Amaro Making Kit by OurHands - Make your own amaro italian liqueur from delicious natural botanicals

I'm a great fan of bitters liqueur as an aperitif. The sweetness combined with bitterness and spice makes a great drink when combined with ice, sparkling water or fruit juice. So the idea of making my own with this kit, using cheap vodka as a base, is very attractive and sounded fun. The kit comes with everything need to make around five to six 65cl bottles of bitter liqueur, using just two 70cl bottles of supermarket own-brand vodka, gin or whisky. The supplied spices, herbs and coffee beans are blended together to make three different flavours. Each mix is then crushed in a mortar (or small herb blender) and poured into a measure of the raw spirit. Once sealed up in a bottle or jar the mix is left to steep for 2-3 weeks to develop the flavour. There's lots of friendly advice and inspiration in the accompanying instructions about how to arrive at an acceptable flavour, depending on taste of course. The maker's literature gives a good start in exploring these traditional drinks from Italy and France. Once steeping is done a simple sugar syrup is made from normal caster sugar and water to sweeten the resulting alcoholic blend to taste. Or honey can be used instead to give a different flavour. Making the liqueurs has been easy, it doesn't take long and the flavours have been authentic and delicious. There is a cost-saving as each 70cl bottle of alcohol can produce two bottles of bitters, the sugar syrup bulking up the amount and lowering the alcoholic strength near to that of standard branded equivalents. I've thoroughly enjoyed discovering the secrets of bitters and am now inspired to continue with my own blends, similar to those of Italian and French ones that have been made for centuries. The kit is very good value for the modest price and the packaging makes it an interesting gift. The three different flavours supplied, based on spicy, citrus and coffee blends, are all very acceptable and make a refreshing change from the standard mixers. I recommend this product.

This neatly packed kit makes for a fantastic gift, especially if you know someone who loves making their own jams and homemade liqueurs. The whole process of creating these tasty goodies has a timeless charm that never gets old. Personally, I love the convenience of having all the ingredients bundled together. It can often be a challenge to hunt down all the necessary components for creating traditional and authentic liqueurs. All the spices included in this kit are of exceptional quality and, when following the enclosed recipes, they create a lip-smacking bittersweet aperitif. It is perfect for sipping before or after a meal, and it unquestionably helps with digestion – not to mention how delicious it is! Getting the liqueur ready for tasting usually takes somewhere between 2 to 5 weeks. For those willing to invest in an aromatic, unfiltered raw honey as one of the required ingredients, it not only adds a silky consistency but also adds an extra layer of flavour. In summary, this kit offers excellent value for money, saving me time and effort in procuring all the essential ingredients required to create a truly festive treat for my family and friends to enjoy.

I have never tried amaro before so I was really intrigued by this amaro making kit. It’s really easy to make and along with the items included in the kit, all you need is some cheap vodka (or bourbon), an empty bottle and a little patience. I found it a little difficult to grind the botanicals in a mortar and pestle as they are already quite small so I don’t think it made that much difference by grinding them. You need to shake the bottle frequently and as the two weeks of infusing went on I could see the spirit darkening. It’s a bit of a faff to strain it after infusing but the kit includes everything you need and you just need to add some honey (or sugar syrup) to balance the bitterness of the drink. Now that I have made the vodka infusion, I’m looking forward to trying the bourbon one.

This Amaro making kit by OurHands (a UK company) is just brilliant. Everything about it is quality, from the outside of the box, to the contents inside, to the end result. All you need to provide is a basic inexpensive base spirit of your choice, such as vodka, and some sugar and a glass container with a lid. The botanicals and tools and instructions are inside, and the infusing process is such fun to do! I don’t pretend to know anything about Amaro (now if it were gin, I’d know what’s what) and this makes it all the more intriguing and unusual. I’m going to give one of these kits, and another also by the same company, to friends for Christmas. Gifts sorted - and I know they’ll love them. Vegan friendly, eco friendly, a UK company… I’m a very happy shopper. Highly recommended, and well worth the current price of £15.99.

As long as you have enough vodka and empty bottles this kit includes enough of the spices to make all three recipes. For one of the recipes you do need honey and orange zest, otherwise it’s all in the box. This would make a wonderful present, either for Christmas (as they’re quite wintry flavours) or as a housewarming present and you could gift it alongside a nice bottle of vodka. It should take about two weeks to infuse, and you do need to tip the bottles everyday, especially the one with honey as in the beginning it does tend to separate. The resulting drinks are really tasty and full of flavour, great neat or with some Prosecco or soda water.

really love these guys behind these amazing concepts. it takes a lot of creativity and know how to come up with such amazing products. this one is also a very nice product, which is also a great gift idea. the steps are easy to follow, clearly written and explained. as for the drink itself, whatever i made, it tasted good and i liked it and also loved the experience behind making such a product. For a while imagined that i am in Italy making local liquors.

Really looking forward to making tasty Italian liquors with this kit! Contents exactly as advertised, and fortunately I already have the flip-top bottles ready to be filled.

Gave it to a friend who is a big fan of Amaro, along with a bottle of Bourbon - he was thrilled and said "I've heard about this couple and their company! Can't wait to try this!" It was a hit. Quality packaging, felt good about gifting it too.

I finally remembered to purchase the vodka for infusing my first batch of liqueur from this kit, and while it's still infusing it seems like it's going to turn our very nicely judging by the scent of the botanicals. You get almost everything you need to make your own liqueur in the kit minus the spirits and bottle, as well as an optional mortar and pestle (you can also improvise with a ziploc bag and can for this step). There's a couple strainers, a scoop, the directions, and of course the botanicals. They are all woody/spicy profiles, and after crushing them they smelled amazing! I can't wait to taste the amaro once it's finished infusing!

I really like this, and it is one of those rare products where I am just so pleased by both the concept and execution—and the obvious care applied by the creators—that I hope it becomes a “hit” and the creators have great success with it. I am Italian and a longtime consumer of all varieties of Italian wines, spirits, and digestifs. For those familiar with such things, you know that (1) we Italians love our bitters, and (2) seemingly all of us have our own preferred “secret” or “family” herbal blend for everything from amaro to holiday punch. This particular blend is very good and leans a bit towards a fresher, more citrus side of amaro. You can certainly tweak it to your preference and experiment as you learn what you like and—hopefully—buy more! One tip: Use a glass container for this. For those of you who enjoy digging deeper, this product can be combined with grappa to interesting results. Start with a traditional, pure grappa (I recommend Nonino). For this, you can even use a small wood barrel for a brief time, so long as you don’t go overboard on charring or imparting oak. The results are fun, and to some degree reminiscent of a style rarely found in the US, where actual herbs are placed inside the grappa bottle. Romano Levi’s grappas were among the most masterful of this variety. Sure, it’s not the same; and the herbs and spices are much broader than what would be found in such grappas. Who cares? It’s fun to do all the same. One more suggestion, which is more difficult but an even better fit: I found that this blend works well to approximate a very tasty Barolo Chinato. You can even cheat and use less expensive base nebbiolo than experimenting with the much more expensive—and challenging—prospect of working with bottled Barolo. If you are curious, search online for some tips, and substitute this product for the natural herbal blends. Again, the end result obviously will not be confused for Cappellano’s masterpieces, for example; but again, so what? Have fun with it and enjoy! I know I have been.

This was a fun way to try a new drink. I prepped this with my husband. The worst part of the kit was waiting for the infusion to be complete. We made a nice night out of our uncorking event. We made a nice Italian meal, listened to Sinatra etc. Our toddler was big mad she couldn’t try any.