Holiday Gift Guide: Lo Spirito d'Italia
Panettone, Caramelle, Cioccolato, Taralli, Books, Pantry Provisions...
This November on LAST CALL we’ll have you covered with Holiday Gift Guides focusing on Holiday Advent Calendars, Food & Provisions, Drinks & Spirits, Books & Cookbooks, and Stocking Stuffers. Today’s Holiday Gift Guide is devoted to Lo Spirito d'Italia (“The Spirit of Italy”). This is a super-sized dispatch and will likely be truncated in your Email, so be sure to click the “View Entire Message” link to expand.
Today’s LAST CALL Holiday Gift Guide is available to all readers thanks to the generous support of St. Agrestis.
In January 2022, Brooklyn’s St. Agrestis expanded and elevated the spirit-free space with the introduction of their award-winning Phony Negroni, offering a stylish, ready-to-drink option for when you aren’t drinking or just want the convenience and quality of a spirit-free Negroni.
And this month St. Agrestis followed up their breakout Phony Negroni with the non-alcoholic Phony Mezcal Negroni, featuring many of the same botanicals of the original Phony Negroni while emphasizing the distinctive qualities of mezcal, with nuanced notes of smoke, vegetal complexity, and earthiness to complement its bitter foundation. As with the Phony Negroni, soft carbonation is added to help mimic the bite and mouthfeel that typically provided by alcohol.
And if you’re craving a classic, spirit-free amaro, St. Agrestis has you covered with their Amaro Falso, a non-alcoholic counterpart to their signature St. Agrestis Amaro. Ready-to-drink and individually portioned, Amaro Falso is lightly carbonated and refreshing, with nuanced notes of herbal spice, mint, and the bitter complexity of gentian root.
All of these St. Agrestis non-alcoholic options can be enjoyed chilled, straight from the bottle, or served over ice with an orange twist, and are the ideal options to have on hand during the holiday entertaining season.
And now you can try all of St. Agrestis’ non-alcoholic offerings with their all-new mix packs!
Holiday Gift Guide: Lo Spirito d'Italia
Panettone
An Italian-born holiday tradition, panettone is a sweet bread (think fruitcake but not the bad kind of fruit cake) originally born in Milan that remains a popular tradition during the holiday season. You’ll find affordable commercial brands at your local markets, small-batch varieties from local bakeries, as well as some on the more luxurious side that come in their own ready-to-gift box or festive wrapping paper. It’s a labor-intensive process for bakers, but worth the price for having (at least) one on hand to enjoy with your caffè or a glass of Asti Spumante (it also makes excellent French Toast for Christmas morning or New Year’s Day). If you’re lucky enough to live near an Eataly, you’ll encounter dozens of varieties from Italy.
Classico Panettone Marchesi 1824
Pasticceria Marchesi has embodied Milanese style since 1824 and their Classico Panettone Marchesi 1824 comes beautifully wrapped in white paper and ribbon, made with a slow-leavening dough born from the Marchesi mother yeast, and is flavored with raisins, candied fruit, Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar, and Italian honey. This understated yet elegant panettone is a favorite of the Famiglia Nonino—known worldwide for their equally elegant grappa and amaro—who have kindly sent this to me over past Christmases.