Bordiga Amaro Dilei

Originally made for the Café Dilei, a famous spot in Turin (no longer in business). The son of Bordiga’s founder, Pietro Bordiga, was married to the daughter of the owner of Dilei, and this amaro has been made by Bordiga since shortly after the distillery was founded in 1888.

As with all of Bordiga’s infusions, Dilei is made of actual botanicals, many of them foraged wild; after harvest the botanicals are dried at altitude in a dark, ventilated room naturally. They are then infused individually (for ideal extraction) in the distillery in Cuneo, then skillfully combined by the master distiller for a balanced aroma and flavor. In this case all the botanicals except for the genepy and the cinchona are foraged in the mountains that loom to the west of the distillery, on the border of France. The genepy (being a protected plant) is cultivated and hand- picked in the mountains, and the cinchona comes from South America. (The cinchona tree is the original source of quinine, and the original anti-malarial drug, as well as a classic amaro bittering agent.) Modern techniques such as centrifuging, ultrasound or the use of chemical solvents to speed up extraction are never employed. No purchased extracts are used.

This is an alpine style amaro, mint and thyme being prominent; the balancing bitterness is provided by the two different gentians and by cinchona. The classic alpine botanical genepy gives a floral background note.