Strega Riserva (700 ml)

When the Alberti family established their distillery beside the Benevento railway station in 1860, they sealed the full formula in a coded herb cupboard — a legal trade secret passed parent to child, known to exactly two living people at any given time. That unbroken secrecy is not theatre; it is the technical foundation of a liqueur that has never been reformulated across six generations. Benevento sits at the Apennine foothills roughly 50 km northeast of Naples, where wild mint grows along the banks of the River Sabato and juniper descends from the mountain ridges above — both harvested for this recipe. Approximately 70 herbs and spices, sourced from Europe, Central America, and the Orient, are macerated in grain alcohol and distilled in traditional swan-neck alembic pot stills; saffron from Abruzzo and sugar syrup are blended in afterwards, producing the unmistakable gold. The liquid then matures in large oak or ash vats for a minimum of several months before bottling at 40% ABV with no artificial colours or flavours. What separates Strega from every Italian amaro peer is its menthol-resinous axis: where Galliano reads sweet and vanilla-forward, Strega is assertively piney and mint-driven, with a lightly viscous body and a long, resinous finish anchored by gentian, wormwood, and white pepper. As a non-vintage expression produced to a fixed recipe, it delivers absolute consistency — the same profile the Alberti family has served since the year of its founding.