Sennza Finne Amaro

A bitter sweet love story

The Backstory

As a healthy young man, it’s no wonder I fell in love with Sophia Loren. Her down-to-earth naturalness in every role she played was as exciting to me as her sensual beauty. Not only was she a glamorous actress, she also loved to cook. Sophia was famous for saying “Cooking is an act of love.” When I was a restaurant chef, I remember daring to repeat this proverb to my co-chefs and servers at line-up to remind them of what we purported to do every evening. To make the most delicious food was of course a way of enjoying our craft. But making it with someone in mind, even someone we hardly knew, with the intention of pleasing them was a way of transmitting affection. It was a way of focusing on a positive intention and giving meaning to the work. It justified the long hot hours. It relaxed tension. It brought bigger tips. Everybody won. I am no longer a restaurant chef but I cook dinner just about every evening for Linda my wife, my daughter Luisa, for Anthony when he is home from college, and for dear friends who come to the door. I still find confirmation in the fact that making food for others is a binding intimacy for those who hold a place in my heart. It is one of my greatest pleasures and sources of purpose.

I read recently in a survey study of 2,000 Americans that 71% of respondents said cooking is their “love language.” Maybe the result of biased questioning but the sentiment remains...Meet Gillian and Joey Diedrick, the passionate husband and wife team behind Sennza Finne, who craft Amaro (Amari plural) in their Seattle boutique production space. Open their website “About Page” and there they are kissing affectionately. Read a spec sheet on their Amaro and there is a tag in the corner, “Always Made In Love.” ‘In Love’, not with love. Their brand, their Amaro, and their love affair meld seamlessly. They unabashedly wear love on their sleeve. Amaro is their love child.

“Cooking” applies to the transformation of any raw materials intended to be eaten or drunk for the benefit of the body, its needs, or pleasures. Given that Amaro is composed of multiple if not many diverse ingredients, the making of it demands keen discernment, taste memory, an ability to imagine compound flavors, and the knack for harmonizing diverse ingredients in a blend. Separately and together Joey and Gillian bring this acumen to the bottle. Both have extensive experience as mixologists. Joey continues to tend bar while Gillian now devotes her time exclusively to Sennza Finne. Their original passion for Amaro grew from making bitter-edged tinctures and infusions to barhopping throughout Italy to sample Amaro from the fountainhead. They now say they rarely make a drink without Amaro as a fundamental ingredient.