30 Ottobre 2025
Autore: Carmela Donato
Abstract:
In 2015 Ivano Trombino decided to leave the permanent job he had been carrying out for several years at an Italian liquor distribution company (i.e., Compagnia dei Caraibi) and decided to fund his own liquor company called “Vecchio Magazzino Doganale” in Montalto Uffugo, a small village near Cosenza, in Calabria, a region located in the Southwest of Italy. Ivano – thick black beard, and a strong desire to talk about himself, including moving and funny anecdotes – envisioned a revolutionary concept of Italian liquor: no longer based on regional or local stereotypes, but based on a cosmopolitan image, winking to vintage, elegance but also to innovativeness and quality. All these elements are synthetized in the recipe invented by Ivano for his principal brand: the Jefferson bitter liquor. Moreover, he spent seven years reconstructing his family’s history experimenting with inter-bloom blends of Calabrian botanicals. Indeed, Calabria was already famous for the production of “Vecchio Amaro del Capo” a herb-based liquor produced by Distilleria Caffo that completely based its image on Calabria stereotype, in fact it recently introduced a chilly-version of the same liqueur, as chilly is the mainstream symbol of Calabria in Italy. Differently, Ivano’s liquors never mention in their package their Calabrian origin, despite all herbal ingredients comes from Calabria following a biologic processing. This revolutionary approach, in Ivano’s vision, needs to ground on a deep change based not only in the development of a premium product made by traceable ingredients based on local excellence, but also in a brilliant communication strategy – based on personification, or anthropomorphism – aimed at boosting the quality and the uniqueness of his products. Based on a shipwreck of three Americans around 1800 in Calabria, Ivano Trombino built the communication of his company and of his liquors using storytelling technique, in between of legend and of the real history of his family.Nowadays Ivano’s products (bottled near Cuneo, in the ancient Quaglia distillery) boast an international niche target, connoisseurs between 30 and 70 years old, and his most famous bitter liquor is called Jefferson.The main Ivano’ idea was rather simple and ambitious at the same time: to make the best liquor in the world, using only local, high-quality ingredients. Indeed, the company won in 2018 the World Liqueur Award with its leading brand Jefferson defined by the committee award as “… Strong nose, bitterness at the beginning coming through. Soft and smooth and very nicely balanced with a herbal finish”
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