Emilia Romagna
Reggio Emilia
Saverio Denti as a child was delighted to create new aromas playing and mixing with perfumes, shampoo and bubble bath that he found at home instead of using the legos like many other children of his age and then his grandfather who had so much influence in its growth, pioneer of organic/biodynamic farming in Italy and follower and friends of Fukuoka San from Japan (Japanese botanist and philosopher, pioneer of natural agriculture). The passion for wild herbs and botany in general is realized with the graduation of Saverio in Herbal Techniques and in 2010 even with a little of unconsciousness opens the company ”Mistico Speziale”, a farm with attached processing factory, in which medicinal plants are cultivated (naturally) and then transformed directly into liqueurs. The cultivation fields are just a few meters from the laboratory where the liqueur is produced and from the dryer in which to dry the herbs harvested in the correct balsamic time (when they have more essential oils inside them) and to finish as said a small laboratory where it is the process of maceration in alcohol of botanicals. Finally the production process ends with the bottling. The philosophy of Saverio Denti is to not use anything artificial or even industrial flavors, only cereal alcohol, spring water, sugar and medicinal plants. In addition, each product undergoes minimal filtration, in the sense that initially it was carried out by pressure with cardboard filters (therefore a more boosted filtration) to make the product more “limpid”, but with the experience gained in these years of activity Saverio thought that the more you filter and the more you lose aromas, then he prefers a light filtration, which can perhaps go to the detriment of the appearance of the product, which sometimes remains less clear, but the aromas remain unaltered. Saverio in his business behaves just like an ancient apothecary, each recipe comes from an inspiration like the scent of a plant to be mixed with other botanicals to create a unique blend. Alcohol is like a white canvas, herbs are the palette of colors this is how it happened for its Bitter Clandestino and for its new Amaro Clandestino very soon on the Italian market.
BITTER CLANDESTINO
Inspired by a recipe dating back to the times of Prohibitionism, the Bitter Clandestino is a unique and versatile product, without dyes, preservatives or artificial flavors. It represents a balanced blend of bitter and sweet notes, fresh, citrus and floral. Handcrafted in small batches, through the natural maceration of selected botanicals in pure cereal alcohol and spring water. Specifically in tasting we distinguish 4 types of aromas, the bitter notes are given mainly by china and absinthe, the balsamic and warm notes by cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg, to move to the softer and citrus tones of orange peel and bergamot to finish with the most delicate floral notes of chamomile and orange blossom flowers. Neat it is a delicate digestive Amaro, with ice and orange peel it turns into an aperitif, mixed is the perfect Bitter for the preparation of numerous cocktails, Americano and Negroni above all.
AMARO CLANDESTINO
As for the Amaro Clandestino, which will be released in February, comes from the desire to create a product that was an Amaro in all respects, in the portfolio of Mistico Speziale was missing a product like that, a product that told and represented in full Mistico Speziale, the recipe, in fact, includes all the herbs that Saverio grows in the company, plus other exotic spices, which he purchases externally. The result is a unique product with a perfume that I personally love, very very complex, about 26 ABV, not too sweet and not too dry, a very balanced product, mainly herbaceous but with many balsamic, citrus, spicy nuances, which make it easy to appreciate even in mixing, perfect substitute of a Vermuth for a twist on a classic Negroni perhaps prepared with the other products of the company as Gin Clandestino and Bitter Clandestino, perfectly compatible for composition and taste. The mix of botanicals that make up the new Amaro are the following: rhubarb, juniper, artemisia absintium, artemisia pontica, angelica, burdock, calamus, coffee, sage, hyssop, lemon verbena (verbena odorosa), lemon balm, hyssop, mint, bitter and sweet orange peel, tangerine peel, lemon peel, bergamot peel, cardamom, timut pepper, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, helichrysum, orange flowers.
For anyone interested in trying such delicacies, please contact
Mistico Speziale
Via Riccardo Bonini, 1
42122 Reggio Emilia
Matteo Zed
