Ingredients
A high-proof maceration of bitter roots and barks — gentian, cinchona, wormwood, rhubarb — with almost no sweetening. The result is closer to a concentrated stomach bitters than to a modern amaro.
- ✦Gentian root
- ✦Cinchona bark
- ✦Wormwood
- ✦Rhubarb root
- ✦Angelica
- ✦Bitter orange peel
- ✦Warm spices
History of the Brand
Petrus Boonekamp created his 'Maagbitter' — stomach bitters — in the Netherlands in 1777, a formula sold as a cure for digestive complaints.
The recipe travelled to Italy in the nineteenth century, where the Boonekamp descendants settled in Livorno and continued production.
Boonekamp became so common in Italy that the word entered the language as a generic term for a very bitter digestivo.
It survives today as a Tuscan product with a Dutch name, drunk mostly by Italians of a certain generation — and increasingly by bartenders chasing extreme bitterness.
Tasting Characteristics
Camphor, dried bark, menthol and warm spice.
Intense gentian and quinine bitterness, almost no sugar, hot spirit and liquorice.
Very long, dry, mouth-coating and bitter.
Flavor meter
How to serve it
- 01A small measure neat after a heavy meal — the traditional use.
- 02In dashes to bitter up a stirred cocktail.
- 03Split with Fernet in a Hanky Panky variant.
- 04As a shot alongside espresso.
- 05Diluted with soda and lemon if the straight pour is too much.
Where to Get It
Common in Italian shops, rarer abroad. Cheap for what it is, given the 45% ABV.
Italian grocers
A supermarket item across much of Italy.
Specialty bottle shops
Occasionally imported; ask for 'Boonekamp'.
Online spirits retailers
Availability varies by market.
Affiliate buying links coming soon.
Petrus Boonekamp FAQ
What is Petrus Boonekamp?
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A very bitter, high-proof digestivo based on an 18th-century Dutch stomach-bitters recipe, produced in Livorno, Tuscany at 45% ABV.
Why does an Italian bitter have a Dutch name?
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Petrus Boonekamp created the recipe in the Netherlands in 1777; his descendants moved production to Livorno in the 1800s, and the name stayed.
How bitter is Boonekamp?
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Extremely. It is essentially unsweetened, so gentian, cinchona and wormwood hit without any sugar to soften them — one of the most bitter commercial digestivi.
How do Italians drink Boonekamp?
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A small measure neat after a heavy meal, sometimes alongside espresso. It is a digestive remedy first and a pleasure drink second.
Can I use Boonekamp in cocktails?
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Yes, in small doses — a bar spoon or a few dashes adds enormous bitterness to stirred drinks.