Italy’s Love Affair With Whiskey Imagine the setting, Rome in the 1970s, a glamorous Fellini-style bar with a terrace full of wrought-iron tables, the infamous Piazza del Popolo as a backdrop and a glass of single malt in your hand. Tom Rigby writes about Italy’s revived love affair with whiskey
The Italian’s love for whiskey was born after the war. Glamorised by celebrities who lined the bars along Rome’s Via Veneto, it is here that the love affair with single malt Scotch began. Somewhat surprisingly it’s said that Italy has the greatest collection of Scotch which was started by Armando Giovinetti, an importer with a passion for whiskey and responsible for bringing single malt brands such as Macallan and Glen Grant to Italy in the 1960s. At that time, Italy imported many blends, but Armando wanted to add some diversity to the whiskey scene. The Scots thought Armando was foolish for trying to sell malt whiskey rather than the popular blend whiskey to the Italians, but after the first 100 bottles sold quickly he was soon back for more. In the 1970s, Lake Como opened eight whiskyteca (whiskey shops), and in Milan, Giorgio D’Ambrosio’s bar became the go-to place for whiskey-based cocktails. By 1979, imports of Scotch had reached 40 million bottles a year making Italy one of the world’s top importers of Scotch. However, like most trends, popularity began to wane with a generational shift away from an “old man’s drink”, and by the 1990s
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Italy’s love affair with Scotch whiskey was almost over as whiskey drinking went out of fashion. Today, we are seeing a big resurgence of whiskey in the mixology world, and brave pioneers are bringing the golden era of whiskey back to the country’s top bars. Italy’s greatest revolutionary leader in the distilling world is the rather smart brand Puni. Located in South Tyrol, Puni is the very first producer of single malt on Italian soil. Established in 2010, Puni Distillery started distilling in February 2012. The spirit was then left to mature in the warehouses for over three years, until it was finally bottled as a single malt and launched in 2015. Located in the heart of the Italian Alps, Puni takes its name from the nearby river. The pure alpine water, locally sourced grains, traditional copper pot stills from Scotland and bespoke maturation warehouses are the main elements for Puni’s creation. Due to considerable seasonal temperature variations, the whiskey matures much faster than in other parts of the world, acquiring complex aromas even at a young age as a result. The Puni Distillery itself is worth visiting. Envisioned and designed as a 13-metre-high cube, the eye-catching design of the outer
