Flora's house amaro liqueur, top left, featured in the Sam's Huevos cocktail at top right along with Mexican mint (Photo by Dominic Hernandez)
It all started with Mexican mint.
Sergio Gomez, the chef de cuisine at Flora, uses the plant in his Oaxacan cuisine, and Adam Stull, the bar manager, started to notice. To Stull, the plant had big botanical qualities. After some research, Stull realized his palate was onto something. “We began playing around with it at the bar, and as soon as I tasted it I knew we had the base for amaro,” says Stull.
Mexican mint, or tagetes lucida, is shaped like your run-of-the-mill mint plant but isn’t anything like it. Its flowers are yellow, and the leaves taste of anise or licorice with a cooling mineral taste. The plant is related to the marigold family and is easily grown in hotter climates. The plant is known as a treatment for upset stomach, to stimulate the appetite and a diuretic. Long-distance runners have been known to use the herb for stamina, and it is reported to lower blood pressure. Amaro, a bitter herbal digestive liqueur, originated in Italy and was sold as a health tonic in the 1800s.
For Flora's version of the concoction, Stull starts with the mint and a base of Don Q Cristal Rum and combines it with cinchona bark, valerian root, lime zest, coriander seed and Garnacha (red wine) in a glass vessel for three weeks. Once he sweetens it lightly with Demerara sugar, he transfers the contents to an Evan Williams bourbon barrel, where it ages for another couple of weeks.
The Richmond-made Oaxacan amaro is on the menu at Flora now. “It will be available at least through the fall by itself and in one of the cocktails on the upcoming new fall drink menu. We are hoping to keep it around as a staple long after that,” says Stull.
