Levante Spirits
Ponsacco | TuscanyLevante Spirits is a small yet dynamic spirits group based in Ponsacco, Tuscany. Creators Enzo Brini and Fabio Mascaretti set out to create liqueurs and distillates that represent the soul of Tuscany.
Tuscany, and especially the Val Tiberina (a mountainous stretch of the Tiber River Valley that connects Romagna, Tuscany, and Umbria), is considered the greatest juniper “terroir” in the world. It’s a point of pride for many of the greatest British gin producers, including Bombay Sapphire, that they source their juniper from Tuscany. Ginepraio co-founder Enzo Brini, whose family owns the Il Conventino wine estate in Montepulciano, took a terroir-driven approach when creating the recipes for Ginepraio: three different types of organically grown juniper, sourced from three distinct terroirs within Tuscany, form the heart of the Ginepraio formula. “Ginepraio” has a double meaning in Tuscany: It is, literally, the word for “juniper thicket,” but it is also, colloquially, a term used to describe a tricky, thorny situation. Both the company name and the gins themselves are Mediterranean-inspired, evoking the scents of the aromatic scrub-brush, or macchia, of the Italian coast.
Their Old Sailor Coffee Liqueur combines tradition with a modern sensibility. Levante based their formulation on a drink popular with sailors in the Adriatic port city of San Benedetto del Tronto, where Fabio grew up. They sourced a unique variety of anise found in the Marche to complement organic oranges from Tuscany and ground coffee from a historic Italian roaster, all blended with Colombian rum, to create this delicious concoction.
DISTILLATE
Organic Tuscan Dry Gin
A distillate created according to the London Dry process, wherein natural botanicals are first macerated in a wheat spirit of 60% ABV, then distilled in a copper pot still. The distillate is then blended with water to reduce it to bottling strength. Essential ingredients include Tuscan juniper, coriander, angelica root, sweet orange peel, helichrysum Italicum, lemon peel and dog rose petals. ABV 45%
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Organic Mediterranean Dry Gin
A “compound” gin, for which essential oils of botanicals are first extracted via distillation in water. Organic grain spirit (60% ABV) is then blended with the essential oils and the mixture is later filtered. The gin is blended with water and reduced to bottling strength. This gin was created in cooperation with Podere Santa Chiara, an organic family farm and micro-distillery that produces essential oils. Essential ingredients include Tuscan junipers, green mandarin, bitter orange, marjoram, oregano, wild carrot, mastic. ABV 43%
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LIQUORS
Old Sailor Coffee Liqueur
A coffee liqueur incorporating Colombian rum and two custom infusions: one, a hydro-alcoholic infusion of mandarin oranges; and two, a hydro-alcoholic infusion of green anise from Castignano in Marche. The separate infusions are mixed, after which sugar is added. The quantity of sugar used is never more than 17%, about half the amount found in most other coffee liqueurs. ABV 27%
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