Strega Amaretto (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 exactly two living people at any given time. That unbroken secrecy is not theatre; it is the technical backbone of a liqueur whose character has remained unchanged for over 160 years. 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 fix the vivid gold colour and sweetness before the spirit is matured in large oak or ash vats for a minimum of several months. The confirmed botanical architecture — Samnite wild mint harvested from the banks of the River Sabato, Italian Apennine juniper, Florentine orris root, Ceylon cinnamon, gentian, and wormwood — produces a profile that is more assertively menthol-driven and resinous than any peer in the Italian amaro category. Where Galliano reads vanilla-sweet, Strega reads piney, minty, and warmly spiced with a lightly viscous body. Bottled at 40% ABV without artificial colour or flavour, it remains the only major Italian amaro whose recipe carries legal trade-secret protection.