By Mark Maynard
If you or your friends are aficionados of the popular Basque-American Picon Punch cocktail (the unofficial state drink of Nevada), you’re already aware that its key ingredient, the high-proof, burnt-orange-flavored Torani Brand Amer liquor, has suddenly become scarce. While famous Picon bars like Louis’ Basque Corner and Elko’s Star Hotel are working through a dwindling supply, other favorites like Casale’s Halfway Club are already out of Torani.
The liquor is also scarce or already unavailable for home cocktail makers. A survey of local grocers such as Raley’s and liquor suppliers, such as Ben’s, reveals empty shelves and backorder notices. The online inventory of Lee Brothers, a chain of liquor stores across Nevada, shows a few bottles still available at a single store in Las Vegas, a place where the Picon Punch is hardly known.
UPDATE Aug. 17, 2024: Torani Amer was produced on Wednesday and is being moved into inventory. It will ship mid-next week from Torani’s Flavor Factory in San Leandro, California, according to a company spokesperson.
A bitter reality
Amer – from the French adjective for bitter, (amaro in Italian) – is an herbal liquor often used as a digestif.
“Most things in the amaro, amer, aperitivo, bitter-style start with a neutral base of something,” according to Erek Lively of Craft Wine and Beer. That base could be cider, wine or a neutral grain spirit. “Essentially what you’re doing is taking your ingredients and steeping them in that spirit to make a tea.”.
The R. Torre Company, now known as Torani and recognized for its line of sweet, flavored syrups for coffee drinks and Italian sodas, began making its own amer in the 1930s. That creation has been the most popular version of the Picon liquor ever since, ubiquitous in the bars and liquor cabinets of Basque-Americans and other Picon Punch drinkers in central California and northern Nevada.
While most Picon drinkers can identify the Torani Amer bottle on sight—a Picon Punch recipe is printed on front of the label—the company does not tout the liquor on its website or social media. The recipe itself is a closely guarded secret. The label lists only “grain neutral spirits with natural flavors added, colored with caramel.”
It was one of the undisclosed ingredients in the Torani Amer that led to the shortage.
According to Gabriel Muñoz, of parent company Torani’s PR agency Double Forte, “the Amer formula had to be re-certified by the state [of California] due to an ingredient change. The approved formula has been in place since 1996, so a re-certification was required. As usual, all things through the state [of California] take time.”
Muñoz said, “if estimations hold,” Torani Amer should be back in stock by mid-August, though some locals have heard that the shortage could last at least until the fall. A search of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control reveals that R. Torre is actively licensed as a distilled spirits importer, wholesaler, and beer and wine wholesaler without any listed disciplinary actions or operating restrictions.
Meanwhile, the iconic fluted Picon glasses sit empty on Nevada backbars. The Star Hotel & Bar in Elko is only serving Picons to members of its Picon Club, according to bartender Tabitha Arbillaga.
“We scoured town, called places in Reno and California, and found a bottle here, a bottle there,” she said. Some regulars even brought in bottles of Torani Amer from home to help out the local institution.
Craig Benson of Louis’ Basque Corner said the Reno eatery and bar still has enough Torani to hopefully get them through the shortage, but they have been working on a contingency plan if that changes.
“We’re holding on by our fingernails,” said Benson, speaking from the bar while intermittently making Picons for customers during a lunch rush. “We still have a little bit left,” he added, and should be able to make it to mid-August.
Accept no substitutes?
Despite the variety of amer liquors available, many die-hard Picon fans will accept no substitute for the Torani Amer. If the Torani Amer supply is still unavailable once Louis’ stock is depleted, Benson said he has already been talking with The Depot restaurant and distillery next door (both Louis’ and The Depot share an owner) about using their Depot Amer. He’s already tried the Depot Amer Picon on his customers at Louis’.
“It’s been about 80% positive reactions,” Benson said, “and about 20% have said, ‘No way!’”
Benson said one drawback to using The Depot Amer is that the Picons would be more expensive to make, as the bespoke small distillery next door to Louis’ can’t match the price of the mass-produced Torani Amer. He said The Depot is even looking at ways to reformulate their amer to get it closer in price and flavor to the Torani Amer if needed.
Other local bars have had to get creative to deal with the short supply. Gaven Sarratea, owner of The Fe (the former Santa Fe Hotel in downtown Reno, one of the original Basque boarding houses and a Picon Punch staple) offers a version of the Picon with Bigallet China-China Amer, imported from France.
While a bottle of Torani Amer typically sells for about $15 to $20, a bottle of locally made Depot Amer retails for $40 at Craft, and imported amer/amaros range from $35 (Italian Amaro CioCiaro) to $40 (French China-China Amer).
Not just a bar problem
Gage Smith is the founder of a Picon Punch social club called Picon Drinkers of the American West. Driving across the state to attend the annual Goldfield Days, Smith said he found the Torani supply depleted in bars and grocery stores, including Hawthorne and Gardnerville.
“I called the Raley’s in Tonopah,” Smith said. The liquor manager told him, “We’re out and have been for a couple of weeks.”
Smith’s preferred Picon bar is the Heyday Inn in Wellington, Nevada. Last week, he found six bottles at a liquor store in the Gardnerville Ranchos and asked the owner to hold them while he called Wendy, one of the owners of the Heyday. When she arrived at the store, Smith said she was thrilled when the owner produced a case he had in the back.
Her haul of the precious stuff was up to 18 bottles. Despite this sudden windfall, The Heyday is also just about out of Torani Amer, down to five bottles last week when Smith had a Picon at lunch.
Demand, price gouging and a single supplier
Even Smith’s own supply of Torani Amer is running low. Down to his last six bottles, he began looking for Torani at online liquor retailers. He found some at an online store called Cask Cartel listed for $109. When he called to inquire as to whether that was the price for a case of 12, the company informed him that they were selling their Torani supply for $109 a bottle.
Smith first noticed Torani was in short supply sometime in late June or early July, and since then, he’s found an almost Prohibition-era attitude around supplies of the now precious liquor. One grocery store liquor manager was treating his dwindling supply like a speakeasy for his regular customers.
“It was like, knock three times if you want a bottle,” Smith said. “Who’d of thought you’d need 25 cases stacked in the basement?”
While the Torani company said the shortage is temporary, Smith is concerned about what happens when it comes back on the market.
“Once Torani realizes how much its product is in demand, do you think it will be the same price?” Smith asked. One of the most appealing things about the ritual of the Picon Punch is its affordability. “I don’t want to go down and pay $20 for a Picon,” Smith added.
Erek Lively said that local bartenders he’s talked to are down to their last bottle or half-bottle of Torani Amer, and that new customers are coming into Craft inquiring about the liquor.
“People are disgruntled they can’t find the ingredients to make the Picon they know and love,” Lively said. Craft is stocking some alternative amers now that Torani is unavailable, but Lively said many are displeased with the higher prices of imported amers like China-China and Amaro Ciacarro.
Once customers have tried one of the alternatives, Lively said some are willing to pay the price. He suggested one of the Picon bar staples like Louis’ could invite customers to try alternative amers during the shortage. Lively feels the China-China is the closest in flavor to the Torani Amer and said that while the Amer Depot is the easiest to find in town, it is lighter and more floral than what many traditional Picon drinkers are looking for.
Another American-made amer, Golden Moon Amer dit Picon, has proven popular with Picon drinkers in the past, but because of an ongoing dispute with a distributor, Golden Moon is currently unavailable in Nevada.
Nevada moonshine?
What about making your own Torani Amer substitute at home? While possible, there are two distinct drawbacks: time and storage.
Gage Smith has made his own version of the Amer Picon liquor at home before.
“It’s not hard,” he said, “but it’s time-consuming.” He used 100-proof vodka and zested an entire case of oranges so their peels could steep in the high-proof brew. It had to rest in a cool, dark spot for a month or so.
“It was good, and packed a punch,” Smith said.
Bartender Jamie Boudreau of Seattle’s Canon Bar also created a recipe for an amer that could be used in a Picon Punch. Through various tastings and trial and error, he created Amer Boudreau, but like Gage Smith’s recipe, this requires an orange tincture as part of the process that takes up to two months to properly infuse. Unlike Torani and other shelf-stable commercial amers, it must be kept refrigerated.
Lively thinks that regardless of when the Torani Amer becomes available again, the Picon Punch may no longer be a $6 – $7 cocktail.
“They might need to raise the price just to recoup the loss of losing an entire batch,” Lively said, adding that if they only make a batch every six months, they could have lost tens of thousands of cases or more. Even if a local distiller like The Depot finds a way to make a similar amer and is able to bring the price down, they likely won’t ever meet the price point of the Torani Amer.
“They are using actual fresh ingredients,” Lively said, “and they have to source their own materials.”
Not the first change to the Picon Punch
It’s important to note that the Picon Punch has survived changes to its base liquor in the past. The cocktail itself is named for the original liquor that provided its unique flavor and high-proof kick. Picon Amer is the namesake of Gaetano Picon, an Italian serving in the colonial French army in Algeria. This was the key ingredient in the Picon Punch from inception, sometime around the turn of the 20th century, until Prohibition. It is this original amer that Boudreau’s recipe tries to approximate.
Changes in formulation of Picon Amer altered the flavor and potency of the Picon Punch and gave Torani a toe-hold into the Picon market. Torani established a near Picon-monopoly when the importation of Picon Amer was outlawed in the 1960s because it contained calamus root, a banned ingredient.
Whether Torani brand amer is back on shelves and bars later this month or not, the company is reluctant to say much about its sudden unavailability. When asked whether consumers will notice a change in flavor, texture or price after the change in ingredients, Muñoz responded, “Torani doesn’t have the bandwidth to answer these questions at this time.”
For the time being, Picon fans can continue to support their local Basque restaurants and bars by enjoying other Basque-American influenced drinks, like the Winnemucca Coffee (hot coffee, brandy and anisette liquor), Kalimotxo (a mix of cola and red wine) or cidra (a traditional cider from the Basque country).
Or they can try a slightly more expensive Picon with a greater depth of flavor, either with imported amers (China China, Ciacarro and Ramazotti) or American-made, including the local Depot Amer, and, if you can find it, Colorado’s Golden Moon. At least until the Torani Amer finds its way back onto the shelf.