Move over Malort, Chicago has a new bitter buddy in town. Fractional Spirits, co-founded by Mike Bancroft of Co-op Sauce and Drew Fox of 18th Street Distillery have a new amaro out, it's tart and bright, herby and wonderfully unsweetened, Amaro Da Verde is their take on the French Chartreuse. Appropriate and enjoyable to sip on its own, when made into their Second to Last Word cocktail, recipe on their website, it is all at once sophisticated and fun. I spoke with Bancroft about how two guys from the midwest took their turn with European traditions, their commitment to locally sourced flavors, and how we can even expect them to cater to the dry type of drinker in the future.
What inspired you to take traditional European amari and make it Midwestern?
We're fanatics of all things bitter, and necessity is the mother/inspiration for all of our inventions whether it's Co-op Sauce, Anne's Pastry, the Supper Clubs or our bar program. SBK ran a wholesale pastry program that used more of the zest from citrus than the pith and fruit itself. We ended up with a whole lot of zested citrus and we could only move so many mimosas at the bar, so I started to experiment with odd lots of seasonal and wild foraged ingredients combined with the whole zested citrus. We were really happy with the first iteration that was built around a wood-grown shitake mushroom and used it on our cocktail menu, which was where my friend Drew (owner of 18th Street Distillery) suggested we bottle it. That is where Fractional Spirits was born and how we got into making Midwest infused Amari magic.
The newest creation has French Chartreuse vibes. Does the tradition inspire the creation or are these comparatives happy flavor accidents?
We were striving for green on the tongue that would act in all the ways that Chartreuse works with less alcohol and sugar, and it seems like we are getting close. Each batch will be affected by the seasonal availability of ingredients and we have already begun planning the next batch to be even more visually similar to the Monk's famous green juice, still staying true to the original recipe.
You like to keep things local, including the bottle design, who are some of the growers and purveyors providing your unique flavors?
For this one all of the Rhubarb is coming from our friends at Mick Klug Farms in Michigan. These inputs are the backbone of all our products to keep things at once similar to a style of Amaro but uniquely Midwestern.
You seem to be a true believer in the power of collaboration with Co-op Sauce at Sauce and Bread Kitchen and now by combining forces with 18th Street Distillery. How does teamwork make the dream work?
Without collaboration none of the work I do would ever have happened and I wouldn't have had the joy of finding the people that have similar passions with comparable needs to share resources. The real dream is to learn from people that have scrapped it together as we have... we can ultimately try to take a little something off of each other's plates towards what might be our next move with a little less risk and end of day more unique products that make people happy.
You've done the flavors of Devon Avenue mixed with mushrooms in Fernet Fungo, and the more herbal tart flavors in the Amaro Da Verde, what is next?
We have a wild foraged Indiana Persimmon Amaro/Vermouth in the works that is earthy and a lot of fun. We are also working on a series of hemp-based beverages that will include some of our taste profiles and be non alcoholic!
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