By Rosie Schaap

Don't be bitter, we're told. But in American cocktail culture — especially its most rarefied, la-di-da precincts — bitterness has become a signifier of sophistication and discernment. A decade ago, bar patrons who wished to make it clear that they weren't into the sweet stuff might have requested something on the dry side or the sour side. Now they're as likely to want it bitter.

This doesn't mean just adding a few extra dashes of Angostura, or other aromatic bitters, to your Manhattan or sour. It means treading into the world of amaro: a lilting, romantic name, subtly suggestive of love, for a class of liquor that's vexingly difficult to delineate.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/