“London (September 30, 2022) – Did you ever look at a loaf of bread and see a bottle of vodka waiting to happen? Our guest did, and now that bread has become the vodka that took Venice Cocktail Week and now the rest of the world by storm.

Frank Grillo, the co-founder of Altamura Distilleries, wasn’t just looking at any old slice of bread when he saw a bottle of vodka, but one he had made with Altamura wheat. If you haven’t already heard of Pane di Altamura, as it’s called in Italian, you have been missing something special. They’ve been talking about it for centuries. Even Horace, the classical writer, said it was the best bread in the world, and that was in the 1st century AD.

Pane di Altamura is an Italian bread from the Altamura area of Puglia, Italy. In 2003, Pane di Altamura was granted PDO status in Europe, which means that for it to be called Pane di Altamura, it must be made in a heavily regulated way. As I said, this is not just your supermarket bread. In turn, Frank’s Altamura Vodka is not just your regular run-of-the-mill vodka but one made with this very special wheat. How did he come by this bread living in Atlanta?

Well, I’ll let him tell you that story!”

“Dall’amore per la Puglia, per il cibo e per i distillati nasce Altamura Distilleries. Il progetto imprenditoriale, ideato da tre amici americani, ha puntato tutto sul grano di Altamura per ottenere una vodka che “presenta l’essenza più pura della materia prima. Frank Grillo, Justin Breland e Steve Acuna, accompagnati dai loro fedelissimi cani, nel 2021 hanno lasciato gli Stati Uniti per realizzare il loro sogno, vivere in Italia.

“Il nostro amore per il clima caldo, le spiagge e la vita ci ha portato in Puglia. Il nostro amore per il cibo ci ha portato a scoprire il pane di Altamura e il nostro amore per i distillati ci ha portato a realizzare che lo stesso grano, da cui nasce un pane incredibile, può dar vita a una vodka, a un gin o a un whisky di straordinaria qualità.”

Originally published by Pamela Pastore on Pugliosità