1 BOTTLE X 50cl.

25%vol. 

NAME: AMARO HANTAK ORIGIN: LESSINIA (VR) - ITALY PRODUCER: VIERE HANTE ALCOHOL: 25% Vol

BOTANICALS: 20 including rue, CHINA, RHUBARB, artichoke, linden, wormwood, gentian, ORANGES, MANDARIN, CAMOMILE, WALNUT HELL AND DANDELION.

DESCRIPTION: Hàntak has an alcohol content of 25% vol, it is a natural product and does not contain colorants or caramel, it is produced using high alcohol content from cereals.

TASTING NOTES: Hàntak has a beautiful reddish brown color, with orange reflections, brilliant even in the chromatic thickness of the liqueur. The nose is full, frank, persistent, not overly powerful but rather delicate, almost warm on the nose. The bitter sensations are supported by an undoubted citrus fragrance. The fragrances of Dandelion, Linden and Gentian are clearly distinguishable, but above all the unmistakable note of Ruta, to close all expectations. When tasted, the taste is full, immediate, persistent, with never excessive warm notes, which on the contrary, once swallowed, turn into balsamic, almost mentholated notes, which make the product very balanced.

--------

HÀNTAK: in the Cimbrian language it means bitter, understood as an adjective, or, better, one of the five gustatory perceptions (at the time when the Cimbri settled in Lessinia, bitters and liqueurs did not yet exist as we understand them today).
If we analyze and translate the label of this product into Italian, therefore, we will read Amaro "Amaro" as bitter-bitter the twenty-twenty, the past year, was for all of us. Hence, as for any self-respecting amaro, the traditional slogan: “What is the best remedy to exorcise such a bitter year (as was the twenty-twenty) than to toast with an AMARO?! ”.

The reason and the motivation of this slogan lie in two fundamental elements: the RUTA, which is one of the botanicals present in the recipe and the STREGA (or stria or marascha in Cimbro) represented on the front label. RUTA because both in the Cimbrian-Lexinian and Northern European tradition it is considered a magical plant, used against evil spirits, in particular against witches; and the WITCH because among the various gures present in the imaginary of the Cimbrian folk tradition (fade, anguane, ogres, basilisks, gnomes) she is the only one who always and in any case had a negative value, she was considered an evil being.

In summary then: the witch we find on the label represents the twenty-twenty year which was a bitter-bitter year for everyone. This last year, as per the slogan, can be exorcised by toasting with the bitter Hàntak because it contains rue, a botanical believed to drive away evil spirits and witches.
The aba shown in the lower part of the front label makes the idea even better: taking up the Cimbrian beliefs and taking inspiration from a popular tale, reported in some books of Cimbrian culture concerning an evil witch, the text makes us understand how the witch was a negative gure for the Cimbri, who believed that if the women went to the stables without the presence of men, at the stroke of midnight, the witches would show up at the door to cast spells on them and spells.

Analyzing the product instead it is a amaro created following a very specific idea.
First of all, it had to be a product that respected the Italian liqueur tradition, being the amaro 100% Italian unlike other spirit drinks.
For this reason, for the bittering part, “historical botanicals” were chosen such as rue, cinchona, rhubarb, artichoke, absinthe, gentian, partly known also by the Cimbri in Lessinia and by the priest from Sprea for the preparation of his natural remedies.
He then had to overcome what is the biggest problem of the historic bitters we know: the very high percentage of sugar. Hàntak contains "only" 150/160 grams of sugar per litre, compared to the 350/400 and sometimes 600 grams of sugar per liter found in the most famous bitters on the market and beyond.
The dif culty was in being able to keep such a "low" level of sugar without abandoning the initial idea in the slightest, that is to have a product that was bitter to the right point but at the same time delicate, soft and persistent in the mouth.
Also in this case the solution came from the history of Italian liqueurs, in particular from the tradition of bitters in southern Italy where there was a great use of citrus fruits. For this reason, in Hàntak there are some varieties of citrus fruits including orange and mandarin which, supported by other historical and territorial botanicals such as chamomile, walnut hull and dandelion, make the final product "sweet" without having to resort to excessive use of sugars.