Ever arrived at a restaurant early and had a drink at the bar before your meal? If so, you’ve technically had an aperitif.
The word gets tossed around quite a bit, and it’s tempting to associate aperitifs with white-tablecloth restaurants and expensive bottles, but the concept is very simple.
An aperitif is a drink that’s consumed before a meal in order to whet the appetite. It’s a beverage that prepares your palate, mind, and stomach for the food and occasion to come.
At Artet, we believe that any drink that gets you in the mood to eat probably counts as an aperitif. However, if you ask a spirits aficionado, they’ll tell you that in order to count as an aperitif, a drink must have certain qualities, which we'll get into below.
What counts as an aperitif?
The term “aperitif” historically applies to alcoholic beverages. We believe that this rule can and should be broken. That is, after all, why we made an alcohol-free, THC-infused aperitif.
Aperitifs come in all shapes and sizes. You could move from champagne to pastis and still be under the aperitif umbrella. What makes a beverage an aperitif is its ability to stimulate the appetite. Beverages that get us in the mood to eat tend to share a few key characteristics:
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The best aperitifs are "dry." Pre-dinner drinks should be low in added sugar, or at least taste that way. Syrupy beverages fill you up, and saturate your palate. If you drink a bunch of beers before dinner, you’ll likely feel full by the time your food hits the table. Dry beverages—like brut nature champagne—activate your appetite and get your taste buds in the mood.
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Aperitifs are usually sessionable or low proof. If you walk into the aperitif aisle at your local liquor store, you’ll notice that most of the beverages on display aren’t much stronger than wine. Alcohol can fry your taste buds, and leave you drunk before dinner. Dry martinis are a notable exception to the low ABV rule, but most of us learn the hard way that having more than one martini is a gamble. Ultimately, you’ll get more out of pre-dinner drinks that aren't super strong.
- Botanical, herbaceous, and bitter beverages set us up for food. That’s why the list of popular aperitifs includes Campari and other amaros, pastis, ouzo, and gin. Dry white wines, brut champagne, and fortified wines like fino, amontillado, or dry sherry are also popular options. Let the adjectives above guide you in your quest for the perfect aperitivo.
If this is all starting to sound complicated, simply seek out a drink that’s bright, dry, sippable, or even a little bitter before your next meal. You’ll start to understand what makes an aperitif an aperitif in no time.
What’s an infused aperitif?
Back in 2017, two brothers and a cousin (soon to be the co-founders of Artet) came up with a wild idea. "What if," they wondered, "we could make a THC beverage so elegant and cocktail friendly that it would blend in on our family's dinner table?"
Their dream was to create a THC drink that could hold its own next to great wine and other fine spirits. So, they spent the next two years carefully developing the liquid that would is now Artet's Flagship Aperitif.
Given that the aperitif format is so focused on intriguing, botanical flavors and stimulation of the appetite, it struck them as the perfect style of drink to take inspiration from. They crafted a beverage that retained all the characteristics of timeless drinks like Campari, Aperol, Montenegro, Fernet, and others, and swapped the alcohol for THC. The very first THC-infused aperitif, and one of the first-ever THC spirits was born, and two years later, hit shelves in California.
How do I try Artet?
If you're looking to try the original THC-infused aperitif, you've come to the right place. Depending on your state of residence, you can order our botanical beverages online and have them shipped directly to you. We highly recommend starting out with the Flagship Aperitif, or better yet, the Artet Starter Pack. That's a little bit of everything, plus a cocktail booklet, for less. You'll be well on your way to understanding the wide world of aperitifs in no time.
