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Message in a bottle: Sting launches amaro brand
Musician Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, better known as Sting, has co-developed new amaro brand Amante 1530. Filippo Bartolotta reports from the product launch in Rome.
Amante 1530 was born – in the summer, two years ago – when Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, with their friends Ana Rosenstein, Richard Kirshenbaum and Barry Rosenstein – all being passionate about the culture of “Italian-style” mixed drinking – gathered in their Tuscan property of Il Palagio.
They imagined creating a new amaro, with an innovative and modern taste to be enjoyed together. They therefore decide to also involve Len Tessler, Stuart Ellman and Michael Kassan and give life to Amante 1530. To create the formula a recipe was perfected, the final formula was bottled at the Pallini Distillery, one of the oldest and most important distilleries in Rome.
The new aperitivo arrives simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic, with an international launch between New York, Rome, Venice and Los Angeles.
We were there on the front sit for the Italian launch during a Cocktail Party at the Bulgari Hotel Roma, in Il Ristorante Niko Romito, on the occasion of the Film Festival, which saw Sting – one of the partners of this project – duet with Giordana Angi, a brilliant Italian musical talent, for a selected group of friends and guests.
For this launch, Walter Bolzonella – legendary former head barman of the Hotel Cipriani in Venice – created three signature cocktails using Amante 1530, inspired by the great classics, but interpreted with his undisputed savoir faire, combined with the signature “Roxanne” designed for the occasion by Desire Verdecchia, head barman of the Bulgari Hotel Roma, and “Latin Lover” created by Facundo Gallegos, well-known bar manager of the Arts Bar of the St Regis Venice.
“The original idea was born from our profound belief that everyone deserves a Great Love, as well as an excellent Cocktail,” declared Rosenstein, CEO of Amante 1530.
Every detail of the product – from the formula, to the design of the bottle, to the strongly identifying glasses, to the brand philosophy – was carefully studied by the group of founders of Amante 1530.
Rosenstein explained: “We tried to create a bitter that recalled the authentic Italian taste, versatile and that broke the boundaries. To do this, we have developed an elaborate and aromatic, perfectly balanced product that can be consumed in a spritz, in a cocktail, neat or on the rocks. The name captures the essence of what we try to distill: an Amaro to celebrate and sip among friends and lovers of the joys of life.”
“Amante” means “lover” and “1530” is when Il Palagio was born.
“Over the last 50 years we have seen significant growth in the Amaro category, but with little to no change,” said Kirshenbaum, CEO of NSG/SWAT, one of the most acclaimed boutique branding agencies in the US.
“This represented a unique opportunity to create an innovative breakthrough in such a still “old style” market niche. After years of testing and trying to find the right recipe, we have finally created a liquid that differs from every other bitter on the market and cannot be duplicated,” he continued.
Amante 1530 has, as the first sensation on the palate, a delicate taste, which then immediately evolves into a more decisive and full-bodied sensation; with aromas of candied orange, oolong tea, ginger, honeysuckle and cooked apples, it has a well-balanced underlying sweetness that gives a pleasant vegetal bitterness. Not too sweet – and with a more subtle bitter finish than other aperitifs.
In addition to already being present in the American market from the end of September, Amante 1530 (15% ABV) will be available in major Italian cities from the end of October. The rest of Europe will see the liquor on the shelves by spring 2024.
Sting said: “I am sending a message, a message of connection, a message of reverence, passion, of love, joy, fun, sex and what better way of sending a message than sending it in a bottle?” Fittingly, the singer then performed The Police song Message in a Bottle for the very cosy crowd gathered around him.