Give George Curtis an opportunity and he’ll wax lyrical about amaro, such is his deep fondness for the herbal liqueur. The figure behind inner-city boozer Before + After has made amari a core facet of his bar’s offering. Roughly 70 varieties of the Italian digestif – from the silky Montenegro to the herbacious Cynar – line Before + After’s back-bar shelves and filter into its inventive cocktail list. It makes sense, then, that George would be uniquely qualified to advise on the formulation of an Australian-made fernet with one of the country’s most inventive spirit makers. After Full Circle Spirits hosted a takeover of Before + After in October last year, George and Full Circle Spirits’ distiller and co-founder Rose Kentish maintained a dialogue based on further collaboration, with the idea of making something sippable central to the ideation process. Later this month those discussions will be realised with the release of a premium, small-batch Australian fernet – a complex and flavour-forward drop that looks to celebrate tradition, but push it forward with innovative methods. Why fernet? George believes that the bitter beverage – a variety widely adored and celebrated by the global bartender community – offered a unique opportunity for reinvention. “I really wanted to make a fernet, simply because there’s nothing like it in Australia – there’s no Australian fernet, as such,” says George, who cites Victorian amaro maker Beechworth Bitters as the only Australian company who, as yet, has crafted anything remotely similar to a fernet on the local market. With the expertise of Full Circle Spirits at his disposal, George relished the opportunity to put an Australian spin on a liqueur that’s held a soft spot in his heart for the majority of his career.

Drinkers will likely be familiar with Fernet Branca, an aggressively herbal elixir that stands out at the most common branded variety. Before + After and Full Circle’s interpretation will be a more accessible alternative designed to gently introduce drinkers to the wonders of fernet and its multitude of applications. “[Fernet Branca] is obviously extremely bracingly bitter and not everyone’s cup of tea,” says George. “You don’t necessarily want people’s first attempt at fernet to be something like that, because they’ll just never come back to it. It’ll be nice to give them something that’s a bit more approachable and say, ‘Hey, this is what Fernet can be as well’. You can use it in cocktails and drink it with tonic.” Over the past few months George and the Full Circle team have gone back and forth on combinations of hand-picked botanicals and flavour profiles, eventually settling on a mix that infuses Kangaroo Island saffron (for an earthy-sweet foundation), Adelaide Hills kumquat (for juiciness), gentian, orris root and liquorice (for lingering bitterness), with a maceration process done in muscat barrels helping round out the flavour. The resulting sip tells the story of South Australia’s terroir, with a sense-enlivening richness that will add a new dimension to cocktails. “We’ve created a fernet that’s really different to the usual suspects,” says George. “We’ve gone down a more highball-style route – it’s a little bit fruitier and it’s not quite as herbal. It’s a bit more approachable, but still designed for bartenders to use.”

A limited production run will see 300 hand-labelled, waxed and numbered bottles of the collaborative spirit made. It will be officially release on Sunday August 27 as part of Before + After’s first birthday celebrations, with Full Circle’s Rose Kentish coming to Brisbane to chat with amaro lovers about the small-batch product. George will be behind the bar, dispensing a one-off menu of drinks, each made using the fernet. Fans of the libation will be able to order bottles in venue, so clear some space in your liquor cabinet if you think an Australian-made fernet is a worthwhile inclusion.