A Brand for Working Bartenders
Two names every serious bar professional knows, Dale DeGroff and T. A. “Ted” Breaux, have teamed up again to give working bartenders two new tools worth attention: DeGroff Bitter Aperitivo and DeGroff New World Amaro. Developed and distilled with Clear Creek Distillery, now part of Hood River Distillers, these spirits are built for cocktail programs from the ground up, using only natural ingredients with no artificial colors or flavors.
A Powerful Collaboration
To realize it, he turned to Ted Breaux, the chemist and absinthe specialist who helped bring authentic absinthe back to the United States. Over five years of development, they set themselves a demanding brief: create an aperitivo and an amaro with clear botanical identities, serious craft cocktail potential, and no shortcuts in the ingredient list. The result is a classic Italian style bitter aperitivo and a “New World” amaro with a West Indies accent that share a design sensibility but serve very different roles behind the bar.
Both spirits are produced at Clear Creek Distillery, one of the pioneers of American craft distilling. Distiller Caitlin Bartlemay applies traditional methods to these New World spirits, translating the botanical recipes into consistent, scalable liquids. Exceptionally pure spring water from Mount Hood provides a clean structural base for the dense botanical work
DeGroff Bitter Aperitivo is an Italian style bitter designed for performance, not just color. It offers bold but supple bitterness and a layered botanical profile, made entirely from natural ingredients using traditional methods. The flavor is assertive enough for equal parts classics such as the Negroni and Americano, and it also shines in lighter builds like a Spritz with soda and Prosecco. Anywhere an Italian bitter aperitivo is called for, this bottle can step in with added nuance. It is bottled at 25 % ABV, 50 proof.
A New World Take on Amaro
DeGroff New World Amaro widens the palette. Inspired by the West Indies and accented with Caribbean spices, it delivers the rich, bittersweet complexity associated with Italian amari but introduces a distinctly New World twist. It is serious enough to serve on its own as a digestivo, yet bright and adaptable in both classic and tropical cocktails. On a menu, it can deepen a standard Manhattan into a Midnight Manhattan, bring spice and dimension to rum punches or Mai Tais, or update nineteenth century recipes such as the Sherry Flip with new bittersweet warmth. The New World Amaro is 35% ABV, 70 proof.
Together, DeGroff Bitter Aperitivo and DeGroff New World Amaro read less like vanity labels and more like working tools. They are naturally made, botanically driven, and clearly designed with the needs of contemporary bars in mind, offering two compelling additions to a serious back bar.