Disaronno, Italy’s most famous liqueur, has released its first new product in 500 years. Disaronno Riserva – a luxury and innovative blend of Disaronno and Scotch whisky – landed in Australia just this week with distributor, Spirits Platform, and is set to take consumers’ experience of the original amaretto liqueur to new heights.

The blend has been aged in vintage wine barrels from the ILLVA Saronno Company’s own Marsala Winery. It is the work of CEO and company family member Augusto Reina who has spent years to create a spirit that brings together Disaronno’s distinctive almond notes with the exquisite and powerful flavour of hand-selected Speyside Scotch whisky.

At $450 RRP per bottle, the brand hopes that Riserva will appeal to the collectors and connoisseurs of the spirits world.

Riserva has been somewhat of a love affair for Mr. Reina. In fact, it would be hard to believe that Reina didn’t love anything about Disaronno and his family’s company ILLVA. At nearly 76 years old, he has been with the company for almost all of his life and is still passionate about the new possibilities at ILLVA.

“The company is always doing new things. Ninety per cent of our business is abroad, so for a very long time we have been used to thinking about the rest of the world – thinking in a global way – and we are always trying new things,” Reina told drinks bulletin.

“ILLVA is a partner in China’s biggest wine company for example and we are working with them now on a number of projects, including building a new factory that is going to be the biggest wine factory in the world. ILLVA also has a join venture in the Walsh Distillery. These are some of the things that make all of us at ILLVA wake up with the passion to go to work everyday.”

Reina has waited a long time to release Riserva, making sure that the final blend is the perfect blend. The idea for Riserva came about when a number of distilleries had come to ILLVA asking to use its Marsala wine casks to age their whiskies in. This got Reina thinking about the flavours of Disaronno, whisky and the Marsala barrels to come up with something new.

“Technically, this has been one of the hardest things to create, because both the flavour of Disaronno and the flavour of the whisky are so powerful that they can easily go their own way and not together. This is Riserva – it is not Disaronno and it is now whisky, it is a marriage of the two,” Reina said.

The resident sea air in the Cantine Florio cellars in Marsala where Riserva was aged has allowed for the perfect temperature and humidity for both the Disaronno and whisky to intertwine. The result is a spicy sweetness that fades into light and fruity vanilla-almond notes. The finish is peppery with a hint of dried fruit.

Reina added, “You have the flavour of the whisky and you have the flavour of the almonds in Disaronno. Neither are competing, instead they are really getting together and providing the best of the flavour profile in one another.”

Riserva comes in a bottle inspired by the iconic Disaronno bottle, with a cleaner and more innovative shape that is showcased in a refined black wooden box. This release has been limited to just 10,000 bottles. Contact your Spirits Platform representative for more information.