INTERVIEW WITH ST.URBAN

• St Urban is one of the few distilleries to produce high quality whisky in Italy. How was it established?

The idea of setting up a whisky distillery started with my real love for whisky in general. With the aim of developing my project, I spent time abroad visiting various distilleries. But my main aim was to pick up the secrets of whisky making. So, when I came back to Italy, I set up my distillery, St Urban, which is still one of the few whisky producers in the country.

• How would you characterise St Urban and what are the principal problems you encounter in distilling whisky in Italy?

The secret to St Urban Single Malt lies in its ageing. It’s a show process where it spends at least three years in casks from Traminer Aromatico Passito from the Alto Adige. This develops the distinctive, signature character of this whisky.

There is no tradition of whisky production in Italy, as I mentioned before, and this has made it difficult to purchase the raw materials needed. They must be of the best quality to make a premium product like this one.

• Covid-19 has posed problems for everyone over the last year. How has it impacted your work?

The Covid period has made life very complicated for us. Half of our business happens at our retail outlet in Cornaiano, in the Alto-Adige region – primarily a tourist area. During the period since the start of the pandemic, we have only had four months of tourism which is what brings most of our custom.

• Do you have any previews for future products you can share with us?

In about two years we will be bottling up our rum, which is currently being cask aged. We can’t wait to launch it onto the market and unveil its secrets.

• The packaging for St Urban is centred around style and tradition, from the box enclosing the bottle right up to the closure. What made you choose our Luna closure from the Signature Wood Inspiration range?

Our customer base is very interested in product quality, but we have noticed that quality alone is not enough, if there isn’t enough attention paid to packaging. A customer is much more likely to buy a bottle that’s well presented with a closure that’s particularly striking. So, we decided to work with Tapì in choosing the most suitable closure for our premium product. That was how we came to use Luna for our St Urban Single Malt. It’s a T-closure in wood with silver finish, from the prestigious Signature range by Tapì.

SEE THE FULL RANGE OF TAPÌ SIGNATURE