[:en]It's called MeMento and it is the first non-alcoholic spirit in history. Eugenio Muraro tells us about it[:]

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It's called MeMento and it's the first Italian non-alcoholic distillate. Eugenio Muraro, its creator, tells us about it on MT Magazine.

Eugenio, what does non-alcoholic distillate mean?

Distillation is not a process necessarily linked to alcohol, but a process that allows the separation of two elements that are in solution with each other. To produce gin, for example, alcohol is vaporized and put in contact with botanicals, from which it acquires the aromas. Once cooled - obviously I'm simplifying, but the process is roughly this - you get gin. Instead of alcohol, we start with water, but the process is the same: the water is heated, the steam passes through the botanicals breaking their chemical bonds, takes away their peculiar elements and then enters the coil where it recondenses giving life to two different products that we all know, namely essential oils and aromatic waters. MeMento is a blend of aromatic waters obtained by distillation.

What exactly is aromatic water?

Aromatic water or hydrolate is obtained by passing a stream of water vapor through the substances from which the volatile principles must be extracted. It is a very different compound from flavored water: the latter is in fact obtained by inserting the aromas directly into the water, while aromatic water is obtained by distillation.

So is MeMento a non-alcoholic distillate in all respects?

Exactly. I called it MeMento because I thought it was important to use a Latin word for the name of a product that is made only with aromatic plants from the Mediterranean, the sea that bathes our coasts and that contains our origins. Furthermore, memento means “remember”, so this distillate also serves to remind us of the importance of natural products, a warning for their application in the world of bartending.

Is aromatic water a recently discovered product?  

Absolutely not, it has been known for thousands of years and used in various applications such as perfumery, cosmetics and cooking, but no one before had ever thought of applying it to the world of mixing. This is the novelty. I have not invented anything on a technical level, I have only created an innovation of meaning, giving a new look to something that was already known. Think that aromatic waters were already talked about a lot during the Medici rule in Florence, a period in which they were used as medicines. The connections with our history and with our territory are therefore many.

From MeMento there are two references, right?

Exactly. The first was created in 2017 and is a product based on four different distilled waters: rosemary which has the aromatic part, rose which gives the floral part, lemon verbena which has the citrus part and finally helichrysum, whose ethereal flavor acts as a glue to everything. In the fall of 2019 we presented the second reference, because we wanted to enrich the range with a new product capable of suggesting a different use to the previous one. We called it Green because all the elements (green myrtle, lemon balm, laurel, bitter orange) tend to a green flavor. We think that for mixing it is a perfect product because it brings with it an extraordinary range of flavors perfectly blended together. It can complete a cocktail, enhance its most aromatic parts and at the same time create contrasts of appreciable intensity.

Let's talk about mixing. How do you use MeMento?

As for the use of MeMento in mixing, the applications are endless, but we have focused above all on no-alcohol and low-alcohol cocktails. In both cases, it can be used to create twists on more traditional drinks. Take for example a Clover Club: here MeMento perfectly replaces gin, recreating the same aromatic texture of an alcoholic cocktail, but without alcohol. Not only twists on classics, but also signature cocktails with MeMento at the center. In this case, we have noticed how our product is perfect when combined with citrus elements or red fruits. As for low-alcohol mixing, MeMento can be an excellent trick to lower the alcohol content of even rather heavy cocktails like the Martini, making it easier to drink and, therefore, accessible to everyone, but without upsetting it.

What do the public and bartenders say? Do they like MeMento?

Low and no alcohol mixing is growing rapidly for various reasons: health, safety and of course taste. There are more and more people who don't drink alcohol and therefore the non-alcoholic cocktail is an increasingly important aspect in the world of bartending. You have to give the customer the opportunity to drink something thought with love, cared for and intriguing, not just a simple juice. The non-alcoholic cocktail made with MeMento can give the same sensations as an alcoholic cocktail, and in addition it adds its own aromatic notes, obtained only thanks to excellent products and patient workmanship as it was once done.

And what about alcoholic cocktails?

MeMento can also be the perfect ingredient for alcoholic cocktails, of course. In addition to the aforementioned twists on classics, our product, paired with any spirit or liqueur, is an excellent base from which to start creating aromatic and fresh signature drinks, good at any time of the year.

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