El Bandarra Al Fresco - Barcelona Aperitivo, Drink with Tonic or as a Spritz, Bittersweet, Alternative to Pink Gin, Notes of Grapefruit and Mediterranean Botanicals - 1 Litre Bottle, 14% ABV

Product Information

The wine balances the botanical profile and sweetness of the bitter, bringing dryness and effervescence to the mix.

Fill a wine glass with ice and add the Savoia Americano and Prosecco. Lightly stir, then garnish with three green grapes. El Bandarra Al Fresco Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. El Bandarra Vermut Red is made with Macabeo and Xarel·lo grapes plus more than 50 extracts of herbs, flowers and spices such as cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, liquorice, aniseed, camomile, rosemary, bay leaf, hops and bitter orange – rested in oak barrels before bottling at 15% ABV. Alex: Yeah. Yeah. If you come to Barcelona or Madrid or any city all over Spain. It’s very typical. You will get this perfect serve with an olive, but it’s better if you ask for two olives. Always better than one.Exporting cultural traditions is not an easy task; it is made slightly simpler when that tradition revolves around drinking. Alex Virgili, General Manager of El Bandarra, had me longing for La Hora del Vermut, and it wasn’t even the weekend. The whole point of the aperitivo is to work up an appetite for a bangin’ meal with a drink that’s big on bitter notes - and the Spritz is ALL about bitterness, since it’s typically made with liqueurs or vermouths that get their bitter complexity from botanicals. We add some alcohol at the vermouth house for 15% of alcohol volume. And at that moment, we add the sweetness. The traditional method is adding a little bit of caramel and the old vermouths in Spain do it. It’s the traditional way to do it. Alex: Yes. Yes. Because the idea it was something new for us. To make the perfect serve, that would have around 5, well, less than five, like 4.5% alcohol volume. So, it’s when you mix one part of Al Fresco, two parts of tonic it’s our perfect serve. 4.5%, super refreshing, easy drinkable. Salud!! And I would like to tell you about Al Fresco. Why this name. What do you think about Al Fresco?

Starlino Rosé Apertivo makes for a pretty-in-pink Italian spritz Starlino Italy – Starlino Rosé Aperitivo El Bandarra Vermouth is made from high-quality Macabeo and Xarel·lo grapes, native to the region. Once these grapes are transformed into wine, they are aged in wooden barrels and later macerated with a careful blend of botanicals, including wormwood, orange, and elderflower, among others. This intricate process provides the drink with its distinct flavour and aromatic profile.So, what we do with this wine is we make a maceration with wormwood to get the bitterness, but we also use different citrus, like grapefruit, bitter orange and different red fruits as well. So, more fruit, more than the ones that we use for El Bandarra vermouth. For Al Fresco, instead of caramel, we use nectar of must or the juice from the grapes for that touch of sweetness. We add a touch of must to give the sweetness. This iconic Italian bottle graces bars the world over – and with good reason. It takes a medley of 68 herbs and spices to achieve that tell-tale bitter edge and crimson red hue, and our negronis wouldn’t be the same without it. Exceptionally dry, it’ll bring notes of orange peel, cherry, clove, and cinnamon to whatever you’re drinking. My grandparents used to sell bulk wine in barrels, in little bodegas and bars. I’m talking about the Sixties all over Catalonia and in Spain, and that’s our origin. I’m pretty obsessed with exporting the success of the Aperitivo to the US, to the UK, and other markets. Susan: What was the flavor profile? Did you have an idea, or did you want to make it taste like something specific that you had before?

This stylish aperitivo transports ya straight to Florence (that's the brand's hometown, FYI). It's made with a whopping 34 botanicals, including rhubarb, iris and olive leaves - there's LAYERS to this baby. Do as Luca does and serve it sans soda for maximum flavour. SPRITZ IT Alex: So it would be a El Bandarra Al Fresco and tonic for sure. And I would say, Formentera, it’s a little Island, close to Ibiza. Very, very cute and very small, it’s a paradise. That’s what I would and where I would drink Virgili Bros has a mission to “challenge the uptight nature of the drinks business by creating original and enjoyable concepts” such as its El Bandarra Vermut range. But while the Aperol spritz is undeniably the most popular in the UK, many European countries and regions have their own versions, from the more bitter Campari, white aperitifs, vermouths and more. The common factor is the three ingredients in the unfailing ratio of 3:2:1. We realize also that there are some other spirit brands, or Aperitivo brands that appeal to women maybe. You don’t see that in Spain. Yeah. I don’t know. I mean, in Spain, we have the macho Espanol, and they don’t drink vermouth, maybe they drink beer. What we realize is the Al Fresco has a perfect gender split, like 50/50. It’s very important for us to target as many people as possible.

Wanna get really wild? Spike your Spritz with a fun, flavoured liqueur or cordial. The team at British aperitivo brand Sipello like to use an elderflower liqueur in their Spritz (see their recipe below), but you can add anything with complementary flavours: coffee, fruit-based and floral liqueurs are all fair game. GO FOR THE GARNISH If they would drink another gin and tonic or some other drinks you would say, “Oh, this guy. or this mummy is getting drunk.” But since they are drinking vermouth, then it is socially accepted. It’s a nice way to meet friends and share some food before lunch. So that’s the moment – it’s called La Hora del Vermut. Alex: No, the Rojo, the one that you have there, it’s in Catalan. As I told you, if we’re Catalonia, we sell the screen-printed bottles in Catalan and for the rest of Spain, we sell it in Spanish. If you want to preserve your language, you need to speak it, use insults also and the tapas and everything. That’s why we have the Spanish bottle and the Catalan bottle. Made to be mixed with tonic, Al Fresco is soft, bittersweet, with notes of Mediterranean botanicals, a touch of grapefruit and drops of Barcelona-by-the-beach. It’s amazing how in many export markets and many in the UK, they understand perfectly the aperitif category. They love Barcelona and our energy as a brand. And it’s doing really well, even with the COVID restrictions. I mean, I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t like Al Fresco, so it’s great.