Old 49 Distilling Catalina Apero Liqueur (1L, 15%)

A California aperitivo made in Los Angeles as a local answer to Aperol. It is built for the spritz from a corn spirit macerated for roughly three months with fresh local citrus and more than a dozen roots and botanicals, including rhubarb, cinchona and gentian root, with botanicals added and adjusted by hand in stages before filtering and light sweetening with cane sugar. Old 49 Distilling was founded in 2017 by David Glicksman and Aaron Fitzgerald. The liqueur is bottled at 15% ABV in a one-litre bottle with a hand screen-printed label and a paper seal modelled on 1949–1986 US federal tax stamps. On the nose there is lime zest, fresh orange juice, lychee and orange blossom; the palate brings lemongrass, mastic and marshmallow with lemon zest, finishing with a gentle, lingering citrus-framed bitterness.