Throughout Puglia we had seen bottles of Amaro Salento Classico in various grocery stores and restaurants and by chance we were passing near their Veglie distillery on our drive to Porto Cesareo. Hoping to tour the facility we pulled in to find founder Realino Mazzotta out front but unfortunately learned we could enter the distillery. However, he called for his son Francesco to bring us a samples of several products and it was immediately evident that our detour was a prudent decision. 
The inspiration for Amaro Salento s.r.l. started in the 1940s when Realino's father Raffaele opened Bar Venezia in the center of the small town of Veglie. Realino remembers him serving coffee corretto - a "correct" coffee with extra sugar and augmented with a bitter liqueur. During this time in Salento, home-made liqueurs were a common activity with very few commercialized spirits. Only in a few bars - like Bar Venezia - was it possible to sample liqueurs crafted from the maceration of native herbs and roots. 
The recipe used by Raffaele was never officially written down and was suggested by a monk from the nearby convent of the Friars Minor of San Giuseppe da Copertino. This liqueur was apparently much much beloved by the American soldiers stationed in the town after the Liberation. And from our experience beloved by American tourists 75 years later. Sadly Raffaele died when Realino was young and the recipe was lost.
As life lead Realino to become an esteemed international conductor, he "maintained spiritual contact with his father by traveling through the fields and along the Ionian coast to collect rare herbs. Over the years, research also spilled over into libraries, through a meticulous selection of manuscripts that referenced some 'Herbe amarissime' (1767, Life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino – Domenico Bernino) that the saint used during penitential fasts." 
In 2014 Amaro Salento s.r.l. was born with the release of Amaro Salento Classico with the Amarissimo released a year later. Francesco relayed that the Classico was more in line with a sweeter amaro whereas the Amarissimo was aligned to a fernet. I chose the Classico and specifically it is comprised of 45 herbs, vegetables, roots, peels, seeds, flowers, and rhizomes, including cinchona, gentian, bitter and sweet orange, elderberry, wormwood, chamomile, pigeon pea, and quassia. Some of these botanicals I've never heard of. But this is a fantastic representation of an amaro - much nicer than most of the selections we tasted throughout Italy. We also purchased two other bottles - their Limoncello Salento and Bitter Rurale. The Limoncello is practically finished after being served nightly since our return as a palate cleansing digestif. It explodes with lemon flavor. Yet the biggest surprise has been the Bitter Rurale; throw out the Campari. It is a fantastic maceration of bitter orange, sweet orange, Roman wormwood, pomegranate, cascarilla, cinchona, gentian, and quassia. This bitter liqueur will be deeply missed after our last sip or Negroni.
