Rating 93
Style
Produced In Kanagawa
Japan
ABV 36%
Availability Year Round
Price $70.00 
Reviewed By
Reviewed 2025-12-02

Scarlet Fernet Amaro Review

What can’t the Japanese do in the spirit world? If the country’s producers famously seem to take all categories and make them more nuanced, more flavorful, more sophisticated, here they do the same with fernet. (Yes, fernet is a category, not a brand name.) Half of the 30 botanicals in this amaro — think: chicory, palo santo, elderflower, rooibos, and aloe — are grown onsite at Iseya Distillery’s Kanagawa farm, before being macerated in a combination of aged and unaged sugar cane spirit, then matured for a year in ex-Chichibu whisky casks. This is lighter-bodied and less bracing than the more famous Fernet Branca, but it’s more flavorful too with savory herbal notes and a pleasant hit of crème de menthe on the finish.

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93
POINTS
Scarlet Fernet Amaro
What can’t the Japanese do in the spirit world? If the country’s producers famously seem to take all categories and make them more nuanced, more flavorful, more sophisticated, here they do the same with fernet. (Yes, fernet is a category, not a brand name.) Half of the 30 botanicals in this amaro — think: chicory, palo santo, elderflower, rooibos, and aloe — are grown onsite at Iseya Distillery’s Kanagawa farm, before being macerated in a combination of aged and unaged sugar cane spirit, then matured for a year in ex-Chichibu whisky casks. This is lighter-bodied and less bracing than the more famous Fernet Branca, but it’s more flavorful too with savory herbal notes and a pleasant hit of crème de menthe on the finish.

Reviewed On: 12-02-2025
93
POINTS
Scarlet Fernet Amaro
What can’t the Japanese do in the spirit world? If the country’s producers famously seem to take all categories and make them more nuanced, more flavorful, more sophisticated, here they do the same with fernet. (Yes, fernet is a category, not a brand name.) Half of the 30 botanicals in this amaro — think: chicory, palo santo, elderflower, rooibos, and aloe — are grown onsite at Iseya Distillery’s Kanagawa farm, before being macerated in a combination of aged and unaged sugar cane spirit, then matured for a year in ex-Chichibu whisky casks. This is lighter-bodied and less bracing than the more famous Fernet Branca, but it’s more flavorful too with savory herbal notes and a pleasant hit of crème de menthe on the finish.

Reviewed On: 12-02-2025