Clear Almond Liqueur (Amarguinha)

[OldRanch]

Hello all,

After a recent trip to Portugal I discovered the joy of the superior Almond Liqueur, Amarguinha. It's much like it's cousin Amaretto, except I believe much better. If I could describe it to someone who hasn't tried it but is a fan of Amaretto, think of it like a less syrupy, less dessert-y liqueur that lends itself more to a nice lunch on a balcony on a summer day rather than an after dinner sweet in a fancy dinner hall.

All thats to say, I have some bitter almonds, a lemon, and regular raw almonds and want to distill them in a neutral spirit on the air still as an experiment. Does anyone have any recipes for something like this? I haven't distilled it yet, but I want your opinions on a baseline recipe I just winged;

Per Liter of 35%

20 lightly crushed bitter almonds
5 lightly crushed raw almonds
2x 1/4's of a lemon

Digest at 115F +/- for 2 ish hours
Distill as usual

Sweeten with sugar to taste

How do the amounts sound? Anyone try something similar?

[OldRanch]

Bump for visibility

[NZChris]

Start somewhere.

Adjust your recipe for next time.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... s-wiz#ip=1

[tommysb]

This is a mass produced, commodity drink so will not be done with any labour/cost intensive processes. Can pick up a bottle for around 7-8euro (10usd?)

A note - Amarguinha means something like 'the little bitter one' - Amargo meaning bitter (something like Amaro in Italian I guess), 'inha' being the diminutive ending.

From the bottle: Ingredients: Água, açúcar, álcool, aromas e corante caramelo.

Water, sugar, alcohol, flavourings and caramel colouring (E150 I suppose)

You could make your own almond flavouring/essence doing an extraction in a soxhlet and then redistilling. Personally I would just use typical almond food flavouring as I am sure that's what they do. I don't think any distillation will be involved in the process.

You are talking about an abv of 35% but the product is 20%.

[OldRanch]

This is a mass produced, commodity drink so will not be done with any labour/cost intensive processes. Can pick up a bottle for around 7-8euro (10usd?)

A note - Amarguinha means something like 'the little bitter one' - Amargo meaning bitter (something like Amaro in Italian I guess), 'inha' being the diminutive ending.

From the bottle: Ingredients: Água, açúcar, álcool, aromas e corante caramelo.

Water, sugar, alcohol, flavourings and caramel colouring (E150 I suppose)

You could make your own almond flavouring/essence doing an extraction in a soxhlet and then redistilling. Personally I would just use typical almond food flavouring as I am sure that's what they do. I don't think any distillation will be involved in the process.

You are talking about an abv of 35% but the product is 20%.

Thanks for the reply. I'd like to distill my own either essence OR just have the right amount of flavor in the distillate to make it from that. Trying to figure out quantities right now. Also I'm trying to go a bit higher proof since I prefer it

[OldRanch]

Start somewhere.

Adjust your recipe for next time.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... s-wiz#ip=1

I did in fact use the Google search, but every thread I read used extracts, which I don't want to do, and was trying to make a dissarono clone, which I stated I don't want to do.

[NZChris]

You might be out of luck then. Sometimes, you have to be the first.

If you use more almonds than necessary, you can dilute it with neutral to tone it down to where you like it. It's like making your own essence. E.g. I macerated 400g of roasted peanuts in 1000ml of 43% white dog UJSSM for 24 hours, distilled it collecting 500ml, then diluted it 1:1 with aged whiskey to get an intensity I liked.

[tommysb]

Thanks for the reply. I'd like to distill my own either essence OR just have the right amount of flavor in the distillate to make it from that. Trying to figure out quantities right now. Also I'm trying to go a bit higher proof since I prefer it

Yes - so, if you want to emulate the Amarguina - use food flavourings, neutral spirit diluted to 20% and sugar.

To do your own 'homemade' bitter almond liquor- you could try the following as a starting point: (from a web search in Portuguese) - http://novelodearte.blogspot.com/2021/0 ... seiro.html

600g raw almonds, with peel/skin.
600g of sugar
Skin of 2 lemons
1 litre of aguardente - this is a (usually rough) grape brandy - you could substitute for a more neutral spirit of your choice.

Fill a wide-mouth jar with the almonds
Add the lemon peel (very fine - only the zest/yellow part), the alcohol and the sugar.
Store in a dry dark place and shake the jar frequently (very important)
Leave to macerate for 4 months. After this time, strain, filter and bottle.

----Original Recipe-----

600 g de amêndoas cruas com a pele
600 g de açúcar
2 casquinhas de limão
1 litro de aguardente


Deitar num frasco de boca larga as amêndoas.
Adicionar as cascas de limão muito finas (só o vidrado), a aguardente e o açúcar.
Guardar e local seco e escuro e agitar o frasco frequentemente (muito importante).
Deixar a macerar 4 meses. Passado esse tempo, coar, filtrar e engarrafar.

Another recipe here -
https://momentodaarte.com.br/cursos/lic ... ros/?r=112 -(this website actually looks like a treasure trove of information on homemade liquors -
500g of bitter almonds with the shell (or 350g without the shells)
1.5kg of sugar
1 litre of filtered water
1 litre 40% Alcohol

Note: The recipe uses the almonds WITHOUT the shell.

Wash the almonds and soak for one hour to soften the shells.
With a knife, open the almond and separate the shell.
LEAVE THE PEEL ON THE ALMONDS FOR THE CHARACTERISTIC TASTE.
Cut the almonds into pieces and put in the alcohol
Leave in maceration for 60 days.
Shake once of more per day to help the infusion.

Make a thick syrup -
Put water and sugar in pan.
Heat, stirring always, don't allow it to burn.
When it starts to boil, lower the heat and leave for 15 minutes until it forms a thick syrup
(Lift the spoon - if it forms a thick strand of brown caramel, it's ready).
Remove from the heat, and allow to cool to 40c.
(Note: Don't let it cool completely, or it will get too thick and difficult to mix).

Take the thick syrup, and pour slowly into the almond infusion and mix well
Wait at least 30 days for the refining maceration to reinforce the flavour.
Agitate 2 or 3 times a day, every day.
Adjust to taste with water and or more thick syrup
Leave for a couple of hours to strain through a cloth strainer
Filter with paper (optional)
Bottle

[tommysb]

First recipe will be more potent, second more like the commercial stuff (less almonds, less alcohol, more sugar).

[OldRanch]

You might be out of luck then. Sometimes, you have to be the first.

If you use more almonds than necessary, you can dilute it with neutral to tone it down to where you like it. It's like making your own essence. E.g. I macerated 400g of roasted peanuts in 1000ml of 43% white dog UJSSM for 24 hours, distilled it collecting 500ml, then diluted it 1:1 with aged whiskey to get an intensity I liked.

These numbers were a huge help. Thank you. I'll try and find the time to post results and pics if I end up going through with the recipe.

[OldRanch]

First recipe will be more potent, second more like the commercial stuff (less almonds, less alcohol, more sugar).

Hey Tommy thank you for your diligence. The Portuguese searches were a huge help.

[The Baker]

And you can probably use apricot kernels if they are available.
They are often used in amaretto.

Geoff

[NZChris]

How clear is this, "superior Almond Liqueur, Amarguinha"?

When I search for images on the net, I don't see many that look particularly clear to me. If it is actually made by steeping then filtering the botanicals, trying to replicate it's qualities in a clear liquor by distilling them might be more difficult than you hope it is.

It could be that they distill their own essence/extract as I described in my Peanut Whiskey method. If that is the case, it might be a lot easier and cheaper to buy essence and put your time and effort into blending a mix of almond essence, white grape spirit, limoncello and sugar into a product that you like.

[tommysb]

How clear is this, "superior Almond Liqueur, Amarguinha"?

When I search for images on the net, I don't see many that look particularly clear to me. If it is actually made by steeping then filtering the botanicals, trying to replicate it's qualities in a clear liquor by distilling them might be more difficult than you hope it is.

It could be that they distill their own essence/extract as I described in my Peanut Whiskey method. If that is the case, it might be a lot easier and cheaper to buy essence and put your time and effort into blending a mix of almond essence, white grape spirit, limoncello and sugar into a product that you like.

It's not completely clear, Chris.

The commercial version uses caramel colouring.

The recipe from the Brazilian website makes a slightly carmalized sweetening syrup, which would also add colour. It is supposed to be the consistency of honey, and the colour shown:

[OldRanch]

How clear is this, "superior Almond Liqueur, Amarguinha"?

When I search for images on the net, I don't see many that look particularly clear to me. If it is actually made by steeping then filtering the botanicals, trying to replicate it's qualities in a clear liquor by distilling them might be more difficult than you hope it is.

It could be that they distill their own essence/extract as I described in my Peanut Whiskey method. If that is the case, it might be a lot easier and cheaper to buy essence and put your time and effort into blending a mix of almond essence, white grape spirit, limoncello and sugar into a product that you like.

It's not completely clear, Chris.

The commercial version uses caramel colouring.

The recipe from the Brazilian website makes a slightly carmalized sweetening syrup, which would also add colour. It is supposed to be the consistency of honey, and the colour shown:
caldo_perolada_screenshot.png

I'm having some as we speak, and it is completely clear (I brought two bottles back from Portugal in May) the pics on the internet seem to show the old style bottle that is slightly caramel colored at the bottom and gradients to clear towards the top.

[OldRanch]

How clear is this, "superior Almond Liqueur, Amarguinha"?

When I search for images on the net, I don't see many that look particularly clear to me. If it is actually made by steeping then filtering the botanicals, trying to replicate it's qualities in a clear liquor by distilling them might be more difficult than you hope it is.

It could be that they distill their own essence/extract as I described in my Peanut Whiskey method. If that is the case, it might be a lot easier and cheaper to buy essence and put your time and effort into blending a mix of almond essence, white grape spirit, limoncello and sugar into a product that you like.

The shot in my glass right now is completely clear. The pictures on the internet use what appear to be an older style of bottle, which has a caramel gradient glass

[NZChris]

When I'm making something that there is no recipe for, I gather as much information as I can find, preferably from its manufacturers, write up my best guess recipe and method and try a small batch.

Keep accurate notes of everything you do to help you design the next batch.

[OldRanch]

When I'm making something that there is no recipe for, I gather as much information as I can find, preferably from its manufacturers, write up my best guess recipe and method and try a small batch.

Keep accurate notes of everything you do to help you design the next batch.

Unfortunately most of the info is in Portuguese but based on Tommys notes and your suggestions I think I've got a great starting point. Making my own essences has always intrigued me anyways

[NZChris]

My browser offers me the option of translating websites into English.