Top Things to Know
about Apéritifs & Digestifs
Think of them as the bookends of dinner.
An apéritif (uh-PAIR-uh-TEEF) — LISTEN is traditionally served before a meal to awaken the appetite, encourage conversation, and ease everyone into dinner.
A digestif (dee-jes-TEEF) — LISTEN comes after the meal, when nobody is in a hurry to leave and somebody inevitably says, “Well...maybe just one.”
The traditions are especially associated with Europe, where drinking before and after a meal became part of the social experience rather than simply another opportunity to order alcohol.
And although we often say a digestif “aids digestion,” I'd soften that claim. That's the traditional idea, not a medical guarantee. Some digestifs are extremely high in alcohol, and science isn't exactly prescribing a Fernet after lasagna.
Apéritifs: Before Dinner
France calls it an apéritif. Italy calls the tradition aperitivo.
Both are about more than the drink. The idea is to transition from the workday into the evening—to sit, talk, nibble on something, and stimulate the appetite before dinner.
A good apéritif is generally lighter, drier, refreshing, and often pleasantly bitter rather than rich or heavily sweet.
In Italy, aperitivo often includes small snacks such as olives, nuts, cheese, or chips.
Basically, happy hour went to Europe and learned some manners.
Popular Apéritifs
Bitter & herbal:
Aperol · Campari · Cynar · Suze · Select · Cappelletti
Wine-based & aromatized:
Lillet Blanc · Lillet Rosé · Cocchi Americano · Cocchi Rosa · dry vermouth · blanc/bianco vermouth
Fortified wines:
Fino Sherry · Manzanilla Sherry · dry Madeira
Bubbles:
Champagne · Prosecco · Cava
Other classics:
Pimm's No. 1 · Dubonnet · Pastis
Popular Apéritif Cocktails
Aperol Spritz — Aperol, Prosecco, soda
Americano — Campari, sweet vermouth, soda
Negroni — gin, Campari, sweet vermouth
Campari & Soda — exactly what it sounds like
Pimm's Cup — Pimm's, sparkling mixer, fruit and herbs
Kir — crème de cassis and white wine
Kir Royale — crème de cassis and Champagne
Champagne Cocktail — Champagne, sugar and bitters
Hugo Spritz — elderflower, Prosecco, soda and mint
Wine Spritzer — wine and sparkling water
The Spritz deserves special attention today. What began as a regional European drinking tradition became an international phenomenon, with the Aperol Spritz helping introduce an entirely new generation to aperitivo culture.
Digestifs: After Dinner
A digestif is traditionally enjoyed after a meal.
Where apéritifs tend to be light and appetite-opening, digestifs are often richer, stronger,
sweeter, more bitter, aged, herbal—or some combination of all five.
This is the time for Cognac, amaro, aged whiskey, grappa, Fernet, Chartreuse, or that mysterious bottle your Italian grandfather kept in a cabinet that nobody under eighteen was allowed to touch.
Europeans have traditionally embraced the leisurely after-dinner drink more enthusiastically than Americans. American restaurants often depend on turning tables; European dining culture has historically been more accepting of guests lingering over coffee, conversation, and a final drink.
Nobody is standing behind you holding the check and staring at your empty dessert plate.
Popular Digestifs
Amaro & herbal liqueurs:
Fernet-Branca · Averna · Montenegro · Cynar · Braulio · Ramazzotti · Chartreuse
Brandies & grape spirits:
Cognac · Armagnac · Calvados · Grappa · Pisco
Aged spirits:
Aged rum · whiskey · añejo and extra-añejo tequila
Liqueurs:
Limoncello · Sambuca · Grand Marnier · Bénédictine · Drambuie · B&B
Fortified wines:
Port · Madeira · sweet Sherry · sweet vermouth
Popular Digestif Cocktails
Brandy Alexander — Cognac/brandy, crème de cacao and cream
Grasshopper — crème de menthe, crème de cacao and cream
Rusty Nail — Scotch and Drambuie
B&B — brandy and Bénédictine
Black Russian — vodka and coffee liqueur
White Russian — vodka, coffee liqueur and cream
Stinger — Cognac and crème de menthe
Amaro: Italy's After-Dinner Obsession
This deserves its own section because amaro has become so important to modern American cocktail bars.
Amaro (ah-MAR-oh) means “bitter” in Italian. Amari is the plural.
These bittersweet herbal liqueurs are made using combinations of roots, herbs, bark, flowers, citrus peels, spices, and other botanicals.
Recipes are often closely guarded secrets.
Popular examples include:
Fernet-Branca — aggressively bitter, minty and herbal
Averna — dark, bittersweet, caramel and herbal
Montenegro — lighter, floral, citrusy and bittersweet
Ramazzotti — dark, herbal, orange and spice
Braulio — alpine herbs and botanicals
Cynar — famously associated with artichoke, although it contains numerous botanicals
And here's the fun part:
Cynar can be both an apéritif and a digestif.
No border patrol checks bottles between dinner courses.
Apéritif vs. Digestif
The categories aren't absolute.
Some drinks comfortably live on both sides of dinner. Vermouth, Sherry, amaro, Champagne, and even certain cocktails can move around depending on tradition and personal preference.
The easiest way to remember the basic idea is:
APÉRITIF → light, dry, crisp, bubbly or bitter → before dinner
DIGESTIF → rich, aged, sweet, herbal or bitter → after dinner
Or even easier:
Apéritif: “What's for dinner?”
Digestif: “I ate too much.”
Fun Apéritif & Digestif Facts
Campari's Red Color Once Came From Insects
Historically, Campari's famous red color came from carmine, a natural dye produced from cochineal insects.
They dry and process the insects to extract the brilliant crimson pigment.
Campari stopped using carmine in its standard formulation in the mid-2000s, but cochineal-derived coloring is still used in some foods and cosmetics today.
So yes, your lipstick and strawberry yogurt may have more in common
than you wanted to know.
Who's ready for happy hour?
James Bond's Lillet Doesn't Exist Anymore
In Ian Fleming's 1953 novel Casino Royale, James Bond orders the drink that became the Vesper, calling for gin, vodka and Kina Lillet.
There's a problem if you want to recreate it today:
Kina Lillet no longer exists in its original form.
The formula was changed in the 1980s, resulting in the softer, less bitter product now known as Lillet Blanc. Bartenders frequently substitute Cocchi Americano because its quinine bitterness is considered closer to the original Kina Lillet.
Apparently even James Bond cocktails eventually get discontinued.
Grappa Is Made From Winemaking Leftovers
After grapes are pressed for wine, you're left with skins, seeds, pulp and sometimes stems called pomace.
Instead of throwing it away, Italians distill it into grappa.
Basically, winemakers looked at a pile of grape scraps and thought:
“We can make booze out of that.”
And they did.
Grappa is legally a pomace spirit and is traditionally associated with after-dinner drinking in Italy.
But Pisco Is NOT Pomace Brandy
Although grappa and pisco are both grape spirits, they're made very differently.
Grappa is distilled from the pomace left after winemaking.
Pisco is distilled from fermented grape juice/wine, not the discarded skins and seeds.
Peru and Chile produce it under each country's respective regulations.
Same fruit.
Completely different trip through the distillery.
Fernet-Branca Became a Bartender Handshake
For years, Fernet-Branca (fair-NET Braun-CUH) —LISTEN developed an almost cult-like following among bartenders, particularly in the United States.
Ordering a shot became so associated with hospitality workers that Fernet earned a reputation as the unofficial “bartender's handshake.”
It's intensely bitter, herbal, and medicinal-tasting.
Which apparently made bartenders think:
“You know what I need after making drinks all night?
Something difficult.”
Chartreuse Is Made by Monks
Few bottles behind a bar have a story quite like Chartreuse.
Carthusian monks have produced the herbal liqueur in France for centuries using a famously secret formula involving 130 plants, herbs, flowers, bark, roots and spices.
Only a tiny number of monks know the complete recipe at any given time.
The monks have also deliberately limited production rather than endlessly expanding to meet worldwide demand.
It's one of the rare situations where the manufacturer's response to increased sales was essentially:
“No, thank you.”
Limoncello Lives in the Freezer
In Italy, limoncello is traditionally served extremely cold, often directly from the freezer, in small chilled glasses after a meal.
It's particularly associated with southern Italy and the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento and surrounding regions famous for lemons.
If life gives Italians lemons, they apparently know exactly what to do with them.
Sambuca Comes With Coffee Beans
Order sambuca con la mosca in Italy and your glass may arrive with coffee beans floating in it. Con la mosca means “with the fly,” a reference to the beans resembling little flies floating on the clear liqueur.
Traditionally, three coffee beans are commonly used and are popularly said to symbolize health, happiness and prosperity.
Considerably more appealing once you know the “flies” are coffee.
Louis XIII Cognac
Rémy Martin's Louis XIII is one of the world's most recognizable luxury Cognacs, blended from eaux-de-vie aged over many decades and presented in its famous crystal decanter. Depending on the edition and market, a standard 750 ml bottle today generally costs several thousand dollars.
It has become a pop-culture shorthand for extreme luxury, appearing in films, television and numerous songs.
And yes, it appeared in the 1988 movie Cocktail.
At that price, I'd still want the bottle to sing the song itself.
Modern Apéritifs & Digestifs That Changed the Bar
For decades, many American back bars had a bottle of Campari, maybe some vermouth, and a dusty collection of herbal liqueurs that nobody touched unless a recipe specifically called for them.
Then the craft cocktail movement arrived.
Bartenders rediscovered bitter flavors, old European drinking traditions, amari, vermouth, aperitivo, and lower-alcohol cocktails. Bottles that had spent years collecting dust suddenly became some of the coolest bottles behind the bar.
Bitter was back.
2000s–2010s — Fernet-Branca Becomes the Bartender's Handshake
Of all the strange drinks bartenders could have adopted as their unofficial shot, they chose Fernet-Branca.
The intensely bitter Italian amaro had been around since 1845, but during the modern cocktail revival it developed a cult following among American bartenders. A shot of Fernet shared between industry people became known as the “bartender's handshake.”
Its medicinal combination of herbs, roots, spices, and bitterness wasn't exactly designed for beginners.
And that was probably part of the appeal.
Nothing says “Welcome to the club” like handing someone a drink that tastes like they may have done something wrong.
2010s — The Negroni Goes Mainstream
The Negroni—gin, Campari and sweet vermouth—had been around for nearly a century before suddenly becoming one of the defining cocktails of the modern craft era.
Its rise helped introduce American drinkers to something many weren't accustomed to:
A cocktail that was supposed to be bitter.
Bartenders loved the simple equal-parts recipe, while consumers gradually developed a taste for Campari and other bitter Italian aperitifs.
Then came Negroni Week, launched by Imbibe and Campari in 2013, with participating bars making Negronis while raising money for charitable causes.
The event helped turn an old Italian cocktail into an international drinking occasion.
Apparently, all America needed to embrace bitterness was gin and a hashtag.
2010s — Amaro Takes Over the Back Bar
As the craft cocktail movement grew, American bartenders started exploring Italy's enormous family of bittersweet herbal liqueurs known as amari.
Suddenly bottles such as Averna, Montenegro, Ramazzotti, Cynar, Braulio, Nonino, and Fernet-Branca weren't obscure European curiosities anymore.
Bartenders drank them neat, served them after dinner, mixed them into cocktails, and began collecting increasingly obscure bottles.
Amaro also introduced drinkers to an entirely different flavor vocabulary: bitter herbs, roots, bark, citrus peel, menthol, alpine botanicals, earthiness, and medicinal flavors.
For generations, Americans had been taught that cocktails should taste good.
Bartenders responded:
“Define good.”
2010s — The Aperol Spritz Turns America Orange
Aperol was hardly new—it was created by brothers Luigi and Silvio Barbieri in Padua, Italy, in 1919.
But its transformation into a worldwide phenomenon happened much later.
Campari Group acquired Aperol in 2003 and dramatically expanded the brand internationally. By 2014, Aperol sales in the United States were growing at triple-digit rates, and the Aperol Spritz was rapidly introducing Americans to the Italian aperitivo tradition.
The recipe couldn't be much simpler:
Aperol + Prosecco + soda + orange.
Bright orange, bubbly, refreshing, relatively low in alcohol, and extremely photogenic, the Aperol Spritz became almost impossible to avoid on restaurant patios.
By 2019, Campari was describing the Spritz as one of the world's best-selling cocktails, and Aperol's growth continued dramatically; by 2024 the company said the brand had grown more than fivefold in ten years.
America discovered aperitivo.
Instagram discovered an orange drink in a giant wine glass.
It was a perfect marriage.
2010s–2020s — Chartreuse Becomes a Bottle Bartenders Hunt For
Green and Yellow Chartreuse had been made by Carthusian monks for centuries, but the craft cocktail revival brought renewed attention to the mysterious French herbal liqueurs.
Classic cocktails such as the Last Word returned to menus, while bartenders developed new drinks showcasing Chartreuse's unmistakable herbal character.
Demand eventually became greater than supply.
The monks weren't interested in dramatically increasing production simply because the cocktail world wanted more. Production remained intentionally limited, making Chartreuse increasingly difficult to obtain in many markets.
For bartenders accustomed to spirits companies begging them to buy another case, this was unusual.
Bartenders: “We'd like more Chartreuse.”
Monks: “No.”
And somehow that made everybody want it even more.
2020s — The Spritz Becomes a Category
The success of the Aperol Spritz didn't stop with Aperol.
It helped create an entire modern Spritz culture.
Menus began filling with Campari Spritzes, Hugo Spritzes, Select Spritzes, Cynar Spritzes, Limoncello Spritzes, amaro spritzes, elderflower spritzes, and house creations built around sparkling wine, bitters, liqueurs and soda.
The Spritz also arrived at exactly the right moment for growing consumer interest in lower-ABV and sessionable cocktails.
By 2025, Aperol was running campaigns in more than 30 countries, while Campari Group described the modern Spritz as a global drinking movement.
The formula is wonderfully forgiving:
Something bitter or flavorful + something bubbly + something fizzy.
Add ice, a giant wine glass and an orange slice and suddenly everyone feels vaguely European.
Today — Bitter Is No Longer a Bad Word
Perhaps the biggest change isn't any single bottle.
It's our palate.
Modern cocktail drinkers have become far more comfortable with bitterness, herbal flavors, fortified wines, lower-alcohol cocktails, and drinks that aren't dominated by sweetness.
Campari, Aperol, amari, vermouth, Sherry, Chartreuse and other once-specialty ingredients now appear routinely on cocktail menus. Campari itself notes that consumer interest in bitters, classic cocktails and aperitifs has grown significantly in recent years.
And the rituals have changed along with the drinks.
Aperitivo isn't merely something Italians do before dinner anymore.
Amaro isn't merely something your grandfather drank afterward.
The Negroni isn't an obscure bartender drink.
And the Aperol Spritz certainly isn't hiding from anybody.
It took America a while, but we finally learned to appreciate being bitter.