Today’s sponsored dispatch is brought to you by SennzaFinne Libations.
Founded in 2019 by veteran Seattle bartenders and husband-and-wife Joey and Gillian Diedrick, SennzaFinne Libations celebrates the bounty of local botanicals sourced from the Cascadia Wildlands to create a portfolio of small-batch amari born from traditional European methods with a modern Pacific Northwest sensibility.
Meaning “endless” or “without end” in Italian, SennzaFinne (and yes, much like our amari-making friends Faccia Brutto Spirits here in Brooklyn, the misspelling of the Italian to English translation is intentional) seeks inspiration from the eternal cycle of the seasons, creating a suite of five unique and dynamic expressions that channel and capture more than just Pacific Northwest terroir, but also the passing moments, moods, and sensations representing a specific time and place.
The award-winning SennzaFinne Libations was also included in Imbibe magazine’s most recent Imbibe 75, their annual roundup that celebrates the influential people, places, and organizations that are making a positive impact on the beverage industry and will shape the drinks world in the coming year.
SennzaFinne strategically partners with distributors and brokers across the U.S. to supply their artisanal amari to bars, restaurants, and bottle shops and currently has national distribution in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Nevada, Minnesota, and New York. Bars, restaurants, and bottle shops interested in learning more about and carrying SennzaFinne can contact Joey and Gillian for more information.
If you live in Seattle or happen to be visiting, be sure to check out the SennzaFinne distillery and tasting room near Salmon Bay in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood. Stop by to aste through their lineup of amari, learn more about the botanicals behind the bottles, try a cocktail or two, and even chat with Gillian and Joey about about any upcoming projects in the works. Private tours are also available as well as a gift box with sample-size bottles and rep the 206 with stylish SennzaFinne merch.
Read on to learn more about SennzaFinne from founders Joey and Gillian Diedrick, and explore the terroir-driven SennzaFinne collection along with bartender-perfected recipes to stir and shake up at home.
“Once someone has reached a point in their career where the line between the kitchen and the bar becomes blurred, unexpected flavor combinations just start to make more sense.”
I know your engagement in Italy in 2013 cemented your love of amaro, but how did this grow from a shared personal passion into an independent business?
Joey & Gillian: Well, that was a very magical start to this whole journey. Celebrating our engagement in Firenze really cemented the realization that we both, very much, loved amaro. When we returned home, it really worked its way into our bartending. We were always looking for depth, nuance and balance. And we leaned on amaro, and bitter profiles in general, in a lot of the drinks we created.
Around 2019, we started thinking about what was going to be the next step for us in our careers. Working together to create new and interesting things to share with the world was the starting point. Thinking about amaro’s origins, using what grows around you, and wanting to celebrate the incredible variety of amazing botanicals throughout the greater Pacific Northwest (Cascadia). Combine that with our love of the bittersweet, and SennzaFinne was born.
What inspires your approach to making amaro?
Joey & Gillian: The seasons and how to drink them was the inspiration for the first four amari we developed. Thinking of them as a suite to celebrate the abundance of plants and botanicals that grow around us. And also kind of focusing that lens at moments in time throughout the year, with bittersweet flavor profiles to highlight those evocative ingredients. Our fifth amaro, which is our flagship, is more a love song to taste memories, our journey and lives together, and our years tending bar.
We Always (see what we did there?) strive to layer the flavors of the overall profile from a culinary approach. That way, there is a journey for your palate while you taste. We like to lean on naturally sweet ingredients so that we can limit the amount of sugar we use. Less sugar equals more applications.
A signature element of SennzaFinne are the regional Cascadian botanicals sourced and foraged from the Pacific Northwest. What are some of your favorites from the region and what makes them distinctive?
Joey & Gillian: Cascade Hops: A bittering agent and preservative for the past 10,000 years. We were wondering why they didn’t play more of a heavy-hitting role in the last hundred years of amaro. So, instead of them being a back-up singer why not let them play the lead? So many of them are quite brilliant and lend such a luscious long bitterness. Branding ourselves SennzaFinne (“without end”), it was an ingredient we couldn’t help but fall in love with.
Mushrooms: We wanted our Last Leaf amaro to be earthy and funky and remind you of the dry crunch of leaves on an autumn forest hike. There is such a depth and character to mushrooms that is well-known in the culinary world. We wanted to bring that into the beverage world, in an “in your face” way. We thought it might be polarizing, or perhaps not as popular. As it turns out, people really like mushrooms. And for those that don’t, we’re here to convert you!
Hazelnuts: A prized crop of the northwest, particularly Oregon. We roast them in a wood-fired pizza oven (shout-out to Delancey in Ballard). It adds such a lovely note of char to the supremely rich and supple mouthfeel that the hazelnuts bring. At 37% ABV, Rustling Wood is no slouch, but the gorgeous fattiness of the hazelnuts remove any trace of heat.
Cedar (both the heartwood and the spring tips): A venerated tree with countless medicinal uses dating back thousands of years, it is another thing we just couldn’t help but embrace. The tips are so fun to harvest, and naturally sweet with their green alpine magic. The heartwood offers a sauna-like florality and a tannic structure that we just love.
“Hopefully people will see our story, follow their hearts, and take a chance. Both in love and in life.”
Rather than making a bespoke blend based on a common style of existing amari, the SennzaFinne portfolio is wholly unique, driven by seasons and sensations. Does that make it more challenging in your approach to educating bartenders, bottle shops, and consumers, or have you found that it helps you stand out from the competition?
Joey & Gillian: We’ve found that it can go either way. The bartenders we were in our mid-20’s didn’t have nearly the understanding of flavor components that we did in our late-30’s. Once someone has reached a point in their career where the line between the kitchen and the bar becomes blurred, unexpected flavor combinations just start to make more sense. That bartender doesn’t need any advice, you can see it in their eyes that they are already working on applications while they are tasting.
Along that line, we find chefs actually end up being some of our favorite tastings. You don’t spend much time talking about what the amari can do, or what can be done with them. You end up just geeking out on ingredients. It’s even more exciting when they want to cook with them, or have cooked with them. We love that tasting our amaro can excite and inform a dish that a chef puts out. It’s a bit of a full circle moment because when Gillian was at Eden Hill, it was always “This ingredient is amazing and fresh and we bought a ton of it for this menu item. So, you need to use X pounds of it for the bar program.” Challenge accepted.
You share more than 40 years of experience in the Seattle bar and restaurant scene. I lived in Seattle in the 2000s, a key period for the Seattle cocktail scene. What are your thoughts on being a part of that community and its role and place in the modern cocktail renaissance?
Joey & Gillian: We cut our teeth in the scene in the mid-aughts (our mid-twenties), but we never really saw ourselves as pivotal in any way. We watched friends open bars, write books, and launch a bitters empire; yet never really thought that was where we would end up. But when we met (2012) and married (2014), we found that our shared creativity really blossomed in a way that hadn’t before. Things really changed when we started working across the street from each other around 2017. We really started collaborating on things for each other’s programs, and went down the rabbit hole of “what’s the most interesting thing I could make and place on the menu?”
There is a creative, tinkering sensibility that pairs with an “anything is possible” mentality out here in the West. And within the climate of the Pacific Northwest, that is amplified even more. People are doing some really cool things out here, building off the work of those that came before. We like to think that’s where we ended up: expanding the box, opening the conversation, daring to say “why not?”
Creating SennzaFinne—seeing it on back bars all over and seeing so many people use it in cool and interesting ways—is truly humbling. We are honored to be where we are and to be loved by so many. And even more, to have the privilege to make unique delicious things, and inspire others to do the same. And that, hopefully, people will see our story, follow their hearts, and take a chance. Both in love and in life.
When I met you both for the first time at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans last summer, you carried around a compact padded travel bag that opened to reveal a stitched leather panel embossed with the phrase “Drink Me.” Has that proved to be the best way to get people excited about SennzaFinne?
Joey & Gillian: It certainly has in places that don’t have open-container laws! Seattle’s laws are pretty much the opposite. Tales was actually the inspiration for our tasting backpack. We thought “Why don’t we take advantage of being in a city with no open-container laws?” The branding on the backpack definitely helps put people at ease that you aren’t some rando handing out mystery liquor.
It’s been our experience that whether we are tasting industry professionals or novices who’ve never heard of amaro, that everyone has something to enjoy with our lineup. The challenge for us is just getting in front of more and more people. We have really run with the whole “Drink Me” image. It’s now on all our bottle neckers along with cocktail recipes. And it will be even more of a part of SennzaFinne down the road.
We’re well into embracing of amaro in the U.S., but do you still find amaro education, whether with bars or consumers, is lacking? Is amaro still an uphill battle with adoption compared to other spirits?
Joey & Gillian: It’s definitely a different landscape than twenty years ago. The box has been expanded for sure. It can be challenging sometimes though to break through the standard recipes—Black Manhattan, A**rol Spritz, etc.—that people have in mind for amaro cocktail applications. Amaro evolved from medicine into a digestif before cocktails even existed. Knowing that, it was never designed to be a cocktail ingredient—though it can be a fantastic one. Pulling back on the sweetness, allows a much more expansive range of possibilities. That is something we try to highlight in our tasting room, and in all of our signature cocktails: make modifiers more of a centerpiece, rather than a splash. It’s really fun out here outside of the box. We just want to invite more people to the party!
Volume: 750 ml | ABV: 34% | Price: $46.20
Bright, fresh, and vegetal, Grassy Eden celebrates the sensation of plants bursting forth from their winter slumber. Its natural color is meant to evoke the layers of moss from the local rainforest and captivates with notes of lovage and lemon balm and the freshness of pea shoots. An aromatic bouquet of spring flowers is anchored by a bright bitterness underscored by Cascade hops. Grassy Eden plays nicely with gin and other clear spirits and knows its way around citrus-forward cocktails. But simply served over ice with a splash of soda and a slice of cucumber just might become your to-to spring aperitif.
Try it in…
Makes 1 Drink
1-1/4 ounces SennzaFinne Amaro No. 1: Grassy Eden
1 ounce cucumber juice
3/4 ounce honey syrup (2:1 honey:water)
1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce lime juice
Garnish: cucumber ribbon and pea shoots
Wrap a long thin cucumber ribbon against the interior wall of a tall collins glass and fill with ice to keep it in place. Add the amaro, gin, cucumber juice, lime juice, and honey syrup to a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously until well-chilled and strain into the prepared glass. Garnish with fresh pea shoots.
See more Grassy Eden Cocktails
Volume: 750 ml | ABV: 29% | Price: $46.20
Golden Hour promises to be your “Summer Girl,” rocking a rich and luscious profile of just-picked summer berries, anchored by a backbone of hyssop and and bitter gentian. A concert of citrus peel gives way to a licorice kick from wild fennel that lingers throughout. That wispy florality of lavender and rose hips keeps you wanting more. Golden Hour is all bout that summer spritz, whether its paired with soda, sparkling wine, or that canned malt beverage someone left behind in your fridge at last weekend’s cookout.
Try it in…
Makes 1 Drink
1-1/2 ounces Sake (preferably Tahoma Fuji)
Fresh mint (for muddling)
Splash of Prosecco
Garnish: fresh mint bouquet
Add the sake, amaro, and fresh mint into a mixing glass. Muddle or press the mint lightly to release all its aromatic goodness. Strain into a rocks glass over ice or one large ice cube. Top off with Prosecco and garnish with more fresh mint.
See More Golden Hour Cocktails
Volume: 750 ml | ABV: 37% | Price: $46.20
A forager’s dream, Last Leaf is a celebration of the forest floor. Loaded with roots, barks, and earthy notes of mushroom, along with a healthy dose of orange peel to spark the warming spices within. Last Leaf has a thing for brown spirits and is quite at home in any Old-Fashioned or Manhattan variation. Thinking about adding a splash to spike your hot apple cider? Go right ahead. You’ll be glad you did.
Try it in…
Makes 1 Drink
1-1/4 ounces SennzaFinne Amaro No. 3: Last Leaf
1 ounce Scotch
1 ounce honey syrup (2:1 honey:water)
3/4 ounce lemon juice
Egg white
Add all ingredients to a shaker and vigorously dry shake without ice. Add ice and shake again until well-chilled. Double-strain into a chilled cocktail or coupe glass.
Volume: 750 ml | ABV: 37% | Price: $46.20
Rustling Wood digs down deep and finds its robust heart among roots, spices, and toasted hazelnuts. And in casting a nod to those gray days of winter in the Pacific Northwest, a bit of coffee marches in like a UV lamp to help revive and motivate. Try it riding shotgun with Scotch or your favorite spirt-forward sipper.
Try it in…
Makes 1 Drink
3/4 ounce SennzaFinne Amaro No. 4: Rustling Wood
3/4 ounce dark rum
3/4 ounce Giffard Banane Du Brésil
3/4 ounce lime juice
Garnish: brûléed kumquat slice
Add all the ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake until well-chilled and double-strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with the brûléed kumquat.
See More Rustling Wood Cocktails
Volume: 750 ml | ABV: 35% | Price: $46.20
Always is to the four seasons like umami is to taste—it’s the fifth flavor, or in this case, sensation. Like the rest of the SennzaFinne suite, Always is a celebration of the lingering memories of all those favorite distant ingredients. The blend of hibiscus, sarsaparilla, lemongrass, and ginger will tantalize with aromatic notes that seem to last, well… forever. Always makes fast friends with mezcal, rum, and cachaça, or simply pour it on the rocks and stretch it out with some tonic or your favorite bubbles.
Try it in…
Makes 1 Drink
1 ounce SennzaFinne Amaro No. 5: Always
3/4 ounce aged rum
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce honey syrup (2:1 honey:water)
1/4 ounce limoncello
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Garnish: pineapple frond, cocktail cherry, orange twist
Add all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a collins glass over ice and and garnish with pineapple fronds, cherry, and orange twist.
Our thanks to SennzaFinne for underwriting today’s LAST CALL dispatch.
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