Say No to Large Commercial Alcohol Brands

Ever wonder what makes Baily's, Jack Daniels or Absolut vodka more visible. It the million dollar ad campaigns they have. I don't know how you feel about paying for these ads. But we don't like it at all. The fact is that there are still small independent companies that produce small batches of hand crafted alcohol. But we don't know much about them.

Aroma Thyme Bistro strives to find these producers and highlight them over the big brands.

We just got Meletti Anisette, they have a great history. And they make much more than anisette.

Always ask your bartender for a non-comercial brand, he/she should be able to recommend these gems.

Marcus Guiliano

Here is their story:
The Meletti Anisette was invented and produced for the first time in 1870 by Silvio Meletti, who perfected and improved an aniseed-based liquor produced by hand in his mother's small shop. Silvio Meletti had the idea of offering the country a product of an ever higher quality to stand up to the competion of the extremely expensive foreign anisettes, and threw himself into the study of Italian and French manuals on the distillation and production of liquors until he was able to design and supervise the production of a bain-marie still, with very slow evaporation in order to obtain an alcoholate as aromatic as possible. It was found that the very delicate taste and special aroma of the Meletti anisette came from the quality of the aniseed (Pimpinella Anisum) carefully cultivated in certain areas of clay soil around Ascoli Piceno, favoured by the very special conditions of the land and the climate.
In 1904 the distillery was built near the railway station in Ascoli Piceno. The anisette produced was aged in iron casks in the large cellars, of which there were many at the distillery. Now, more than 120 years since it was first produced, Meletti anisette is still made with the systems developed and established by our founder. The aniseed is produced in the province of Ascoli Piceno. The central aspect of the production is the distillation of alcohol in the presence of aniseed. With suitable stills the alcohol absorbs the aromatic part of the aniseed. The result is a liquor with a high alcoholic content known as "aniciato", which is the raw material for subsequent processing.
The production of anisette involves the addition of a special "aroma" which is also produced through the distillation of various spices. The resulting anisette is then transferred into special tanks of more than 10,000 lt. for the ageing process. The ageing is necessary because in this stage the anisette clears, forming a deposit on the walls of the recipient, and amalgamates the various components which give it that unmistakable flavour.