Enter Amaro, by the James Beard Award-winning writer Brad Thomas Parsons. I had a sneaking suspicion that a book with that title might contain answers, and wouldn’t you know, it did. Parsons’s excellent book contains far more than clarifying information, including recipes for aperitivo, classic, and modern cocktails, suggestions for cooking (and yes, baking) with amari, and most intriguingly, making your own amaro. But the clarity is what matters for our purposes.

<div class="ad-container dfp dfp-slot-SPLASHYMID_MOBILE ad-splashy-mid" data-ad-unit="SPLASHYMID_MOBILE" data-targeting="{"pos":"splashymid"}">Here’s the best bit: Amaro (Italian for “bitter”) is a broad, somewhat nebulous category, so the pursuit of clarity is a fool’s errand. “Generally speaking,” Parsons writes, “amaro refers to the collective class of Italian-made aromatic, herbal, bittersweet liqueurs traditionally served as a digestif after a meal.” To make them, botanicals are distilled or macerated in wine or a neutral spirit, then sweetened.