Padre Peppe Elixir

A traditional Italian walnut elixir created in 1832 by Capuchin Friar Giuseppe Ronchi in Altamurpa, Puglia. Crafted by macerating green walnuts and botanicals in alcohol and aging for four years in oak barrels. This is a dark, complex digestif, somewhere between a nocino and an amaro, that is simultaneously sweet and bitter. www.padrepeppe.it. Classic elixir at 42% ABV, tasted and then paid 10 euros for a 10 cl bottle in Albertobella to bring home. Opaque black with brown highlights in the glass, with average coating leg. The nose is dark herbal, nutty, musty and earthy, anise, sweet up front but bitter and spicy in the background. On the palate, like a thick liquid licorice (but not overpowering anise) mixed with dry walnut and brazil nut paste. Sweet, THICK sweet, and herbal, like root beer extract or sweetened espresso syrup. Warming but not hot. Tingling spice in the background. Coating oily mouthfeel that extends through the finish. The finish shows that herbal licorice and spicy sweetness settling in. Clean average length finish, sweet, sticky lips. I've had a number of nocinos, but they were always thinner, more ethanol, and meant for mixing. This is an elegant sip all by itself, an after dinner digestif that is really elegant in the complex flavors that show up. Not a licorice bomb, but definitely herbaceous. Two thumbs up.