Strega Amaro (700 ml)

When the Alberti family established their distillery beside the Benevento railway station in 1860, they encoded the formula for Strega into a locked herb cupboard — a legal trade secret passed parent to child, known to only two living people at any given time. That decision has kept the recipe unchanged for over 160 years across six generations. The distillery occupies the same 30,000 m² building in Benevento, Campania, at the tip of the Apennines roughly 50 km northeast of Naples — a position that gives direct access to wild mint harvested from the banks of the River Sabato and juniper from the Apennine slopes, two botanicals that anchor the liqueur's assertively menthol-resinous character. Approximately 70 herbs and spices — sourced from Europe, Central America, and the Orient — are macerated in grain alcohol, then distilled in traditional swan-neck alembic pot stills. Saffron from Abruzzo and sugar syrup are blended in post-distillation to achieve the signature gold colour, before the liquid is matured in oak or ash vats for a minimum of several months and bottled at 40% ABV with no artificial colours or flavours. What separates Strega from peers like Galliano is structural: where others lean vanilla-sweet, Strega is menthol-forward and resinous, with Florentine orris root, Ceylon cinnamon, gentian, and wormwood driving a long, drying finish that resists easy categorisation as either sweet amaro or bitter digestif.