Putting the Amer in America: How a Basque Aperitif Tradition Lives on in Nevada
Well loved by generations of bartenders, Amer Picon was created by Gaétan Picon in 1837, a French infantryman who served in North Africa during World War II. The bitter orange liqueur is fragrant with dried oranges, Gentian roots, Cinchona bark and just a touch of caramel, earning it fans across Europe and a bronze medal at the 1862 London Universal Exhibition. Amer Picon remains a staple of café culture in France and beyond, and in 2022, the brand was purchased by Campari.
However, the spirit is nearly impossible to find in the U.S.—at least in its official form.
Over the decades, Amer Picon has become scarce because of one ingredient: calamus, which the FDA banned in 1968 due to its carcinogenic effects in some species. You also won’t find Amer Picon on liquor store shelves, as Picon no longer exports.
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This scarcity hasn’t diminished the aperitif’s popularity among Basque residents of the American West. They’ve been enjoying it in the Picon Punch cocktail since their arrival from the craggy peaks of the Pyrenees following the 1848 California Gold Rush. Made with brandy, grenadine and club soda, the bittersweet cocktail was a staple at Basque boarding houses, where recent arrivals could find other comforts of home, like familiar music and the shared native tongue.
The thirst for the spirit hasn’t quelled over the decades, especially among Basque communities in Nevada, California and Idaho. You’ll still find Picon on bar menus, but they’re all vintage bottles or housemade recipes that recreate the original liqueur’s taste.
There are also a few industrially made, modern day alternatives. The most popular one comes from Torani, the California-based company known for its coffee syrups, which started producing its own take on Picon Amer in the 1960s. The Basque community shifted to using this brand, and by the 1980s, the company started phasing out its distilled spirits, leaving Torani Amer as the only remaining alcoholic product on the roster.
Bartenders Invent Their Own Picons
It’s the housemade Picons, however, that get closest to the real deal.
For his take on Picon, Zac Overman at L’Oursin in Seattle blends several amari with dry curaçao and bitter orange peel-infused neutral grain spirit. Chris Hannah, partner and beverage director at Jewel of the South in New Orleans, incorporates Amer in the bar’s Creole cocktail using a housemade aperitif recipe created by Jamie Boudreau of Canon in Seattle over a decade ago.
“The special part about [it] for me is making the replica,” says Hannah. He finds that his approximation of Picon Amer comes closer to the original recipe in proof and orange flavor than the alternative versions you can buy commercially.
Perhaps nowhere has as much love for Picon in its various forms as Reno, Nevada, where its primary use is in the Picon Punch. The punch was named the official state cocktail this year, even though you can’t find it beyond these Basque enclaves, including in drink-heavy Las Vegas.
“It’s so cultural—it’s much more than just a cocktail that people have,” says Mark Maynard, a local professor, writer and director of the documentary Piconland: The Quest for the Perfect Picon Punch, which covers the history of the drink. “It’s kind of a ritual, I would say.”
Chris Shanks, owner of The Depot in Reno, also developed a version that he serves in his bar.
“We took more of a craft approach and tried to emulate more of what the original recipe would have been prior to commercial distilled neutral grain spirits, flavoring additives and caramel coloring,” says Shanks. “We tried to achieve flavors and colors with all the natural ingredients.”
The ‘Picon Panic’ and the Birth of Ferino Amer
In 2024, a veritable Picon panic swept Nevada.
There was a shortage of Torani Amer due to California’s re-certification of one of the ingredients.
“We call it the ‘Picon panic,’ because there was a run on it, and people were bringing their stashes from home to their favorite Basque bars in rural Nevada, so that they could keep making Picon [punches] at the bars,” says Maynard.
It was this period when Torani, instead of ceasing production of Torani Amer completely and leaving the Basques without their favorite drink’s main ingredient, found Joe Cannella in Reno.
“Torani reached out to me completely out of the blue,” says Cannella, owner of Ferino Distillery. “They offered to pass the global rights to the recipe free of charge, with the simple hope that we’d carry it forward with the care it deserved.”
The confidential recipe and production of Torani Amer, now called Ferino Amer, are officially in the hands of Cannella and his team.
“My family created the Amer recipe 60 years ago, and sharing it with a rising, Italian American-founded business like Ferino Distillery is the perfect way to honor its legacy and ensure fans can enjoy Amer for years to come,” says Lisa Lucheta, Torani chairperson of the board and granddaughter of founders Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre.
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Ferino Amer bottles are already making their way into local bars like JT Basque Bar and Dining Room in Gardnerville and Heyday Inn in Wellington, where the Picon Punch tradition continues on.
“That kind of trust and generosity doesn’t happen often, and I take it to heart,” Cannella says. “We have sold through our entire first production run, and have the wheels in motion to ramp production and keep the Picons flowing.”
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