See the Elephant Amaro Lands in 99 Fine Wine & Good Spirits Stores Across Pennsylvania

The state where the brand began now becomes its biggest retail footprint yet, as the PLCB places a significant one-time order of the arugula-based amaro from the Cilento Coast of Italy.

August 2, 2026 PHILADELPHIA, PA — See the Elephant Amaro di Rucola is excited to announce placement in 99 stores across Pennsylvania after a significant one-time buy of See the Elephant Amaro by the state. See the Elephant can now be found on shelves in Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores across the Commonwealth — the largest single placement in the brand's history, and one that returns the amaro to the very state where it first launched. The order spans more than 20 counties, from Philadelphia and its suburbs to Pittsburgh, Erie, Scranton, Harrisburg, State College, and Lancaster. All 99 stores can be found on the store locator on the brand's website.

For See the Elephant Amaro founder Kyle Harder, the moment is both a business milestone and a pleasant memory. Pennsylvania was the first state to say yes to See the Elephant. Now it's the state making the biggest bet on it.

“You won't know until you go — that's been the whole idea since day one,” said Kyle Harder, Founder and CEO of See the Elephant. “Pennsylvania is where curiosity first led to taking a chance on a unique amaro made from arugula that is now distributed in 28 states. It’s incredibly gratifying as a business owner, but also to know that so many people in Pennsylvania are as excited about the brand as I first was when I tasted it in Italy back in 2019. Fast forward to today, it’s an incredible milestone for See the Elephant to be on shelf in so many great Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores.”

A Category on the Move

See the Elephant's Pennsylvania expansion arrives as amaro continues its climb from bartender's secret to mainstream curiosity. Industry research pegs the North American amaro market's annual growth at roughly 8% through the next decade, fueled by craft-spirits enthusiasm and the spread of European drinking traditions into American bars and homes. Globally, the category is on pace to nearly double in value by 2033, driven by a renewed appetite for heritage spirits and increasingly adventurous, botanical-driven drinking habits.

That curiosity is exactly what See the Elephant was built for. Made from arugula on Italy's Cilento Coast — a UNESCO-recognized birthplace of the Mediterranean Diet — by a family with more than 65 years of production history, the amaro was designed as a gateway amaro: bitter enough to be honest, smooth enough to invite a second sip. For Pennsylvania consumers discovering amaro for the first time, See the Elephant offers a way into amaro that doesn't require already knowing what Fernet, Nonino, Averna, or Cynar are — just a willingness to try something new. To that end, we say let’s go “see the elephant” together, Pennsylvania.

Thank You, Pennsylvania. Thank you, early supporters.

See the Elephant extends a heartfelt thank you to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) and its buying team for the consideration and the opportunity. Control states move carefully and deliberately, and a placement of this size is not handed out lightly. The team's willingness to bet on an independent, founder-owned amaro says as much about their curiosity as it does about the brand's momentum. The relationship See the Elephant’s distributor in Pennsylvania, Oasis Wine & Spirits, has with the buying team at the PLCB created the opportunity. It was a real collaboration to get See the Elephant to shelves in Pennsylvania.

The brand also owes a debt to the people who believed in See the Elephant long before there were 99 doors to walk through. In Lancaster at award-winning Italian restaurant LUCA, Chef Taylor Mason and lead bartender Isaiah Kimball were among the very first to pour it for guests — and it was in Lancaster, at that same bar, where Brad Thomas Parsons, the writer behind Punch's “10 Essential New School Amari,” first tasted See the Elephant. That single pour eventually became a national credential. Lancaster didn't just support the brand early — it helped launch it into the wider world.

“It's a great introduction to a bigger conversation that is amaro,” said Isaiah Kimball, lead bartender at LUCA in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Kimball notes that the bottle's eye-catching design draws in guests who might otherwise never order an after-dinner digestivo, and he's built it into an amaro-based flip as well as an Espresso Martini riff, along with many other featured See the Elephant Amaro cocktails at LUCA. “They took a bitter, somewhat polarizing Italian ingredient and created something smooth, well-rounded yet complex, that speaks to Italian tradition.”

What to Pour at Home

Part of See the Elephant's appeal is how easily it slots into cocktails people already know how to make. For Pennsylvania drinkers picking up a bottle for the first time, four suggested serves are a great place to get started:

• Black Manhattan — 2 oz rye whiskey, 1 oz See the Elephant, Angostura and orange bitters. This is both a classic and a crowd-pleaser. Great for a freezer-door cocktail.
• Italian Espresso Martini — a riff on the modern classic, swapping in See the Elephant alongside espresso and vodka for a bittersweet, herbal edge.
• Amaro Spritz — See the Elephant, soda water, prosecco, over ice. Low-lift, low-proof, and built for a porch in August.
• Paper Plane — equal parts See the Elephant, bourbon, Aperol, and fresh lemon juice. A bartender favorite that shows off the amaro's balance in a shaken format.

All four are built for a home bar, not a professional one — no specialty tools, no hard-to-find ingredients, just a bottle of See the Elephant and whatever's already in the liquor cabinet.

Meet See the Elephant in Person

Pennsylvania drinkers curious to taste before they buy will have their chance this fall: See the Elephant will be pouring at the Philadelphia TASTE! Festival, October 16–17, 2026, at Valley Forge Casino Resort. The festival runs Friday from 6–10 p.m. and Saturday across two sessions, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 4–8 p.m., with tickets including full access to culinary samples and wine and spirit tastings. This will be a fun way to taste the See the Elephant Amaro straight from the bottle, poured by the people who make it. Tickets and details are available at phillytastefest.com.

The Journey Continues

Pennsylvania consumers can find See the Elephant Amaro di Rucola at 99 participating Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores across the Commonwealth — from Center City Philadelphia to Pittsburgh's Strip District, and dozens of towns in between — retailing at $44.99. Bartenders looking to build it into a program are encouraged to try the brand's suggested serve, the Black Manhattan — 2 oz rye, 1 oz See the Elephant, Angostura and orange bitters.

Command a common joy. Now, in Pennsylvania, it’s time to go see the elephant.

About See the Elephant See the Elephant Amaro di Rucola is produced in Agropoli on the Cilento Coast of Campania, Italy, made from arugula by a multigenerational Italian family with over 65 years of production history. Named one of Punch magazine's “10 Essential New School Amari” by Brad Thomas Parsons, See the Elephant is imported under HTH Imports and distributed in 28 states across the United States.

Media Contact Kyle Harder, Founder & CEO, See the Elephant.