Bitter

Quinine is the engine here. Fluère leans on a herbaceous quinine bitterness and then cushions it with syrupy sweetness, orange zest and a run of rosemary, so the bottle behaves like a red aperitivo bitter without the alcohol. The intended use is a spritz, poured long over ice with soda and a citrus twist, though it holds up in stirred drinks where you want something with a bit of push. Production is the interesting part. The Amsterdam company distils each botanical on its own using hydro steam distillation and blends the separate distillates afterward rather than running everything through one pot, and the finished bottles are tunnel pasteurised for a shelf life around two years. Fluère lists a Double Gold and a Best of Show among the competition results for this one.