Amaro San Simone (700ml)

Some amari are created by marketeers. Some are created by bartenders or master blenders. But many of the very best were created by monks with utilitarian goals in my. San Simone is one of the later, plucked from obscurity by seeming chance. Its story begins with a brotherhood of 16th-century Turin monks renowned for their knowledge of medicinal plants, roots, and fruits. Their Depurativo San Simone was based on a formula dating to 1583 and remained in Piedmontese pharmacies into the 1940s. The original recipe resurfaced at the Antica Officina Farmaceutica San Simone in the early 1950s, and after years of refinement the modern amaro emerged around 1960. It is still produced entirely at the historic Turin facility, from botanical maceration through bottling. Thirty-nine herbs and roots, most gathered from the surrounding region, undergo months of maceration, infusion, and filtration before the resulting preparations are cold blended by hand. The formula uses grain alcohol, water, sugar, natural extracts, and pure-sugar caramel for color, without other additives. The principal suppliers and core production methods have remained essentially unchanged for more than half a century. Bottled at 26% ABV, this deeply traditional Torinese specialty earned the Grand Gold Medal, the highest distinction, at the 2025 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, rising above 2,598 blind entrants and selected 140 judges. It's a true honor to finally be able to sell this wonderful old recipe.