Suncliffe Spirit founders Tom Giddings, Ryan Lawrence and Clare Byrne are in good spirits as they bring the second batch of their newest concoction, Cultivaro Amaro, into the world. With their second creation, the founders of the wildly popular Suncliffe Gin are looking to demystify the imposing world of the bittersweet Italian digestif.
The team began a whirlwind journey after launching Suncliffe Gin in 2021. It garnered national recognition and high praise for its use of ingredients foraged from the Arizona wilderness.
After getting their gin on shelves in California and New York, the trio wanted to expand their horizons.
“It was really the moment after we got the gin going, we thought, well this is fun, but what else can we do?” Lawrence says.
Giddings and Lawrence, partners in business and life (they married in 2022), started reflecting on and researching what boozy elixir would be a natural follow-up to their beloved gin. They looked for inspiration in the natural world, both at home and abroad.
“The gin is so specifically Sedona, and so, thinking about regional spirits, the idea of an amaro (was) the next botanically powered thing that could represent what we grow in the state,” Lawrence says.
The pair then took the idea to Europe, where Giddings, a U.K. native, returns yearly to visit his family.
“When we go back home every year to visit my parents, we always travel. We have good friends in Spain and Italy, and in those cultures, amaro is celebrated as this post-dinner experience," Giddings says. "To go and experience that, it inspired us to consider how different, varied and even experimental amaro could be."
Amaro, which means "bitter" in Italian, has a long and storied legacy dating back over 2,000 years to the ancient Romans, who concocted herbal wines for their medicinal and restorative properties. In the Middle Ages, European monks began documenting their experiments with the drink, modifying the wine to a stronger, botanical-infused liqueur.
Italian apothecaries later commercialized the beverage for medicinal and recreational consumption, and by the 1800s, the drink had taken off as a post-dinner stomach-settler. Legacy brands such as Ausano Ramazzotti, Britannica London Fernet and Amaro Montenegro rose to the top of the amaro food chain, and even the Germans got in on the action, with their amaro, Jagermeister, hitting the market in 1935.
As the spirit evolved, regional producers continued to experiment with the delicate balances of local herbs and ingredients, while craft cocktail makers played with the bitter and sweet flavors it offers.
Drinking (very) local
The spirit's story is one Giddings and Lawrence saw their brand fitting into. The partners realized that their gin, which is made with a very specific botanical blend from Sedona, mirrors the regional nature of amaro, which is typically made from what is available locally.
“You get a really good sense of the place and where you are at when you drink their amaro. Each village has its own ingredients and recipe and approach, essentially born out of what they can get their hands on, and it comes out in the final product, making each one incredibly unique,” Lawrence says.
The partners knew of a few regional amaros produced on the East Coast, but noted the lack of a version that truly represents Arizona. So they got to work.
To start, they knew they needed the two anchor flavors of amaro: bitter and sweet.
“I don’t know any other amaro that uses dates as a sweetener, and that, to me, is so unique,” Giddings says, explaining the decision to lean into the fruit that has been cultivated in Arizona since the 1800s.
“They are so appealing, they have a sexy sweetness, it’s opulent. The visual of a palm tree in the desert is so ripe for what we were looking for,” Lawrence says. Giddings notes that the date syrup comes from Yuma. The pair takes pride in sourcing all the ingredients in-state.
To add a hint of tannin and smoke, Lawrence borrowed a signature flavor from the Suncliffe gin, ponderosa pine bark that Giddings and Lawrence harvest themselves. Over time, it brings a resinous vanilla and butterscotch flavor to the spirit to balance the sweetness of the dates.
“It gives it a woodiness, almost like a barrel-aging feel that’s really lovely. That’s our signature, our secret, if you will,” Lawrence says.
To ground the spirit, the Cultivaro relies on local pecans, which are harvested from the Holy Trinity Monastery outside of St. David, just south of Tucson. While the Benedictine monastery closed in 2017, the 132-acre property is now a non-denominational meditation retreat and pecan farm, where volunteers harvest the pecans by hand. The pecans' origin is a detail that a medieval amaro historian would no doubt appreciate.
“Where we were, the ground was just covered in prickly pear cactus. I thought that was so funny to travel around the world and see this very Southwestern thing. It turns out they were actually brought to Italy from the New World. I love eating them, and they have such a rich grassiness in their flavor, and so I began thinking about how we might be able to weave that into the Cultivaro story, (furthering) this concept of cross-cultivation between Italy and Arizona,” Lawrence says.
When acquiring their citrus, Lawrence and Giddings have a very hands-on process. While most of the bitter Seville oranges are procured from Mission Garden in Tucson, the two sometimes get in a pinch since the batching process requires about 800 pounds of the fruit.
At one point, Lawrence recalls, the duo drove through local neighborhoods looking for the bitter orange trees to possibly prune.
“I was ringing a stranger's doorbell, saying, 'You've got a great tree, can we help you clean it up?'" Lawrence says.
Luckily, most neighbors were happy to let Lawrence and Giddings take a few pounds of oranges with them. For the Suncliffe team, foraging has been a throughline from the beginning.
Branding the bitter
When naming their new product, the team landed on "Cultivaro" early on, says Clare Bryne, head of Suncliffe’s marketing and design.
“The word is obviously a play on the ingredients, but also, it hints at a cult following," she says. "From there, we saw it as Suncliffe Gin’s more spiritual sibling, grounded in nature, yet otherworldly."
After trial and error to create their desired blend, the Suncliffe team brought the amaro to some trusted industry friends. They took two iterations to Delena Humble-Fischer, the beverage and bar manager at First and Last in downtown Phoenix, for a blind taste test.
“I was thinking, OK, let’s see what they’ve got. I love their brand and, for me, it’s important to note that these are two incredible queer men that are bringing not just incredible spirits, but incredible Arizona-based spirits that are truly representative of our home state, so I was very curious to see what they would concoct,” Humble-Fischer says.
She helped the Suncliffe team focus their intentions with the amaro. Were they wanting to craft a super-bitter, industry handshake that only bartenders would love? Or were they wanting to make something that could be made into cocktails and be an entry point for amaro beginners?
In the end, Giddings and Lawrence wanted a little bit of both.
Sal Scibona, the director of beverage and hospitality for Rough Rider in downtown Phoenix, also got an early taste.
"I was really excited about it,” Scibona recalls. Rough Rider now utilizes Cultivaro for its fan-favorite Signature Smoke cocktail. "With the Cultivaro, I love that it is all sourced from Arizona, and it very much tastes like an Arizona amaro."
“Ultimately, they pulled it off,” Humble-Fischer says. “They wanted industry people who love amaro to drink it, but they were also really focused on making it approachable and easy and accessible to people, which is not just the taste, but also the price point, being affordable."
Amaro on the market
The end result hit the market in March at around $35 per bottle. This week, the second batch is landing on shelves at independent liquor stores and Total Wine locations across Arizona and California. There are plans for distribution in New York later this summer.
With their newest spirit out in the world, Giddings and Lawrence are happy to beat the drum about their digestif. You may catch them at collaborations and pop-ups throughout the Phoenix and Tucson bar scene, as well as the occasional Total Wine tasting.
“It’s great to get to talk to people who have never encountered it, and what they realize after trying it is that it's super approachable, way more so than something like gin," Giddings says. "Our amaro may be bitter, but it’s also soft and sweet, and a little dry, and with a 27% ABV, it’s not going to knock you out. So suddenly, there’s lots of options on how to drink it."
The Cultivaro team even came up with a small chapbook of recipes and a brief history of amaro to help educate the masses, but they are equally adept sharing off-the-cuff personal recommendations.
“Right now, Ryan’s got a sun tea steeping in the sun and that, over ice with the amaro, might be my preferred drink of the summer,” Giddings admits.
Judging by the sudden prominence of the dark purple and yellow bottle on shelves across the state, the magic of Cultivaro is indeed taking hold. Giddings, Lawrence and Byrne are hard at work spreading the gospel of amaro, with a smile and an unwavering charisma that calls us to consider the bitter and to savor the sweet.
How to use Cultivaro Amaro:
Delena’s “Something That Slaps” Cultivaro Daiquiri- 1 ounce any aged rum
- 1 ounce Cultivaro Amaro
- 1 ounce lime juice
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
Sal’s Cultivaro Highball
- 1 1/2 ounces Cultivaro Amaro
- 1/4 ounce blood orange or strawberry syrup
- 1/4 ounce orange juice
- 1/4 ounce lemon juice
