Drinks with a high alcohol content like amaretto can have an incredibly long shelf life, sometimes stretching into decades. But if you don’t store amaretto properly, it can go bad in a matter of days.

Quick Answer

Unopened and in a cool, dark, dry place, amaretto can last over two decades, and even after opening the bottle amaretto can survive over five years before going bad. At the same time, amaretto can go stale even in a sealed bottle, and if the bottle is placed in a bad spot it can go bad in a matter of days.

Since amaretto can have an incredibly long shelf life, it is important to know how to handle the drink to make sure it lasts.

Does Amaretto Go Bad? How Long Does Amaretto Last?

High proof alcohol like amaretto can go bad, but it can take years for a bottle to go flat, let alone bad, in the right conditions.

How Long Does Amaretto XYZ Last Outside

How long amaretto lasts outside depends on two factors, whether the bottle is open or not and where the bottle is kept, as both have an impact on the drink’s shelf life.

Amaretto can last over two decades in a sealed bottle, although it can still go flat in this state, and even after opening amaretto can last over five years as long as you seal it tightly between uses.

At the same time, you need to keep amaretto in a cool, dry, dark area away from anything that might stimulate the liquid, since this can cause the drink to go bad, especially with constant exposure.

How Long Does Amaretto Last in the Fridge

The reason refrigerators increase the shelf life of food is because the cold slows down the chemical processes that cause food to go bad and prevents contamination.

However, amaretto has both a high alcohol content and very few ingredients that can go bad, which is why amaretto can last for decades before it starts to go bad, as long as the bottle is kept sealed and safe.

At the same time, this also means that refrigerating amaretto does nothing to prevent the drink from going bad since the contents of the drink already preserve themselves and the bottle keeps out any contamination.

How Long Does Amaretto Last in the Freezer

Just like with the refrigerator, putting amaretto in the freezer will do almost nothing to preserve the drink long term, since its high alcohol content slows the spoiling process to a crawl.

In fact, due to its high alcohol content amaretto will not freeze under most circumstances, since alcohol has an incredibly high freezing point compared to water, which can prevent the bottle from freezing.

Even if you do manage to freeze your amaretto, this can be a problem as well since water expands as it freezes meaning that unopened or full bottles can be damaged by the expanding liquid inside.

Conclusion:

Properly sealed and stored, amaretto can last more than twenty years sealed and over five open, but refrigeration and freezing has no effect on its shelf life.

How To Tell If Amaretto Has Gone Bad / How To Know Amaretto is Fresh

Since aging is part of the process for creating alcohol, liquors often change flavor and quality as they age, even before they start to go bad. The key to understanding the freshness of amaretto is knowing how the drink tastes at different stages of its development to know how much the drink has aged.

Fresh Amaretto. When its fresh, amaretto has a sweet and nutty flavor with an almost syrupy consistency, along with subtle notes of bitterness. Because of this, fresh amaretto is often used as a dessert wine or a pairing with other sweet and nutty foods, as its flavor naturally compliments sugary and earthy dishes.

Aged Amaretto. As amaretto ages it loses its sweet, nutty flavor and becomes more bitter over time, as well as losing its thicker consistency, a process that generally ends six months after opening the bottle. While you can drink amaretto in this state, if you don’t enjoy the flavor you can also use the alcohol in cooking or as a drink mix.

Bad Amaretto. Once amaretto starts to go bad its entire flavor and aroma becomes unpleasantly bitter and sour, as the chemicals that give the drink its sweet flavor have finally broken down. Bad amaretto also tends to change color from a vibrant amber to any number of different shades depending on what is contaminating the bottle.

How to Store Amaretto?

Amaretto can easily last for decades in the right conditions, but it can go bad extremely quickly if you don’t know how to store it properly. While the alcohol content of amaretto can preserve the drink and keep out contaminants, in the wrong environment amaretto can go bad in a matter of days.

You need a cool, dark place. Any type of alcohol will go bad quickly when exposed to light, heat, and moisture since these three factors cause the chemicals in alcohol to react and go bad. This means that you need a location such as a pantry, cupboard, or clean basement if you want to store amaretto long term.

Can You Freeze Amaretto? How?

Amaretto is both extremely difficult and extremely dangerous to freeze due to the different ingredients and substances that make up the drink. Under most circumstances, amaretto can’t be frozen due to the high alcohol content in the liquid, but when it does freeze the water in the drink can damage its container.

Alcohol Content. Alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water, and since amaretto has a high alcohol content then it also has a lower freezing point than other liquids. This means that actually freezing a bottle of amaretto is difficult as you need an extremely cold freezer to overcome the alcohol in the drink.

Expanding Ice. Even if you can freeze a bottle of amaretto, this can also present problems as the water in the drink will expand while the class bottle shrinks in the cold. This can cause the bottle to crack or even shatter in the freezer, especially if it is full or sealed, meaning that successfully freezing amaretto can be physically dangerous.

How to Thaw Amaretto?

If your amaretto is somehow frozen you are better off getting rid of the bottle than trying to thaw it to reuse the contents.

Like with many strong alcohols, the chemicals in amaretto break down in extreme cold, meaning that the drink will not taste the same after freezing as before.

Frequently Asked Questions About Amaretto’s Shelf Life

Between the changes brought on by aging, understanding proper storage, and the dangers of freezing, understanding how long amaretto lasts can be a difficult process. This article will go over two of the most common questions about amaretto and provide some direct answers to these issues.

Why does amaretto have a best-by date? Some bottles of amaretto come with a date marking the point at which the bottle will start to age, since the flavor of amaretto can change dramatically over time. You can still drink amaretto after the date on the bottle but it will have a different taste and consistency than a fresh bottle.

Can you make amaretto at home? You can make amaretto at home, without an expensive wine or beer making kit, provided you have the right ingredients and a recipe to follow. If you are a fan or amaretto and regularly use the drink in meals or cooking then you may want to look into making it at home.

Wrap Up

The high alcohol content and unique ingredients of amaretto give the drink an incredibly long shelf life, over two decades sealed and more than five years after opening. The key to keeping amaretto this long is keeping it away from light, heat, and moisture.