentian root and quinquina (to add bitterness), and topped off with sugar (for sweetness) and caramel (for coloring).

The Picon brand was purchased by one of the predecessor companies of the British drinks conglomerate Diageo years ago. It is no longer produced in its original form, although two replacements — Amer Picon Club and Amer Picon Biere — are supposedly available in France. No version of it has been exported to the United States in at least a couple of decades.

To deepen the pain even further, the recipe of Amer Picon was changed sometime in the 1970′s, and its proof was lowered steadily from 52 to 42 to 36, cutting its alcohol content by over half. (The original version made by Gaétan Picon was much stronger, coming in at 78 proof.) So even if you can find a bottle from the last 30 years, it won't be the good stuff.

Torani Amer is the substitute for Amer Picon that is used most often. As far as I can tell, it's only distributed in California, where it's cheap and easy to find. Or it can be ordered online. Those who know more than I say that the Torani version is a shadow of the real stuff, with far less complexity and orange flavor. It does, however, restore the spirit to its original strength of 78 proof.

Some bartenders, most notably the great Jamie Boudreau of Canon in Seattle, have created recipes of their own to try to duplicate the flavor of the original Amer Picon (see below). Amer Boudreau (Jamie's version) is relatively easy to make, although it does take some time due to the infusion process. I've made some and it really is worth the effort. I think the flavor is clearly superior to that of Torani Amer.

However, if you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own, Torani does fill in well enough. It would be a shame not to enjoy such a great drink as the Picon Punch for want of the key ingredient.

Amer Picon
from Jamie Boudreau, https://spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com/

"Several months ago, after a visit to Zig Zag, the boys there took pity on me as they observed me pining away (yet again) after a bottle of Amer Picon [the original, pre-formula change version] that they had prominently displayed in order to intrigue the recreational bar fly, and infuriate/frustrate the devote barkeep (i.e. me). After months of wistfully wishing that I had developed the fan base that Murray Stenson had acquired from God knows how many decades of bartending in Seattle, ...enabling him to acquire countless obscure spirits whenever one of his regulars goes on vacation, he decided to throw this old dog a bone, and give me one of his bottles (and yes, there are many) of Amer Picon.

After peeing in my pants, jumping up and down with glee, and giving the staff strict instructions not to touch the bottle until I had photographed and tasted it, I settled down to decipher the liquid gold that was in the bottle. What made it so special that it was named in dozens of cocktail recipes, and why wasn't it available now?

After a little bit of research, I discovered that while I had no idea why distribution was pretty much limited to France, the recipe for Amer Picon had changed in the 1970's. Rumor had it that the new Picon was a shadow of its former self, not only in flavor profile, but in proof as well. As I had really enjoyed the taste of the bottle so graciously procured for me, I began to fantasize (as I tend to do when thinking about the bars and spirits of yore) of old Amer Picon, aged, wizened and yet barrel-chested, daring all before him to challenge his greatness.

As I absolutely loved my cocktail experiments with the Amer, I decided that there was no way that I would allow myself to run out of this treasure. I needed to find a source for more, but how? I know of but one person in France, but he rarely comes to this continent, and having him ship bottles of booze from France to here can quickly become costly. So, in my booze-addled mind there was only one solution: make my own.

Step one in the process involved my acquiring some Torani Amer, which from what I understood was America's answer to Amer Picon. Since I live in Washington, California and its wonderful online liquor stores came to the rescue.

Tasting the Torani next to the Picon immediately revealed that they were not the same beast. While Torani had a higher proof, which I enjoyed, it was more vegetal than orange on my palate, and not a good base from which to start my experiment. Having said that, let it be known that Torani Amer can be used in recipes calling for Amer Picon with pleasant results, albeit some adjusting will be needed in ratios and while the drink won't be the same, they will still be darn tasty.

Another base was needed, so I looked to my shelf at my selection of Amaros. Montenegro would be too citrusy, Nonino too sweet, but Ramazzotti, with its orange and chocolate notes, would suit Goldilocks just fine.

Having tasted the Ramazzotti next to the Amer Picon, I noticed that the main difference was the lack of bold, complex orange flavors in the amaro. Figuring that orange tincture would fix the problem, I headed down to the cellar to acquire some of the orange tincture that I had in jars for just such an occasion. Adding it to the Ramazzotti, I realized that while it was really close, it was missing some complexity in the orange department. Looking around for different orange flavors, my eyes fell on a bottle of Stirrings Blood Orange bitters. Would it really be that simple? Apparently the answer was yes! I had discovered the Fountain of Youth, and it was to be bottomless."

AMER BOUDREAU (Amer Picon recreation)

3 bottles Amaro Ramazzotti
7 ½ cups orange tincture (see below)
¾ bottle Stirrings Blood Orange bitters
¾ liter Evian (bottled spring water)

place all ingredients into a container and stir.
allow ingredients to get to know each other for at least one week.
filter and bottle.
keep excess refrigerated.

ORANGE TINCTURE

take any size jar, and fill it half way with dried orange peel.
fill remainder of jar with high-proof vodka (I use Smirnoff Blue Label)
let sit for one to two months
strain and filter
Your final tincture should be a light amber color.

TIPS:
to shorten infusion time, shake three times a day and infuse for three to six weeks
high proof vodka extracts more flavor, so if possible, use Everclear and infuse for three weeks, then, after filtering, add water to bring down the proof.

Recipes using Amer Picon:

Nirvana Cocktail, from Jamie Boudreau
Picon Punch
The Brooklyn Cocktail

Comment by reader:

"Jamie LOVE your blog, your recipes and your way of working very nice! LeNell and I have been talking also about Amer Picon I have been analyzing it as well. I've been finding that a tiny amount of the Torani added into a formula adds a slight bitter edge that the Original has (I have a small amount of the original)

Kevin Perfumekev"