Yesterday, October 28, The World Amaro Day inaugurated its first edition at Lucanian Essence – the Lucano 1894 company museum – laying the foundations for a new cultural and identity awareness around the bitter.
Born with the aim of promoting amaro not only as an after-dinner drink, but as part of the Italian cultural and artisanal heritage, closely linked to regional traditions. Through a series of activities and experiences, the event allowed participants to discuss the present of this product and especially its future. We asked Joy And Francis Vena, organizers of the event and part of the family Lucan an account of this first edition.
Hi guys, how did this bitter day go? Did you live up to expectations?
Absolutely yes! Everything went very well, maybe even better than we expected, almost all the producers of Italy gathered in our company museum Lucanian Essence which pleasantly surprised our guests. Our idea of celebrating the amaro with a dedicated day was much appreciated by everyone who almost complimented us for having thought of this initiative that wants to try, finally, to protect us.
In the first round table a light was turned on the generations of the future. Is amaro ready for a low alcohol trend?
At 2pm there was the first round table dedicated to the importance of having a bitter day and on the communication of our realities. Almost all the interventions have shed light on the tendency of future generations to drink responsibly. Generation Z, in particular, tends to drink less alcohol, as also demonstrated by the data proposed by Matteo Fortarezza, Data Analyst at Nielsen. This, despite what one might think, made us happy; it is no coincidence that with us at the table we had a representative of Amaro Liborio, the first Italian company to produce only non-alcoholic bitters.
The day was enriched by a speech by Nielsen, which offered an in-depth look at the bitters market, highlighting changes in consumer behavior and the growing popularity of this product in the world of mixology.
What is the real condition of the bitter market in Italy according to Nielsen?
The intervention of the Data Analyst of Nielsen, as I was telling you, it was focused on market analysis. Bitter is growing strongly as a presence on the shelves of large-scale distribution, almost at the same pace as gin, with particular attention from consumers to drinking amaro in glasses branded by the amaro itself, as well as on the fact of drinking it iced. The health and moral dimension of our public has become fundamental, with particular attention to quality drinking, and it is precisely in this direction that the entire narrative of the amaro universe must be focused.
One of the most engaging moments of the day was the discussion on the innovation paths of the world of bitters. What is born from this union between identity and innovation?
From this often abused combination of identity and innovation what absolutely stands out is the use of bitter in mixology as a resource for the future of communication. The contribution of bitters and therefore their use, with dedicated proposals, experimental products and ever closer to the bartender, has not yet spread in a popular way. We need to be even more incisive from this point of view, imagine that we are among the very first bitters to make mixing an important part; we started 10 years ago but there is still a lot of work to do.
Nowadays when we talk about spirits in general we have to take the necessary precautions. Was there room for this aspect in this day of celebration?
The key aspect is to defend social drinking, drinking in company to mark the moments without demonizing the product. There is a story of bitterness that has not yet been told, which can be transmitted with spaces such as those where it was held the first World Amaro Day. A museum that gives you the opportunity to come into contact with the history of that product, with the family that has always dedicated its life and its strength to that dream that has slowly become reality. Demonizing products like ours means forgetting the families, who are not so different from the families behind the great wine labels or those behind the wine cellars. It is up to us, drawing strength from our history, to educate the consumer to know this reality more and more deeply, helping us with an increasingly complete overview of the world around a product like ours.
World Amaro Day not only celebrated amaro as an Italian product, but also highlighted the importance of sustainability and the involvement of local communities. Many producers shared their initiatives to reduce environmental impact and promote sustainable agricultural practices. This commitment to sustainability was also highlighted in the choice of local ingredients and in the valorization of small producers who contribute to the amaro supply chain, strengthening the link between the product and its territory of origin.
Plans for the future? Should we look forward to World Amaro Day 2025?
Surely. In the short term we will draft a manifesto to underline and reiterate the key points which we discussed today as precisely the need to still transmit the message of the bitter with meeting places and the responsibility of education to drink consciously and responsibly. The final objective is to defend the bitter, gaining strength among the players of this market, arriving at creating a sort of lobbyism, made up of direct competitors, but all united by the same ideal. Amaro is a fundamental part of the Italian gastronomic and cultural heritage and it must be defended more forcefully. Some of those present today have already supported us, and we are ready to start from the future for the future.
