Montgomery Distillery Launches a Bourbon-Based Amaro
A base of wheated bourbon steeped with botanicals and citrus is sweetened with demerara sugar
October 31, 2025 –––––– Laura Pelner
Family-owned Montgomery Distillery in Missoula, Montana, a farm-to-bottle distillery that produces single malt, rye, wheated bourbon, and more, has unveiled a new project targeted toward fans of both bourbon and amaro, and cocktail enthusiasts who enjoy both spirits. Released this month, B’Amaro aims to honor both American and Italian drinking traditions by combining the richness of aged bourbon with the bittersweet complexity of amaro.
The distillery claims B’Amaro is the world’s first-ever bourbon-based amaro (30% ABV, $30).
B’Amaro uses Montgomery Distillery’s 4 year old Mama Tried wheated bourbon as its base, and then steeps botanicals, spices, and fruits in it to create this expression. Gentian root and cinchona are added to create bitter flavors, followed by cloves, chamomile, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg to layer in botanical and spice elements. A citrus finish comes courtesy of sweet orange, bitter orange, and grapefruit, which are added near the end of the production process, and sweetness is enhanced with the addition of demerara sugar.
“We’ve always been fans of amaro and have made several house amaros for our tasting room,” says Ryan Montgomery, owner and founder of Montgomery Distillery. “Through that process, we’ve been able to experiment with what flavors we love in amaro, and we’ve used our tasting room bar as a test kitchen. After several years of enjoying bourbon and amaro cocktails, it dawned on us that we could incorporate the bourbon flavor right into the amaro.”
Experimentation was key when making B’Amaro. Montgomery says that the distillery played with not only its wheated bourbon, but also its high-rye bourbon, rye whiskey, and single malt before settling on the final recipe for B’Amaro. “The wheated bourbon slightly edged out the others by giving the amaro a wonderfully smooth and rounded finish,” Montgomery explains. “We do two separate infusions in a matter of weeks to produce the final flavor profile.”
B’Amaro is available now in Montana and will be sold in Washington and Massachusetts in November. Montgomery says B’Amaro will expand to additional states next year, with the ultimate goal being nationwide availability.
B’Amaro can be enjoyed neat, though Montgomery says it’s also well-suited for use in cocktails. He suggests an Amaro Spritz, a combination of B’Amaro, sparkling wine, and soda water, though he also says it mixes well into a Negroni and Julep, with the latter using B’Amaro in place of bourbon. Beyond that, B’Amaro complements several other classic whiskey cocktails, including a Paper Airplane, a Black Manhattan, and an Amaro Sour.
