“You possibly can style the bitter cyanide,” says André Magalhães, his face breaking right into a smile quite than an expression suggesting concern of imminent poisoning. We’re at his Lisbon kiosk, Quiosque de São Paulo, downing glasses of Amarguinha, a easy cocktail made with the Portuguese bitter-almond liqueur of the identical title. It’s summer season, and the drink is the right warmth killer: the aromatic base, harking back to a barely sweeter amaretto, combined with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and served over ice. The drink is a refreshing, near-perfect steadiness of candy and tart flavors with a definite—some would possibly say harmful—aroma.
Quiosque de São Paulo, resplendently pink and boasting sleek wrought-iron prospers and vintage signage, is considered one of a number of Artwork Nouveau kiosks that dot Lisbon. The town’s kiosk craze kicked off within the late nineteenth century and at its peak, it’s thought that Lisbon was house to as many as 67 kiosks. (A latest Google search revealed round 24.) Quiosque de São Paulo is believed to this point again to the early days of Lisbon kiosks, round 1892, and like many different kiosks in Lisbon, it serves a brief menu of drinks and snacks.
“Within the previous days, kiosks would simply supply pictures of alcohol,” Magalhães tells me. “Extra subtle drinks got here with the kiosk revival, within the 2000s. The town needed to revitalize the deserted kiosks, and gave out a lot of leases, however they principally simply bought issues to vacationers, shedding the id of the kiosk tradition right here. We took over this kiosk, the oldest and solely privately owned one in Lisbon, to revive all these previous dishes and drinks.”
A scan of the menu of Quiosque de São Paulo reveals archaic drinks equivalent to vinho quinado (port wine supplemented with quinine), and hard-to-find snacks equivalent to punheta de bacalhau (“salt cod hand job”), a salad of strips of salt cod and onion bathed in olive oil. Magalhães eschews Coca-Cola for a housemade salsaparrilha, an area model of sarsaparilla, and a glass is perhaps paired with a chamuça, a samosalike snack that originated in Goa, India—previously a Portuguese colonial territory.
Magalhães explains that Portugal’s bitter-almond liqueur was almost definitely launched by Arabs, who managed a lot of the Iberian Peninsula for practically eight centuries, and who had a number of subtle makes use of for almonds. Historically, it’s constructed from grape pomace brandy wherein bitter almonds have been soaked for just a few days. After straining and discarding the almonds, sugar and water are added to the booze to steadiness the flavour and alcohol degree.
“In concept, it’s associated to amaretto and Italian bitter-almond liqueurs,” Magalhães tells me. “However the Italian model is darkish in shade as a result of they add caramel, whereas we use syrup. The Italian model additionally makes use of apricot kernels, which give it a special aroma.”
Magalhães tells me that the drink has robust hyperlinks with southern Portugal, the place it’s often called licor de amêndoa amarga, “bitter-almond liqueur.” It most likely wouldn’t have been extensively accessible in Lisbon a century in the past, he says, however it belongs to the household of syrupy candy liqueurs, with flavors equivalent to bitter cherry and anise, that had been kiosk staples again within the day.
Immediately, bitter-almond liqueur is widespread throughout Portugal, and like Kleenex or Band-Assist within the U.S., is a product that has grow to be nearly totally synonymous with one model: Amarguinha.
In recent times, bartenders have used the liqueur in numerous functions, birthing the Amarguinha Bitter (ostensibly a riff on the Amaretto Bitter) and even a Mojito. Madonna, per an Instagram story she shared in 2019, drinks Amarguinha combined with tonic water to rejoice her album releases. However within the warmth of Libson summer season, Magalhães’ easy means with Amarguinha is finest: with some lemon juice, on the rocks, ideally at a kiosk.
