September 4, 2024 • 41 mins
During the covid-19 pandemic, U.S. marketing executive Frank Grillo moved to Puglia, Italy, to work remotely and embrace his Italian heritage. Puglia's Pane di Altamura D.O.P. made from locally grown ancient wheat, and Europe's first bread given a protected designation of origin status, sparked Grillo's entrepreneurial spirit to create Altamura, a wheat based premium Italian vodka. Grillo set out to create a "liquid bread" that reflected the umami of Pane di Altamura.
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The Connected Table is broadcast live Wednesdays at 2PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
The Connected Table Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
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(00:21):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live where your hosts Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple. We
enjoy traveling the world to bring you the amazing people
we meet who work front center and behind the scenes
and wine, food, spirits and hospitality and sharing their spects
stories with you are listeners from around the world. Today,
(01:03):
we're taking you to Pulia in Italy, where David has
been and I have not right.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
David, I've been a couple of times and it's really
a remarkable area in Italy, and and a lot of
people in Italy that live there go there. But for
some reason I don't think a lot of people outside
of Italy go there and it's really up and coming.
It's a wonderful place, fabulous food, and it's in Italy.
Bread basket for Italy as well in a lot of ways, wheat, olives,
(01:29):
wine of course, just a great area to be.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Speaking of breaking bread, we're joined today by Frank Grilla,
co founder and managing director, about Mura Distillery in Pulia,
and bread is going to be a theme of this
show because the Alta Mur's vodka is made with a
very special wheat made from Pulia's Pana to Alta Mura
(01:56):
dop bread, which we learn was the first to receive
the protected designation of origin the dop in Europe, and
it's a very special week. Did you have this bread
when you were.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
In Julia, David, I'm sure I did, but that wasn't
the focus of my trip, which of course with wine. Yeah,
but I'm sure I had it while I was there,
because I was really all over Ulia and so I'm
sure it was and I'm sure it was consumed.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Speaking of wine, it seems unusual to be making a
high ABV vodka in this region. Frank, First of all, Benvenuto,
we loved meeting you. Just for our listeners. We had
the great pleasure of celebrating Frank's birthday at Gallatoise, breaking
(02:39):
bread and drinking some amazing martinis. It was a three
martini lunch and every martini was exceptional, right that sure was?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, it was, And the welcome cocktail and the vodka itself.
It was just it was a delightful afternoon and it
was in of course the city that we lived in,
New Orleans. At Galatoi is one of the best restaurants
in the city.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
One of the best things about that lunch, Frank, besides
getting to know you and celebrating your birthday, was we
were really captivated by the team spirit of the people
who work with you at Altamura and I think you know,
we believe that that starts with the head of the company.
We love to start our shows taking our listeners back
to where our guests originally came from. Let's talk about
(03:16):
the name Grio. Well, are your roots are Italian?
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yeah, my whole family is Italian American and my my
father's side of the family is one hundred percent of
Sicilian from the town of Licata, and so Grilla, the
Grilla surname is from from Lagatta and you know you
guys are going in the next week. Also a really
great white wine from Sicily, so it's got a lot
of the name has a lot of Sicilian roots to it.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Who's your family first generation Americans from Italy or was
it a second or third?
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And where's your great grandparents? Yeah? Great grandparents on both sides.
So my family migrated to the US in the late
eighteens and early nineties. I was born and raised in
Brooklyn and what was called RedHook when I was born,
but now it's Carroll Gardens and and uh and and
areas like that, and high school and college in Manhattan.
So I'm I'm a New York City boy. I'm born
(04:12):
and raised.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
That's rare these days.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Like me, Yeah, like you, Dave, I was born in Manhattan,
so needless to say. So you so you were born
and raised in New York and now you're living in Italy.
Tell us how that change came about?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Uh, long, long, long, long route. I left New York
in my twenties career as a marketing executive. Most of
my life uh at Fortune and fifty small companies, all
of it, and then in the middle of COVID. I
was living in Atlanta at that time with my my spouse, Justin,
and you know, sitting an apartment in a tower in
Atlanta on endless zoom calls. I've always wanted to live
(04:53):
in Italy, and I just said to Justin, nobody really
cares where I am if I show up on the
zoom call, why don't we just go? And so he agreed,
and we made this decision that moved daily. And then
the question became ware and so, you know, in a
little bit of lockdown research, we figured out quickly we
wanted to move to the south for a couple of reasons.
Economic one, you get pretty good tax breaks, tax breaks
(05:14):
as a NUNI U citizen if you move to the
southern part of Italy, basically below Lazzio. We knew we
wanted really warm weather and beaches, food kind of you know,
start to narrow it down, and Pulia check a lot
of boxes. It's got great airport access, it's been renowned
for its beaches, is you know, they have amazing food.
And so we said, let's move to Pulia, never having
been here. But that was the side issue. And and
(05:36):
so once we made the decision to move. I love
to cook, and I started cooking pool Gacy recipes, you know,
making rookieti at home, like a propa nona in the morning.
And that's when I found the recipe for pout of Baltimora.
And that's how the vodka comes about. So that's true.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I used to live in Atlanta. It's an interesting city.
It's big, it's not it's it's landlocked. I left for
New York. I can understand why you were landlocked and
locked in during the pandemic. I can totally understand why
you were, like, there's got to be more to life
than this no offense Atlanta, but there's got to be
(06:18):
more to lifeless. I'm sure a lot of our American
listeners are like, oh, how did you do that? How
difficult was it to resettle in Italy? You mentioned those
tax breaks. I think both of us kind of hit
each other. And do you still have a residency in
the United States.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
We maintain a residency in the United States, but our
life is our life is here now. Definitely a big change.
I mean, we traveled to Italy a lot before before
deciding to move here, so we experienced daily But I
think it's true of any place. It's one thing to
come here as a visitor and a tourist, that it's
another thing to settle in and get into get into life.
(06:55):
And we got the deep end of the pool because
we moved during COVID, so there are a lot of
extra restrictions then. And at the same time we were moving,
we were starting a business, opening up a company, which
is a whole other world. And it's one thing to
move here just to have a life. It's another thing
to move here and start a business as an entrepreneur.
So we got the crash course in everything Italian bureaucracy
(07:16):
really quickly.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
We've heard about that. So did you leave marketing behind
completely to start? And I mean, what point did you go,
let's start a distillery?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah, okay, so I'll combine all that one answer. So,
like I said, I literally found the recipe for Panada
to Altemora, and you can actually buy Altimore flower at
Whole Foods, at least one in Atlanta, so I'm sure
there are a lot of Whole Foods carries carry it.
And so I just decided to bake a loaf. I
found the recipe and so I baked a roade loaf
because to have the dop it has to be baked.
(07:47):
In the city of Altemora. There are only twelve bakeries
that still adhere to all of the restrictions to make
it a dop loaf. But I followed the recipe and
I literally standing in the kitchen holding the loaf after baking,
and I said, you know, if you boil that that
abait did, it'd be a bottle of vodka. And that
got me curious. This week, as you kind of introduced
with this wheat as ancient, it's over two thousand years old.
(08:08):
The bread goes for that far back. The poet Horace
wrote about it in thirty seven PCE, telling travelers used
take out Altimore bread with you. One of its attributes
is it stays fresh a long time because of how
thick the crust is and the wheat slightly dryer. So
I just got really curious, and being a consultant marketing consultant,
I hired a consultant and said, why is no one
distilling from this? Because I couldn't find anybody doing anything
(08:30):
with it. And they came back and said, there's nothing
wrong with this. It actually probably produced something really interesting.
Slightly though we yield per ton on liquid because it's
a it's a harder wheat. But that's about it. And
the answer to the question they gave me when I said,
why has no one ever done this? And you can
kind of said a little bit of about this year deduction.
You'd never think of somebody distilling at kaiabv in this area.
(08:51):
It's slightly nuanced is that if you live in an
area where there's a lot of fruit, fruits much easier
to distill. It produces more alcohol, more sugar. And so
if you think about grain distilling, grain distilling is a
cold weather endeavor, right Scotch in Scotland. Vodka comes from
you know, Poland and Russia. So where there's a lot
of fruit, people distilled from fruit, brandy groppa, right, Poor William.
(09:15):
And so it just wasn't a natural thing to use
wheat to distill in the south of Italy when there's
a lot of other things to use. So it just
it wasn't culturally anything that made sense. So I said
let's try it. But I meant to try it as
a little lifestyle project. So I didn't come here to
give up marketing. As matter of fact, I kept my
I'm part of a marketing consulting group, and I kept
my practice of my customers. When I came here, I
(09:36):
was just doing the calls late at night, and the
plan always was I would keep staying in marketing and
just have this little lifestyle project that was a fun
part of being in Pulio. So that was the idea
when when so we decided to move, and then the
distillery came after the move.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And did you so your marketing clients were any of
them in the distilling or at bever jocohol arena?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Not? Not my I've worked with in my past when
I was at an agency. I've worked with some brands,
but really not in an intimate way. And no, I
had zero background and distilling in any meaningful way at
all except I love cocktails, if that counts.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's just interesting because you know, a lot of people
want to make that leap. It's not always hard to
make a leap, which is why I was wondering if
you had any related experience in marketing, but you have marketing.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Which is you know, great, It's half the battle.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, it's half the battle coming from the marketing end
of things.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
As they all say, it's easy to make a wine,
but then you have to sell it. Yeah, so it's
easy to make a vodka, but then you have to
sell it, right, yeah, true, Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
This week, you know, vodka is supposed to be flavorless,
and everybody goes, oh, it's flavorless. But from what we learned,
there's an ooh mommy that is created from this week.
How would you describe it to someone that is a
vodka person or.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Not a like a person.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Yeah, I love this question. So we do nothing to
it other than distiller it three times. So don't We
don't manipulate the wheat in any way, but we just dip.
We deliberately decided three times. After playing around with it,
the wheat gives the vodka. I love to cook, so
I think in terms of food, and I love to
describe it as if you saute mushrooms and then finish
(11:23):
them with a little vermouth. That kind of savory sweet
combination that's on the back of your mouth when you're
done with a bite of it is what's in what's
in the vodka, and it conveys itself in a bit
of smoothness. The Italians will describe it with the word mortibada,
which is usually used to describe cheese, and it means
kind of creamy and smooth, So it has a mouthfuel
(11:44):
and just a certain sweet savoriness. I can say that
word to it. On the finish and it's it's not
quite as hot as many other vodkas. On the alcohol profile,
a little interesting side bit. It's forty three percent instead
of the typical forty and that was deliberate. When we
let people taste it at forty, they asked us if
(12:05):
there was alcohol in it because it didn't have enough
of an alcohol profile, because that that Amammi experience was
strong enough to tamp down the alcohol. So we actually
decided on forty three percent to make sure that you
got that little little bit of alcohol up front, to
let you know you're you're actually getting your money's worth
when it come came to buying a spirit.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So Rank, when you decided to start the distillery, what
was the process? So I know you actually when you
originally started, you had the vodka contract made for you.
And is that still going on? Have you built a distillery,
do you have a still or are you still having
it custom made for you?
Speaker 4 (12:42):
We still, so we we shipped the weat to a
contract distiller right now, and I'm very glad we made
that decision because if we had bought the still we
were thinking of buying two and a half years ago,
we would have already thrown it out because we never
I mean to be honest, we had never never had
any idea the vodka could you take off the way,
And so, you know, it's very normal to do what
(13:03):
we did in the business, especially when you're you know,
you're not sure what's about to happen. So we our
plan is to begin the construction of a distillery operation
in Altamora. It makes so much more sense to not
be shipping the wheat for so many reasons. But honestly,
I don't know ever not have a contract distiller in
the mix, just because it's hard for us to understand
(13:24):
how much we need to produce lend and so, you know,
having some partnership where you can you have an extra
production facility and so I won't name them, but some
of the largest brands in the world even do that.
So and it's been a very positive and constructive relationship.
So we ship the wheat actually to a location in Poland.
They distill it and then we bring it back into
Italy and we distribute it from here. But the cool
(13:47):
thing about the EU is the EU determines product based
on the the primary material in it. So we are
a product of Italy according to Italy and the EU
because it's one hundred percent Italian wheat.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's interesting. So in this whole process, and you mentioned,
you know, jumping through the hoops and the red tape
of Italy, what were the surprises that you know, you're
a marketing executive, so what were some of the we
know their challenges, What really surprised you? What was the
hardest thing and what was the surprisingly easiest thing?
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Wow, the easiest thing, I'll have to think about the
hard stuff, I've got a lot of. So even though
we don't distill here, we are licensed distiller, and we
had to set ourselves license distiller. And in Italy each
region has its own governing entity around that, and in
Puoli in particularly, again you noticed at the start of
the of the of the chat, there's not a lot
(14:41):
of history of IBV stuff, and so just getting approval
for the business took a lot of effort because there
was a lot of research that had to take place
from the local regulatory agency on what can and can't
be approved and how it's issued because there's not a
standard process here for license a distiller. So just I
(15:02):
can't tell how many times I had to tell the
story over and you want to do what just just
getting you know, everybody to understand what we were trying
to do and getting permission to do it, and you know,
labeling and just all of the complexities of opening a
distillery in a place that's not used to regulating distilleries.
So they needed time to figure out answers to questions.
(15:25):
So things that I thought would have taken a week
wound up taking three months. And then there are there
are many other horror stories about opening a business for
the first time as an entrepreneur not familiar with the
Italian system. I'll tell you one funny one to take.
So we open a bank account, right's what you do
when you open a business, and we transfer our money
(15:45):
from the United States that we had in the because
we had a US account, we transferred into the Italian
bank account as soon as the accounts open, so we
can start using it. But you can't start using your
money until the Chamber of Commerce approves the bank account
even though the bank account's there, and we made the
tragic era of transferring in in July, and the Chamber
of Commerce went on vacation because it's August, and so
(16:07):
we literally we couldn't use our own money for almost
six weeks because by the time we filed all the
paperwork they wanted, they left for Augusta and by the
time they came back and processed it to an American
that's unimaginable. It's like, that's my money over the well,
how can I not use it? And you know, the
bank's like, you need this code from the Chamber of
Commerce and I haven't given it yet. You know, just
(16:30):
a head banger's that is.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
A head banger gosh. You know, it sounds to me
like you could create a marketing playbook for opening it
distillery in Italy.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
You know, I like, I say this all the time.
I mean, I mean, the barrier to entry is crazy high,
but once you're over it, you really are somewhat defended.
If you're willing to go through the hell of what
it takes to get going here, you brand Italy is
really powerful, and once you're on the other side of it,
having Italy on your side is an amazingly good thing.
And a lot of people would just give up because
(16:59):
it's a it's complicated and not clear. It'd be one thing.
It was complicated and you saw the path, but the
path is very like a like an old road.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Let's talk about the name and the symbol because the bottle,
so let's talk Altimoura means high walls. Yes, so give
us the history of the name and also the lion,
which is the symbol.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, the ancient the city goes back. It goes back
a thousand years maybe maybe more actually, and it is
a fortified city. Uh, it's actually on the edge of Pulia,
where Pulia meets Basilicata, another famous city that people would know.
There's mattera. It's a big city. Visit James Bond movie there.
So Altamura and Matara very closer there. Altamora was a
(17:45):
very high walled city. And uh, the the city was
constantly being sieged because it was I think you knew
that it was a pool is a bread basket of
Italy and that area is an area where a lot
of the wheat is grown, and so was constantly being sieged.
And when Italy was under the control of the Holy
Roman Empire Saracens, essentially the precursors to the Ottoman Empire,
(18:11):
sacked or attempted to sack Sieged, sorry I should say
sieged Altamora and Altimora held out until Frederic the Great
could get there and relieve them, and as a result
of their heroic effort, he named them the lion well,
he named them the lion Esspulia, but they decided to
use a lion to represent it. And so if you
go to Altemora, there are two big lions on the
(18:32):
front steps of the cathedral. So the lion is the
city symbol of the city of Baltimora. So we wanted
we worked with an Italian ad agency based in bari Here,
and we wanted the bottle absolutely to convey where it's from.
We wanted the terroir and the history of Altemora to
come across from the visuals, not just in the vodka.
So the lion is a is a representation of the
two lions on the steps of the cathedral, and those
(18:55):
colors on the bottle are very indicative of Pulia and
our true tradition nor colors. The red is the earth,
the color of dirt, the green blue. Green is the
color of the ocean here and yellow is the is
representative sun. So Poolia is about tad and made sole
and so the bottle, the colors on a bottle kind
of convey the essence of Pulia.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
It's a striking bottle. And of course for our listeners,
we're looking at Frank on the screen. He's wearing a
bright yellow T shirt and he has blue hair. How
long has your hair been blue? Like the terra the
Altimura blue.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
It predates the bottle, but not by much. I think.
I think I'm on five years.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You give the word blue hair a whole new meeting, Frank,
and it's it's really it conveys the spirit again. Your
background is marketing, your website, the images, it's Altimura Distilleries
dot Com. Your team, your team spirit, the photos, everybody's
(19:54):
having a lot of fun or somebody wearing a bunny outfit.
You know it is it is refreshed, Frank, to see
you know the team and you know you've dispensed with
the boring corporate photos, the headshots.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Yeah, that was thirty years of my life and I'm
never going back there. So I got the team knows,
I say, that everything we do will be unincorporate because
this is supposed to be fun. I like to say,
we're not here to solve the world's problems, just help
you forget them for fifteen minutes, and so that should
be a fun endeavor.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Well, we felt that and I think it's just really
neat and we were looking at it now and you
just really want to get to know everybody, which you know,
from a marketing standpoint, is a great way to It's
all about developing relationships. Is the vodka sold around the
world or are you stronger in certain markets now?
Speaker 4 (20:48):
So we're trying with certain markets, but we're rapidly expanding.
So in the US we're in twelve states, We're in
the UK and doing really well. In Europe, we're in Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Greece,
Hungary and Poland, which are turning out to be crazy
(21:08):
strong markets for us. The affinity for the vodka is
honestly surprising. Neither obviously vodka drinking countries, but like Italian
vodka is something people are really into. We just we
just got picked up in Slovakia and then we're in
India and Australia, so we we've expanded kind of you know,
both directions. Certainly Italy's continues to right now market it's
(21:33):
our home market. But I will say Central Europe is
coming on really really strongly, Poland and Hungary in particular.
And then you know, just because of their size, the
UK and the US are are are starting to come
on just because they represent so much, so much volume,
We've been deliberate to try to expand somewhat evenly. We
(21:54):
didn't want to be all in in one market and
be whipsawed by that, so we we want to be
you know, kind of kind of evenly distributed so that
we're benefiting from growing and all the markets. And the
other thing we tend to focus on, you know, fifty
best luxury hospitality, so we a bit get driven by
where where our important customers are too. And so you know,
if we get in, we get into a group that
(22:14):
has a location somewhere and they say we really want
you on the bar there, that sends us off to
try to find an importer distributor in that location and
it's a crowded bar.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, it's a very competitive, particular in the vodka category.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Oh that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, I read you're doing a gin or you're working
on a gin.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
We I mean we will the plan. The plan for
the distillery is to represent the wheat in all the
ways you can from an alcoholic perspective, so we will.
We will do a gin. But honestly, the plan for
the gin has been put on hold because the vodka
is growing so strongly. I really don't want to distract
from it. I mean, it's it's all of our efforts
to keep up with it. We will do a gin,
(22:55):
probably a year from now, based on what things look like.
And I also want to do I can't call it this,
but I'll use it colloquially if you'll forgive me. I
want to do a weeded bourbon here because I love
bourbon and the wheat is so fantastic. I think a
classic weeded bourbon, you know, fifty one forty nine, in
the style of a larceny, would be so much fun
to produce. The problem is I can't figure out what
(23:17):
to call it yet because American style weeded corn and
whiskey just doesn't roll off the tongue, so I'm sorry
about that. I think about what to call it, but
we will have some fun and do that that'll be more,
that'll be more like a passion project. But honestly, the
vodka's doing so well, it's really the focus of the
business right now. That's great.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
What do you think the vodka? You know again, it's
a crowded market. Everybody in we were tails, everybody's like
in the trumpt everybody's going to vodcan. Why what is
your unique selling proposition?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Why is it?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Why is it resonating?
Speaker 4 (23:51):
So I don't claim to have the answer one hundred percent.
I'm chasing that question a little bit myself, but I
have observations. We are we are positioned. And I say
this all the times. Nobody there is going to get
mad at me because they've heard enough. We're positioned completely
against Belvedere and Gray Goose. We picked two competitors and
said that's who we go after. The majority of competition
I observe is on the so that puts us labeled
(24:13):
by industry standards as super premium. The majority of competition
we observe is in the category down absolute Tito's Smeirnoff right,
the guys hacking it out there and a lot of
people induce vodka, introduce it there and then the other
category you tend to see is the craft style vodkas
that are super small batch and selling it fifty fifty
to sixty a bottle, which don't have the economic component
(24:35):
to be mainstream. We picked super premium and said we
want to replace Greg Goose of Belvedere in the what
I call the eighteen year old Martini. It's a very
boring category. I mean, Greg Goose and Belvidere have held
that position on the shelf for twenty years, almost unassailed.
And one thing we found is people were really receptive
to something in that category because there wasn't somebody coming
(24:56):
in telling that story too. Is it really does have
unique providence. We didn't make this story up. We found
it and we turned it into something. But you know, Georgia.
But Johnny Did did an interview two years ago and
you got asked a Spirit magazine did when you're looking
for a new product you what do you look for?
And his answer was something that inspires me to make
(25:18):
a new, great cocktail for my customer. And that quickly
became our focus. We I'm because I'm a marketer, I
have very deep certain marketing blue so well, we're jobs
to be done company. We pick a job and we
pick a customer. We say our customer is the mixologist,
not not directly the person mixing the drink, because if
we take care of the mixologist and we inspire the
(25:39):
mixologist and make it easy for the mixologists to use
our product, they turn around and create great cocktails to
get you to want the vodka. So we very much
focused on the mixologist as our customer, our marketing or messaging,
our support. Hell half the team as a mixologist. You
guys met Paolo and Lorenzo. They're form Mythologists College, from
the Connent, Lorenzo's from the Experimental Cocktail Club. So we
(25:59):
really are kind of very passionate about our job is
to help mixologists get excited and make a new product.
And vodka was very boring. I think you hit it
spot on, and nobody was trying to make vodka interesting again,
and I think we just kind of came in and say, hey,
it's fun. Look at all the stuff you can do
with vodka, and it's kind of got a crazy inspiring story.
And we saw people start to do things like somebody
(26:19):
butter washed it because they had bread and butter, and
somebody else made a Pesta martini. Moebius in Milan made
a Pesta martini and people like, wow, this is delicious.
So I think it started getting people to think differently
about vodka than it's just a tasteless alcohol you throw
in a drink.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
You know, I think you nailed it. A lot of
people when they create a product, they think about the
product and it's all about the product. The story is
a product. But what you nailed, and I think it
is a sigaret to success, is that you you had
your avatar, had you really thought about your audience and
your target audience and you spoke to them, And a
lot of people don't understand that. The real success in
(26:55):
marketing is to think about the people you're talking to
and everything about them and get to know them very
well and be a part of their community and league
and understanding with their needs. And that's really the secret
to selling and marketing anything. You know, you could have
a mediocre product, but if you really win over your customer,
(27:16):
you're going to win.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah. I believe. I believe that one hundred percent. And
the product, I mean product stands on its own too.
So we had a good product and a good story
and a customer we knew we wanted to take care of.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Well.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
We had fun at Galatois if you always celebrated your
birthday Galatois because we like birthday traditions, and that one
resonated crazy.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
I lived in Jackson, Mississippi, because I had a job
there for thirteen years, and so I have seated sixteen
birthdays at Galatoise. And the funny thing, there was always
this thing going on a bunch of cocktail events, and
I finally found out his name Tailor. I know it
was just because we could go down and celebrate my
birthday and there were good cocktails, and then we started
to distill me and went, oh my god, we have
(27:59):
to go to Tales and so it was total.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Well, it was a class act. I mean, you know,
a three martini lunch at Gallon twise. You know, there's
a lot of invitations and we're like, yeah, that one's
gonna work for us. And I'm going to confess, even
though I don't drink lung, I'm not a huge vodka drinker.
I was enamored. I tasted all the cocktails, but the
one that spoke to me, surprisingly was the espresso martini.
(28:27):
I ever really drunk a lot of espresso Martini's, and
I was very impressed by it. All the drinks were
really really terrific that day, really really terrific and just amazing.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I mean they're just such creative, such creative gang.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah it was, but really the spirit and everybody was
so welcoming and everybody made you you, you laughed, you
wanted to get up and dance. People were dancing.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Well, it was a birthday party.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It was a birthday party. But I felt that it
was not that way. It was that way elsewhere. Wasn't
just there? I just felt that spirit maybe want to
go to Pulia?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Maybe yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So you like to cook? So David bakes bread?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I do.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
We're going to go look for that wheat.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
What do you like to?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
What's the dinner? A party at your place? Like rank?
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Because I grew up Italian American, If if if, if,
if your plate's empty when the meal's over, I have failed.
So I just I'm really into cooking. I love cooking
multiple styles. Like last night we had a steak dinner.
I staked dinner here kind of Furentine style. But I'm like,
I love cooking American stuff for especially Southern American for
the Italians. But I love multiple courses, long meals, lots
(29:36):
of different wines, you know, and then the DJTV afterwards
and a cigar. I mean, to me, I think it's
my genes, right, eating. Eating is an experience, not a
not a function, and so the the food and the
conversation and the laughing and the alcohol all needs to
make you, like, make every every one of those meals memorable.
So we have lots of long meals and lots of
(29:58):
many courses and too much food and probably too much
wine too, but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yeah, but you're in Pulia, so the one's good.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Well, you just describe ladulta vita. So what is your
ladolcha way of living ladolcha farniente, given how busy.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
You are, so you know, I love to answer this
question to two ways. Which is life in Italy outside
of running a business? Is what you think it is? Right?
I mean, it really is this slower it's going to be, okay,
don't worry about it. Enjoy the moment. There is an
(30:37):
art deferoniente that the Italians have mastered. Were just going
somewhere to do nothing, sipping a sprits with no particular
purpose in mind other than being someplace or staring at it.
That's all real here. Now. The running a business side
takes away from it, so you have to balance it.
But you know what you do. Come back to the
reason we moved here was about the lifestyle and the
(31:00):
the enjoyment of food, the enjoyment of wine, and the
enjoyment of being with people and conversation. And it's okay
to take a break. And everything doesn't have to be
done right at the moment, so you you learn to adjust.
And I have. I mean it, really it's funny. You know, my, my, my,
my expectations and like for when things have to happen.
I've adjusted, but I'll never get completely rid of it.
But it's really here, and I will I will say.
(31:24):
I will say this in a in a PG way.
That way you don't have to worry about bleeping the
out I have. I have an apron that says every
day in Italy, I get up and try to do
one thing before noon. If it doesn't happen, I say,
beep bit, drink into grony and try again tomorrow. That
is life in it.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well, I think it's a great love. We're trying to
embrace it more here in New Orleans, which if they
don't call the big easy for no reason, people do
take it easier here, and it is adjustment. I think
Americans Americans when they travel, Anthony Bourdain said this, they
all always try to do too much. They always go
somewhere and they have this list and they got to
(32:02):
check everything. They're so busy checking off the list, then
they don't really take time to enjoy where they are.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
You're so right. When we traveled Italy, we always traveled
with a big group, and we'd always rerunt a big house,
and I always said my favorite days were what I
called villa days, and villa days when we had nothing scheduled,
and if you wanted to chill at the pool, chill
the pool, if you wanted to go in town and
drink a nupper tibo, and those to me always with
them as fun days, nothing scripted, let life happen. If
all you want to do was drink wine and stare
(32:30):
at the vineyard, do that. If you wanted to sleep
in do that, Those to me were always the best
days because you didn't have to be anywhere and you
let life happen to you.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, I'd like to see more people do that. Lately,
I seem to have a lot of girlfriends doing the
big sixty fifth birthday party in Italy and then they
send me the tenery. I'm like, do you have any
time to relax? I mean, goodness, gracious.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
You're never going to get all that done because you could.
No one can ever do all that one day in Italy.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Tell you, And nothing's ever on time. So you've got
to allow for that stop for that long espresso. Remember
when we were in Campania and we just sat in
that little town and yeah, it's like the endless espresso.
You just you do that with no So what's like
when you come back to the United States? Is there
anything that jars you when you come back?
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Now? Oh?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Me?
Speaker 4 (33:20):
I mean we could go on. And this is how
I know. This is how I know I've converted. God,
the air condition is too strong in the US. I've
gotten in that said in the air conditioning off home,
lowering the windows. The only thing I didn't do is
put a scarf on.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
That's so funny.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Well, it is interesting when you when you when you're
walking around New Orleans in the ninety five degree heat
with the ninety five percent humidity, and then you walk
into the end of the building and you want to
put a down coat on.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'm always carrying a jacket in my car because the
air conditioning really is incredibly strong.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
I actually yoke at the front door at the four
seasons creates its own weather pattern, because I swear every
time the door open, a rain cloud form.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
It's really funny. That's a that's a funny observation. Of course,
you know when Americans go to Europe Italy that there
usually can play there's not enough air conditioning. So we're all,
you know, adaptable to where we are. Let's talk about
what in your glass? What do you like to sip
at the end of a long day.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
I'm a bit of a seasonal drinker, but I'm a
big I'm a big Ncgrony fan. But I actually like
Nicgroney's with vodka, not because I make vodka, but because
I don't like the way the campari interacts. So I
like a so Nicgrony's and Americanos depending the time, you
know how early. So I'm a big fan of those.
I love perfect Manhattans, which to me now that hopefully
(34:50):
follows coming and we can get a little a little coolness.
A perfect manhatan would be, you know, a drink choice
on a cool day. And then I really do love Martini's.
So before dinner my too. Like if I were going
out and having a cocktail at a bar before we
went to dinner, it'd be a Martini or old fashioned.
Those are probably my my two go to cocktails as
(35:13):
a you know, any evening drink before before dinner.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Now you're very specific about your martini. We've read and watch,
so explain it because we have you know, everybody seems
to be passionate about their martina. We have friends in
New Orleans. It's going to be dirty. You know, we
had to go get the all of juice for them. Everybody.
You know, some people like gin, some people like fuckus,
somebody can shake, and some wee will start on and on.
What is your perfect martini?
Speaker 4 (35:36):
So it's there. It's a really traditional martini, which is
you know, the giant, the classic American dry martini has
just boughtgone ice and shaking on ice and put in
a glass and and everything has a history. Right, remouse
were amazing one hundred and twenty years ago, right, if
you think about late eighteens, early nineteens, and then they
went way out of favor. And I won't name the
(35:58):
brand that we all know, but the brand that we
all know is not a particularly good for mooth and
so wet Martini's right. If you think about, you know,
our martini, our martini in the before the fifties was
well drew a child, drank it upside down right, two
parts for mood, one part of vodka, but many of
them were even fifty to fifty. Or the classic recipe
(36:19):
we use, which kind of dates dates from the early
nineteen hundreds, is three parts vodka, one part vermouth. But
the removes in the vodka really do work very well together.
And the dry martini came about because taste change and
also the quality of mouth went down, and so if
you couldn't get great for moose, it was only making
the martini worse. And when you when you talk to
someone and they say, I don't like formouth in my martine, said,
(36:40):
I think you don't like a certain vermouth in your martini.
If you if you drink martini's of quality like Bancino
or Cadapano and Noly Pratt, it's a completely different experience,
and because the vodka has that little momminus to it,
it really likes for Mooth. I mean, it really like
gives Remooth a hug, And so we use the we
it's not our recipe, it's the recipe used at the
American Bar at the Savoy Hotel, which was a recycling
(37:04):
of a recipe that was around in the early nineteen hundreds,
which is three parts of vodka, one part from muth,
a dash of orange bitters, and a lemon peeple not
in all of them, and all is fine, just because
the lemon an orange citrus bright in a little bit
and it gives you a much more savory, a savory flavor,
which I think works better for the vodka. And I'm
not a big fan of just neutral vodka cold in
(37:25):
a glass. It has its moments, some cavia or maybe,
but I really like the fact that the martini has
some flavor to it and has a you know, has
has a profile. And so that's our recipe and we
like it because we think it both highlights the the
vodkaself and it gives you a different version of martini
than what most people are used to.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
I think that's why I like the martinis I tried
at the GIF was lunch. They were not vodka on ice,
which is not my way. And there was definitely a
sense that umami character and that you know, the orange
bitters and for mouth is wonderful. Italians are trying to
do more to promote Remove and we are big removed.
We like removed. We'd like to get more of a
(38:06):
mood to try and see, but it is a category
that is very interesting to us, both Spanish and Italian formood.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
It's one of the joys of living in Italy is that,
I mean, we get at it's so easy to get
so many lovely Removes here because they're everywhere, and even
some small, very small producer of moose. I mean, there's
some really lovely product that's fun to play with.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
New Orleans Cocktail Week is coming up this month, sept
We're September twenty twenty four. Is Uptimara going to be
part of it?
Speaker 4 (38:36):
I don't think so. We haven't gotten down to like
local city level events yet. We need to start doing
more of that. But now it made our distributed. Our
distributed is ones unlimited, and they may be doing something local,
but I'm not aware of it.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I think we'll be in sicily during it or just
coming back. But there's always some it's always a cocktail
hour here in New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Absolutely, And it's always five o'clock somewhere.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
It's always a good time to drink a good martini.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, yeah, wow, we've really we had such a good
time meeting you, yeah, and meeting your team. We really did, Frank.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Thank you. It was great meeting you guys, and I
really appreciate you guys joining us. It was it was
a fun event. I mean we really we enjoyed it
as much as you did, honestly.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Well, and it showed everybody was having a great time
that afternoon.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Really.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
And so for more information, it's Altamura Distilleries dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
With an acid the A L T A M.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
You are a distilleries dot com. There's a lot of
information on the website. Yeah, cocktails on the website as well, distribution,
the team. We talked about the team, but a bit
I think Frank, you might have a different color hair
in one of your photos. However, there's a lot to
talk about and it's a it's a great website just
to peruse for those people who want more information on
(39:55):
this podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
And hopefully when we do get to Pulia, because it
will be my first time, we can toast with you.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
Absolutely, look to take it Altimora. We'll take it Altimora
and get you some bread right from the bakery.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
I'm just my mouth is watering thinking about it, because
there's nothing more than I love than just fresh from
baked bread and that dop designation and anything in Italy
just really gets me excited. A little bit of olive yeah,
just perfect olive oil, yeah, just perfect. Well, our stomachs
are starting to rumble. Thank you for joining us. We
(40:31):
know it's much less later in Italy now and hopefully
our paths will cross again.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Cheers. Thank you guys all the time. Really appreciate the conversation.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
So lute, and for all of you listening, we hope
you're inspired. We love Italy, we love meeting amazing people,
We love really well made cocktails and spirits, and we
hope that you go out and give it a try,
try Altemura, and as always stay and say she'll be curious.
Thank you, No
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Mo
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(00:21):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live where your hosts Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple. We
enjoy traveling the world to bring you the amazing people
we meet who work front center and behind the scenes
and wine, food, spirits and hospitality and sharing their spects
stories with you are listeners from around the world. Today,
(01:03):
we're taking you to Pulia in Italy, where David has
been and I have not right.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
David, I've been a couple of times and it's really
a remarkable area in Italy, and and a lot of
people in Italy that live there go there. But for
some reason I don't think a lot of people outside
of Italy go there and it's really up and coming.
It's a wonderful place, fabulous food, and it's in Italy.
Bread basket for Italy as well in a lot of ways, wheat, olives,
(01:29):
wine of course, just a great area to be.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Speaking of breaking bread, we're joined today by Frank Grilla,
co founder and managing director, about Mura Distillery in Pulia,
and bread is going to be a theme of this
show because the Alta Mur's vodka is made with a
very special wheat made from Pulia's Pana to Alta Mura
(01:56):
dop bread, which we learn was the first to receive
the protected designation of origin the dop in Europe, and
it's a very special week. Did you have this bread
when you were.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
In Julia, David, I'm sure I did, but that wasn't
the focus of my trip, which of course with wine. Yeah,
but I'm sure I had it while I was there,
because I was really all over Ulia and so I'm
sure it was and I'm sure it was consumed.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Speaking of wine, it seems unusual to be making a
high ABV vodka in this region. Frank, First of all, Benvenuto,
we loved meeting you. Just for our listeners. We had
the great pleasure of celebrating Frank's birthday at Gallatoise, breaking
(02:39):
bread and drinking some amazing martinis. It was a three
martini lunch and every martini was exceptional, right that sure was?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, it was, And the welcome cocktail and the vodka itself.
It was just it was a delightful afternoon and it
was in of course the city that we lived in,
New Orleans. At Galatoi is one of the best restaurants
in the city.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
One of the best things about that lunch, Frank, besides
getting to know you and celebrating your birthday, was we
were really captivated by the team spirit of the people
who work with you at Altamura and I think you know,
we believe that that starts with the head of the company.
We love to start our shows taking our listeners back
to where our guests originally came from. Let's talk about
(03:16):
the name Grio. Well, are your roots are Italian?
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yeah, my whole family is Italian American and my my
father's side of the family is one hundred percent of
Sicilian from the town of Licata, and so Grilla, the
Grilla surname is from from Lagatta and you know you
guys are going in the next week. Also a really
great white wine from Sicily, so it's got a lot
of the name has a lot of Sicilian roots to it.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Who's your family first generation Americans from Italy or was
it a second or third?
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And where's your great grandparents? Yeah? Great grandparents on both sides.
So my family migrated to the US in the late
eighteens and early nineties. I was born and raised in
Brooklyn and what was called RedHook when I was born,
but now it's Carroll Gardens and and uh and and
areas like that, and high school and college in Manhattan.
So I'm I'm a New York City boy. I'm born
(04:12):
and raised.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
That's rare these days.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Like me, Yeah, like you, Dave, I was born in Manhattan,
so needless to say. So you so you were born
and raised in New York and now you're living in Italy.
Tell us how that change came about?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Uh, long, long, long, long route. I left New York
in my twenties career as a marketing executive. Most of
my life uh at Fortune and fifty small companies, all
of it, and then in the middle of COVID. I
was living in Atlanta at that time with my my spouse, Justin,
and you know, sitting an apartment in a tower in
Atlanta on endless zoom calls. I've always wanted to live
(04:53):
in Italy, and I just said to Justin, nobody really
cares where I am if I show up on the
zoom call, why don't we just go? And so he agreed,
and we made this decision that moved daily. And then
the question became ware and so, you know, in a
little bit of lockdown research, we figured out quickly we
wanted to move to the south for a couple of reasons.
Economic one, you get pretty good tax breaks, tax breaks
(05:14):
as a NUNI U citizen if you move to the
southern part of Italy, basically below Lazzio. We knew we
wanted really warm weather and beaches, food kind of you know,
start to narrow it down, and Pulia check a lot
of boxes. It's got great airport access, it's been renowned
for its beaches, is you know, they have amazing food.
And so we said, let's move to Pulia, never having
been here. But that was the side issue. And and
(05:36):
so once we made the decision to move. I love
to cook, and I started cooking pool Gacy recipes, you know,
making rookieti at home, like a propa nona in the morning.
And that's when I found the recipe for pout of Baltimora.
And that's how the vodka comes about. So that's true.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I used to live in Atlanta. It's an interesting city.
It's big, it's not it's it's landlocked. I left for
New York. I can understand why you were landlocked and
locked in during the pandemic. I can totally understand why
you were, like, there's got to be more to life
than this no offense Atlanta, but there's got to be
(06:18):
more to lifeless. I'm sure a lot of our American
listeners are like, oh, how did you do that? How
difficult was it to resettle in Italy? You mentioned those
tax breaks. I think both of us kind of hit
each other. And do you still have a residency in
the United States.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
We maintain a residency in the United States, but our
life is our life is here now. Definitely a big change.
I mean, we traveled to Italy a lot before before
deciding to move here, so we experienced daily But I
think it's true of any place. It's one thing to
come here as a visitor and a tourist, that it's
another thing to settle in and get into get into life.
(06:55):
And we got the deep end of the pool because
we moved during COVID, so there are a lot of
extra restrictions then. And at the same time we were moving,
we were starting a business, opening up a company, which
is a whole other world. And it's one thing to
move here just to have a life. It's another thing
to move here and start a business as an entrepreneur.
So we got the crash course in everything Italian bureaucracy
(07:16):
really quickly.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
We've heard about that. So did you leave marketing behind
completely to start? And I mean, what point did you go,
let's start a distillery?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah, okay, so I'll combine all that one answer. So,
like I said, I literally found the recipe for Panada
to Altemora, and you can actually buy Altimore flower at
Whole Foods, at least one in Atlanta, so I'm sure
there are a lot of Whole Foods carries carry it.
And so I just decided to bake a loaf. I
found the recipe and so I baked a roade loaf
because to have the dop it has to be baked.
(07:47):
In the city of Altemora. There are only twelve bakeries
that still adhere to all of the restrictions to make
it a dop loaf. But I followed the recipe and
I literally standing in the kitchen holding the loaf after baking,
and I said, you know, if you boil that that
abait did, it'd be a bottle of vodka. And that
got me curious. This week, as you kind of introduced
with this wheat as ancient, it's over two thousand years old.
(08:08):
The bread goes for that far back. The poet Horace
wrote about it in thirty seven PCE, telling travelers used
take out Altimore bread with you. One of its attributes
is it stays fresh a long time because of how
thick the crust is and the wheat slightly dryer. So
I just got really curious, and being a consultant marketing consultant,
I hired a consultant and said, why is no one
distilling from this? Because I couldn't find anybody doing anything
(08:30):
with it. And they came back and said, there's nothing
wrong with this. It actually probably produced something really interesting.
Slightly though we yield per ton on liquid because it's
a it's a harder wheat. But that's about it. And
the answer to the question they gave me when I said,
why has no one ever done this? And you can
kind of said a little bit of about this year deduction.
You'd never think of somebody distilling at kaiabv in this area.
(08:51):
It's slightly nuanced is that if you live in an
area where there's a lot of fruit, fruits much easier
to distill. It produces more alcohol, more sugar. And so
if you think about grain distilling, grain distilling is a
cold weather endeavor, right Scotch in Scotland. Vodka comes from
you know, Poland and Russia. So where there's a lot
of fruit, people distilled from fruit, brandy groppa, right, Poor William.
(09:15):
And so it just wasn't a natural thing to use
wheat to distill in the south of Italy when there's
a lot of other things to use. So it just
it wasn't culturally anything that made sense. So I said
let's try it. But I meant to try it as
a little lifestyle project. So I didn't come here to
give up marketing. As matter of fact, I kept my
I'm part of a marketing consulting group, and I kept
my practice of my customers. When I came here, I
(09:36):
was just doing the calls late at night, and the
plan always was I would keep staying in marketing and
just have this little lifestyle project that was a fun
part of being in Pulio. So that was the idea
when when so we decided to move, and then the
distillery came after the move.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And did you so your marketing clients were any of
them in the distilling or at bever jocohol arena?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Not? Not my I've worked with in my past when
I was at an agency. I've worked with some brands,
but really not in an intimate way. And no, I
had zero background and distilling in any meaningful way at
all except I love cocktails, if that counts.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's just interesting because you know, a lot of people
want to make that leap. It's not always hard to
make a leap, which is why I was wondering if
you had any related experience in marketing, but you have marketing.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Which is you know, great, It's half the battle.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, it's half the battle coming from the marketing end
of things.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
As they all say, it's easy to make a wine,
but then you have to sell it. Yeah, so it's
easy to make a vodka, but then you have to
sell it, right, yeah, true, Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
This week, you know, vodka is supposed to be flavorless,
and everybody goes, oh, it's flavorless. But from what we learned,
there's an ooh mommy that is created from this week.
How would you describe it to someone that is a
vodka person or.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Not a like a person.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Yeah, I love this question. So we do nothing to
it other than distiller it three times. So don't We
don't manipulate the wheat in any way, but we just dip.
We deliberately decided three times. After playing around with it,
the wheat gives the vodka. I love to cook, so
I think in terms of food, and I love to
describe it as if you saute mushrooms and then finish
(11:23):
them with a little vermouth. That kind of savory sweet
combination that's on the back of your mouth when you're
done with a bite of it is what's in what's
in the vodka, and it conveys itself in a bit
of smoothness. The Italians will describe it with the word mortibada,
which is usually used to describe cheese, and it means
kind of creamy and smooth, So it has a mouthfuel
(11:44):
and just a certain sweet savoriness. I can say that
word to it. On the finish and it's it's not
quite as hot as many other vodkas. On the alcohol profile,
a little interesting side bit. It's forty three percent instead
of the typical forty and that was deliberate. When we
let people taste it at forty, they asked us if
(12:05):
there was alcohol in it because it didn't have enough
of an alcohol profile, because that that Amammi experience was
strong enough to tamp down the alcohol. So we actually
decided on forty three percent to make sure that you
got that little little bit of alcohol up front, to
let you know you're you're actually getting your money's worth
when it come came to buying a spirit.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So Rank, when you decided to start the distillery, what
was the process? So I know you actually when you
originally started, you had the vodka contract made for you.
And is that still going on? Have you built a distillery,
do you have a still or are you still having
it custom made for you?
Speaker 4 (12:42):
We still, so we we shipped the weat to a
contract distiller right now, and I'm very glad we made
that decision because if we had bought the still we
were thinking of buying two and a half years ago,
we would have already thrown it out because we never
I mean to be honest, we had never never had
any idea the vodka could you take off the way,
And so, you know, it's very normal to do what
(13:03):
we did in the business, especially when you're you know,
you're not sure what's about to happen. So we our
plan is to begin the construction of a distillery operation
in Altamora. It makes so much more sense to not
be shipping the wheat for so many reasons. But honestly,
I don't know ever not have a contract distiller in
the mix, just because it's hard for us to understand
(13:24):
how much we need to produce lend and so, you know,
having some partnership where you can you have an extra
production facility and so I won't name them, but some
of the largest brands in the world even do that.
So and it's been a very positive and constructive relationship.
So we ship the wheat actually to a location in Poland.
They distill it and then we bring it back into
Italy and we distribute it from here. But the cool
(13:47):
thing about the EU is the EU determines product based
on the the primary material in it. So we are
a product of Italy according to Italy and the EU
because it's one hundred percent Italian wheat.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's interesting. So in this whole process, and you mentioned,
you know, jumping through the hoops and the red tape
of Italy, what were the surprises that you know, you're
a marketing executive, so what were some of the we
know their challenges, What really surprised you? What was the
hardest thing and what was the surprisingly easiest thing?
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Wow, the easiest thing, I'll have to think about the
hard stuff, I've got a lot of. So even though
we don't distill here, we are licensed distiller, and we
had to set ourselves license distiller. And in Italy each
region has its own governing entity around that, and in
Puoli in particularly, again you noticed at the start of
the of the of the chat, there's not a lot
(14:41):
of history of IBV stuff, and so just getting approval
for the business took a lot of effort because there
was a lot of research that had to take place
from the local regulatory agency on what can and can't
be approved and how it's issued because there's not a
standard process here for license a distiller. So just I
(15:02):
can't tell how many times I had to tell the
story over and you want to do what just just
getting you know, everybody to understand what we were trying
to do and getting permission to do it, and you know,
labeling and just all of the complexities of opening a
distillery in a place that's not used to regulating distilleries.
So they needed time to figure out answers to questions.
(15:25):
So things that I thought would have taken a week
wound up taking three months. And then there are there
are many other horror stories about opening a business for
the first time as an entrepreneur not familiar with the
Italian system. I'll tell you one funny one to take.
So we open a bank account, right's what you do
when you open a business, and we transfer our money
(15:45):
from the United States that we had in the because
we had a US account, we transferred into the Italian
bank account as soon as the accounts open, so we
can start using it. But you can't start using your
money until the Chamber of Commerce approves the bank account
even though the bank account's there, and we made the
tragic era of transferring in in July, and the Chamber
of Commerce went on vacation because it's August, and so
(16:07):
we literally we couldn't use our own money for almost
six weeks because by the time we filed all the
paperwork they wanted, they left for Augusta and by the
time they came back and processed it to an American
that's unimaginable. It's like, that's my money over the well,
how can I not use it? And you know, the
bank's like, you need this code from the Chamber of
Commerce and I haven't given it yet. You know, just
(16:30):
a head banger's that is.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
A head banger gosh. You know, it sounds to me
like you could create a marketing playbook for opening it
distillery in Italy.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
You know, I like, I say this all the time.
I mean, I mean, the barrier to entry is crazy high,
but once you're over it, you really are somewhat defended.
If you're willing to go through the hell of what
it takes to get going here, you brand Italy is
really powerful, and once you're on the other side of it,
having Italy on your side is an amazingly good thing.
And a lot of people would just give up because
(16:59):
it's a it's complicated and not clear. It'd be one thing.
It was complicated and you saw the path, but the
path is very like a like an old road.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Let's talk about the name and the symbol because the bottle,
so let's talk Altimoura means high walls. Yes, so give
us the history of the name and also the lion,
which is the symbol.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, the ancient the city goes back. It goes back
a thousand years maybe maybe more actually, and it is
a fortified city. Uh, it's actually on the edge of Pulia,
where Pulia meets Basilicata, another famous city that people would know.
There's mattera. It's a big city. Visit James Bond movie there.
So Altamura and Matara very closer there. Altamora was a
(17:45):
very high walled city. And uh, the the city was
constantly being sieged because it was I think you knew
that it was a pool is a bread basket of
Italy and that area is an area where a lot
of the wheat is grown, and so was constantly being sieged.
And when Italy was under the control of the Holy
Roman Empire Saracens, essentially the precursors to the Ottoman Empire,
(18:11):
sacked or attempted to sack Sieged, sorry I should say
sieged Altamora and Altimora held out until Frederic the Great
could get there and relieve them, and as a result
of their heroic effort, he named them the lion well,
he named them the lion Esspulia, but they decided to
use a lion to represent it. And so if you
go to Altemora, there are two big lions on the
(18:32):
front steps of the cathedral. So the lion is the
city symbol of the city of Baltimora. So we wanted
we worked with an Italian ad agency based in bari Here,
and we wanted the bottle absolutely to convey where it's from.
We wanted the terroir and the history of Altemora to
come across from the visuals, not just in the vodka.
So the lion is a is a representation of the
two lions on the steps of the cathedral, and those
(18:55):
colors on the bottle are very indicative of Pulia and
our true tradition nor colors. The red is the earth,
the color of dirt, the green blue. Green is the
color of the ocean here and yellow is the is
representative sun. So Poolia is about tad and made sole
and so the bottle, the colors on a bottle kind
of convey the essence of Pulia.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
It's a striking bottle. And of course for our listeners,
we're looking at Frank on the screen. He's wearing a
bright yellow T shirt and he has blue hair. How
long has your hair been blue? Like the terra the
Altimura blue.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
It predates the bottle, but not by much. I think.
I think I'm on five years.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You give the word blue hair a whole new meeting, Frank,
and it's it's really it conveys the spirit again. Your
background is marketing, your website, the images, it's Altimura Distilleries
dot Com. Your team, your team spirit, the photos, everybody's
(19:54):
having a lot of fun or somebody wearing a bunny outfit.
You know it is it is refreshed, Frank, to see
you know the team and you know you've dispensed with
the boring corporate photos, the headshots.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Yeah, that was thirty years of my life and I'm
never going back there. So I got the team knows,
I say, that everything we do will be unincorporate because
this is supposed to be fun. I like to say,
we're not here to solve the world's problems, just help
you forget them for fifteen minutes, and so that should
be a fun endeavor.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Well, we felt that and I think it's just really
neat and we were looking at it now and you
just really want to get to know everybody, which you know,
from a marketing standpoint, is a great way to It's
all about developing relationships. Is the vodka sold around the
world or are you stronger in certain markets now?
Speaker 4 (20:48):
So we're trying with certain markets, but we're rapidly expanding.
So in the US we're in twelve states, We're in
the UK and doing really well. In Europe, we're in Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Greece,
Hungary and Poland, which are turning out to be crazy
(21:08):
strong markets for us. The affinity for the vodka is
honestly surprising. Neither obviously vodka drinking countries, but like Italian
vodka is something people are really into. We just we
just got picked up in Slovakia and then we're in
India and Australia, so we we've expanded kind of you know,
both directions. Certainly Italy's continues to right now market it's
(21:33):
our home market. But I will say Central Europe is
coming on really really strongly, Poland and Hungary in particular.
And then you know, just because of their size, the
UK and the US are are are starting to come
on just because they represent so much, so much volume,
We've been deliberate to try to expand somewhat evenly. We
(21:54):
didn't want to be all in in one market and
be whipsawed by that, so we we want to be
you know, kind of kind of evenly distributed so that
we're benefiting from growing and all the markets. And the
other thing we tend to focus on, you know, fifty
best luxury hospitality, so we a bit get driven by
where where our important customers are too. And so you know,
if we get in, we get into a group that
(22:14):
has a location somewhere and they say we really want
you on the bar there, that sends us off to
try to find an importer distributor in that location and
it's a crowded bar.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, it's a very competitive, particular in the vodka category.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Oh that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, I read you're doing a gin or you're working
on a gin.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
We I mean we will the plan. The plan for
the distillery is to represent the wheat in all the
ways you can from an alcoholic perspective, so we will.
We will do a gin. But honestly, the plan for
the gin has been put on hold because the vodka
is growing so strongly. I really don't want to distract
from it. I mean, it's it's all of our efforts
to keep up with it. We will do a gin,
(22:55):
probably a year from now, based on what things look like.
And I also want to do I can't call it this,
but I'll use it colloquially if you'll forgive me. I
want to do a weeded bourbon here because I love
bourbon and the wheat is so fantastic. I think a
classic weeded bourbon, you know, fifty one forty nine, in
the style of a larceny, would be so much fun
to produce. The problem is I can't figure out what
(23:17):
to call it yet because American style weeded corn and
whiskey just doesn't roll off the tongue, so I'm sorry
about that. I think about what to call it, but
we will have some fun and do that that'll be more,
that'll be more like a passion project. But honestly, the
vodka's doing so well, it's really the focus of the
business right now. That's great.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
What do you think the vodka? You know again, it's
a crowded market. Everybody in we were tails, everybody's like
in the trumpt everybody's going to vodcan. Why what is
your unique selling proposition?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Why is it?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Why is it resonating?
Speaker 4 (23:51):
So I don't claim to have the answer one hundred percent.
I'm chasing that question a little bit myself, but I
have observations. We are we are positioned. And I say
this all the times. Nobody there is going to get
mad at me because they've heard enough. We're positioned completely
against Belvedere and Gray Goose. We picked two competitors and
said that's who we go after. The majority of competition
I observe is on the so that puts us labeled
(24:13):
by industry standards as super premium. The majority of competition
we observe is in the category down absolute Tito's Smeirnoff right,
the guys hacking it out there and a lot of
people induce vodka, introduce it there and then the other
category you tend to see is the craft style vodkas
that are super small batch and selling it fifty fifty
to sixty a bottle, which don't have the economic component
(24:35):
to be mainstream. We picked super premium and said we
want to replace Greg Goose of Belvedere in the what
I call the eighteen year old Martini. It's a very
boring category. I mean, Greg Goose and Belvidere have held
that position on the shelf for twenty years, almost unassailed.
And one thing we found is people were really receptive
to something in that category because there wasn't somebody coming
(24:56):
in telling that story too. Is it really does have
unique providence. We didn't make this story up. We found
it and we turned it into something. But you know, Georgia.
But Johnny Did did an interview two years ago and
you got asked a Spirit magazine did when you're looking
for a new product you what do you look for?
And his answer was something that inspires me to make
(25:18):
a new, great cocktail for my customer. And that quickly
became our focus. We I'm because I'm a marketer, I
have very deep certain marketing blue so well, we're jobs
to be done company. We pick a job and we
pick a customer. We say our customer is the mixologist,
not not directly the person mixing the drink, because if
we take care of the mixologist and we inspire the
(25:39):
mixologist and make it easy for the mixologists to use
our product, they turn around and create great cocktails to
get you to want the vodka. So we very much
focused on the mixologist as our customer, our marketing or messaging,
our support. Hell half the team as a mixologist. You
guys met Paolo and Lorenzo. They're form Mythologists College, from
the Connent, Lorenzo's from the Experimental Cocktail Club. So we
(25:59):
really are kind of very passionate about our job is
to help mixologists get excited and make a new product.
And vodka was very boring. I think you hit it
spot on, and nobody was trying to make vodka interesting again,
and I think we just kind of came in and say, hey,
it's fun. Look at all the stuff you can do
with vodka, and it's kind of got a crazy inspiring story.
And we saw people start to do things like somebody
(26:19):
butter washed it because they had bread and butter, and
somebody else made a Pesta martini. Moebius in Milan made
a Pesta martini and people like, wow, this is delicious.
So I think it started getting people to think differently
about vodka than it's just a tasteless alcohol you throw
in a drink.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
You know, I think you nailed it. A lot of
people when they create a product, they think about the
product and it's all about the product. The story is
a product. But what you nailed, and I think it
is a sigaret to success, is that you you had
your avatar, had you really thought about your audience and
your target audience and you spoke to them, And a
lot of people don't understand that. The real success in
(26:55):
marketing is to think about the people you're talking to
and everything about them and get to know them very
well and be a part of their community and league
and understanding with their needs. And that's really the secret
to selling and marketing anything. You know, you could have
a mediocre product, but if you really win over your customer,
(27:16):
you're going to win.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah. I believe. I believe that one hundred percent. And
the product, I mean product stands on its own too.
So we had a good product and a good story
and a customer we knew we wanted to take care of.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Well.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
We had fun at Galatois if you always celebrated your
birthday Galatois because we like birthday traditions, and that one
resonated crazy.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
I lived in Jackson, Mississippi, because I had a job
there for thirteen years, and so I have seated sixteen
birthdays at Galatoise. And the funny thing, there was always
this thing going on a bunch of cocktail events, and
I finally found out his name Tailor. I know it
was just because we could go down and celebrate my
birthday and there were good cocktails, and then we started
to distill me and went, oh my god, we have
(27:59):
to go to Tales and so it was total.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Well, it was a class act. I mean, you know,
a three martini lunch at Gallon twise. You know, there's
a lot of invitations and we're like, yeah, that one's
gonna work for us. And I'm going to confess, even
though I don't drink lung, I'm not a huge vodka drinker.
I was enamored. I tasted all the cocktails, but the
one that spoke to me, surprisingly was the espresso martini.
(28:27):
I ever really drunk a lot of espresso Martini's, and
I was very impressed by it. All the drinks were
really really terrific that day, really really terrific and just amazing.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I mean they're just such creative, such creative gang.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah it was, but really the spirit and everybody was
so welcoming and everybody made you you, you laughed, you
wanted to get up and dance. People were dancing.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Well, it was a birthday party.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It was a birthday party. But I felt that it
was not that way. It was that way elsewhere. Wasn't
just there? I just felt that spirit maybe want to
go to Pulia?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Maybe yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So you like to cook? So David bakes bread?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I do.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
We're going to go look for that wheat.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
What do you like to?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
What's the dinner? A party at your place? Like rank?
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Because I grew up Italian American, If if if, if,
if your plate's empty when the meal's over, I have failed.
So I just I'm really into cooking. I love cooking
multiple styles. Like last night we had a steak dinner.
I staked dinner here kind of Furentine style. But I'm like,
I love cooking American stuff for especially Southern American for
the Italians. But I love multiple courses, long meals, lots
(29:36):
of different wines, you know, and then the DJTV afterwards
and a cigar. I mean, to me, I think it's
my genes, right, eating. Eating is an experience, not a
not a function, and so the the food and the
conversation and the laughing and the alcohol all needs to
make you, like, make every every one of those meals memorable.
So we have lots of long meals and lots of
(29:58):
many courses and too much food and probably too much
wine too, but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yeah, but you're in Pulia, so the one's good.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Well, you just describe ladulta vita. So what is your
ladolcha way of living ladolcha farniente, given how busy.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
You are, so you know, I love to answer this
question to two ways. Which is life in Italy outside
of running a business? Is what you think it is? Right?
I mean, it really is this slower it's going to be, okay,
don't worry about it. Enjoy the moment. There is an
(30:37):
art deferoniente that the Italians have mastered. Were just going
somewhere to do nothing, sipping a sprits with no particular
purpose in mind other than being someplace or staring at it.
That's all real here. Now. The running a business side
takes away from it, so you have to balance it.
But you know what you do. Come back to the
reason we moved here was about the lifestyle and the
(31:00):
the enjoyment of food, the enjoyment of wine, and the
enjoyment of being with people and conversation. And it's okay
to take a break. And everything doesn't have to be
done right at the moment, so you you learn to adjust.
And I have. I mean it, really it's funny. You know, my, my, my,
my expectations and like for when things have to happen.
I've adjusted, but I'll never get completely rid of it.
But it's really here, and I will I will say.
(31:24):
I will say this in a in a PG way.
That way you don't have to worry about bleeping the
out I have. I have an apron that says every
day in Italy, I get up and try to do
one thing before noon. If it doesn't happen, I say,
beep bit, drink into grony and try again tomorrow. That
is life in it.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well, I think it's a great love. We're trying to
embrace it more here in New Orleans, which if they
don't call the big easy for no reason, people do
take it easier here, and it is adjustment. I think
Americans Americans when they travel, Anthony Bourdain said this, they
all always try to do too much. They always go
somewhere and they have this list and they got to
(32:02):
check everything. They're so busy checking off the list, then
they don't really take time to enjoy where they are.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
You're so right. When we traveled Italy, we always traveled
with a big group, and we'd always rerunt a big house,
and I always said my favorite days were what I
called villa days, and villa days when we had nothing scheduled,
and if you wanted to chill at the pool, chill
the pool, if you wanted to go in town and
drink a nupper tibo, and those to me always with
them as fun days, nothing scripted, let life happen. If
all you want to do was drink wine and stare
(32:30):
at the vineyard, do that. If you wanted to sleep
in do that, Those to me were always the best
days because you didn't have to be anywhere and you
let life happen to you.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, I'd like to see more people do that. Lately,
I seem to have a lot of girlfriends doing the
big sixty fifth birthday party in Italy and then they
send me the tenery. I'm like, do you have any
time to relax? I mean, goodness, gracious.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
You're never going to get all that done because you could.
No one can ever do all that one day in Italy.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Tell you, And nothing's ever on time. So you've got
to allow for that stop for that long espresso. Remember
when we were in Campania and we just sat in
that little town and yeah, it's like the endless espresso.
You just you do that with no So what's like
when you come back to the United States? Is there
anything that jars you when you come back?
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Now? Oh?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Me?
Speaker 4 (33:20):
I mean we could go on. And this is how
I know. This is how I know I've converted. God,
the air condition is too strong in the US. I've
gotten in that said in the air conditioning off home,
lowering the windows. The only thing I didn't do is
put a scarf on.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
That's so funny.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Well, it is interesting when you when you when you're
walking around New Orleans in the ninety five degree heat
with the ninety five percent humidity, and then you walk
into the end of the building and you want to
put a down coat on.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'm always carrying a jacket in my car because the
air conditioning really is incredibly strong.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
I actually yoke at the front door at the four
seasons creates its own weather pattern, because I swear every
time the door open, a rain cloud form.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
It's really funny. That's a that's a funny observation. Of course,
you know when Americans go to Europe Italy that there
usually can play there's not enough air conditioning. So we're all,
you know, adaptable to where we are. Let's talk about
what in your glass? What do you like to sip
at the end of a long day.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
I'm a bit of a seasonal drinker, but I'm a
big I'm a big Ncgrony fan. But I actually like
Nicgroney's with vodka, not because I make vodka, but because
I don't like the way the campari interacts. So I
like a so Nicgrony's and Americanos depending the time, you
know how early. So I'm a big fan of those.
I love perfect Manhattans, which to me now that hopefully
(34:50):
follows coming and we can get a little a little coolness.
A perfect manhatan would be, you know, a drink choice
on a cool day. And then I really do love Martini's.
So before dinner my too. Like if I were going
out and having a cocktail at a bar before we
went to dinner, it'd be a Martini or old fashioned.
Those are probably my my two go to cocktails as
(35:13):
a you know, any evening drink before before dinner.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Now you're very specific about your martini. We've read and watch,
so explain it because we have you know, everybody seems
to be passionate about their martina. We have friends in
New Orleans. It's going to be dirty. You know, we
had to go get the all of juice for them. Everybody.
You know, some people like gin, some people like fuckus,
somebody can shake, and some wee will start on and on.
What is your perfect martini?
Speaker 4 (35:36):
So it's there. It's a really traditional martini, which is
you know, the giant, the classic American dry martini has
just boughtgone ice and shaking on ice and put in
a glass and and everything has a history. Right, remouse
were amazing one hundred and twenty years ago, right, if
you think about late eighteens, early nineteens, and then they
went way out of favor. And I won't name the
(35:58):
brand that we all know, but the brand that we
all know is not a particularly good for mooth and
so wet Martini's right. If you think about, you know,
our martini, our martini in the before the fifties was
well drew a child, drank it upside down right, two
parts for mood, one part of vodka, but many of
them were even fifty to fifty. Or the classic recipe
(36:19):
we use, which kind of dates dates from the early
nineteen hundreds, is three parts vodka, one part vermouth. But
the removes in the vodka really do work very well together.
And the dry martini came about because taste change and
also the quality of mouth went down, and so if
you couldn't get great for moose, it was only making
the martini worse. And when you when you talk to
someone and they say, I don't like formouth in my martine, said,
(36:40):
I think you don't like a certain vermouth in your martini.
If you if you drink martini's of quality like Bancino
or Cadapano and Noly Pratt, it's a completely different experience,
and because the vodka has that little momminus to it,
it really likes for Mooth. I mean, it really like
gives Remooth a hug, And so we use the we
it's not our recipe, it's the recipe used at the
American Bar at the Savoy Hotel, which was a recycling
(37:04):
of a recipe that was around in the early nineteen hundreds,
which is three parts of vodka, one part from muth,
a dash of orange bitters, and a lemon peeple not
in all of them, and all is fine, just because
the lemon an orange citrus bright in a little bit
and it gives you a much more savory, a savory flavor,
which I think works better for the vodka. And I'm
not a big fan of just neutral vodka cold in
(37:25):
a glass. It has its moments, some cavia or maybe,
but I really like the fact that the martini has
some flavor to it and has a you know, has
has a profile. And so that's our recipe and we
like it because we think it both highlights the the
vodkaself and it gives you a different version of martini
than what most people are used to.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
I think that's why I like the martinis I tried
at the GIF was lunch. They were not vodka on ice,
which is not my way. And there was definitely a
sense that umami character and that you know, the orange
bitters and for mouth is wonderful. Italians are trying to
do more to promote Remove and we are big removed.
We like removed. We'd like to get more of a
(38:06):
mood to try and see, but it is a category
that is very interesting to us, both Spanish and Italian formood.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
It's one of the joys of living in Italy is that,
I mean, we get at it's so easy to get
so many lovely Removes here because they're everywhere, and even
some small, very small producer of moose. I mean, there's
some really lovely product that's fun to play with.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
New Orleans Cocktail Week is coming up this month, sept
We're September twenty twenty four. Is Uptimara going to be
part of it?
Speaker 4 (38:36):
I don't think so. We haven't gotten down to like
local city level events yet. We need to start doing
more of that. But now it made our distributed. Our
distributed is ones unlimited, and they may be doing something local,
but I'm not aware of it.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I think we'll be in sicily during it or just
coming back. But there's always some it's always a cocktail
hour here in New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Absolutely, And it's always five o'clock somewhere.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
It's always a good time to drink a good martini.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, yeah, wow, we've really we had such a good
time meeting you, yeah, and meeting your team. We really did, Frank.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Thank you. It was great meeting you guys, and I
really appreciate you guys joining us. It was it was
a fun event. I mean we really we enjoyed it
as much as you did, honestly.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Well, and it showed everybody was having a great time
that afternoon.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Really.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
And so for more information, it's Altamura Distilleries dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
With an acid the A L T A M.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
You are a distilleries dot com. There's a lot of
information on the website. Yeah, cocktails on the website as well, distribution,
the team. We talked about the team, but a bit
I think Frank, you might have a different color hair
in one of your photos. However, there's a lot to
talk about and it's a it's a great website just
to peruse for those people who want more information on
(39:55):
this podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
And hopefully when we do get to Pulia, because it
will be my first time, we can toast with you.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
Absolutely, look to take it Altimora. We'll take it Altimora
and get you some bread right from the bakery.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
I'm just my mouth is watering thinking about it, because
there's nothing more than I love than just fresh from
baked bread and that dop designation and anything in Italy
just really gets me excited. A little bit of olive yeah,
just perfect olive oil, yeah, just perfect. Well, our stomachs
are starting to rumble. Thank you for joining us. We
(40:31):
know it's much less later in Italy now and hopefully
our paths will cross again.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Cheers. Thank you guys all the time. Really appreciate the conversation.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
So lute, and for all of you listening, we hope
you're inspired. We love Italy, we love meeting amazing people,
We love really well made cocktails and spirits, and we
hope that you go out and give it a try,
try Altemura, and as always stay and say she'll be curious.
Thank you, No
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Mo
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