‘Where’s the amaro?’ How one independent journalist tested North Carolina’s state-run liquor system

With every liquor store stop, Hanna Raskin followed the same script.

“The first thing I would do is walk into the store, and you can pretty much tell whether or not they’re going to have amaro,” she said. “But that was always my question: ‘Can you show me or can you tell me where to find amaro?’”

Amaro — the Italian word for “bitter” — is an herbal liqueur with citrus peels, spices and flowers. It’s a digestif, a drink served after a meal to aid in digestion.

But for Raskin, it was not part of an obsessive search for a preferred liqueur. It was a monthslong investigative quest to prod North Carolina’s Alcoholic Beverage Control system.