Meet Paolo Dalla Mora | Engine Gin, Ceo & Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paolo Dalla Mora and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paolo, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
What have I learned? That with words alone I no longer convince anyone. What does that mean? It means that you can be as project-oriented as you want, however, in the end, what really convinces all the stakeholders is that you know how to carry out the project to completion. Otherwise it remains just an idea. So what did I do? I used to talk about Engine Gin, I used to talk about the fact that I wanted to make a good gin packaged in a half-liter can inspired by that of motor oil. I was showing around a render on my phone saying, “I’m thinking about making this kind of product,” and everyone was like, “Yeah, cool, cool.” But the project only became reality when I showed the finished product to the people I trusted. They started to fall in love with the project when it actually took shape. There is a very special group of people I had the opportunity to compare notes with: Stefano Pellegrini (Pelle), Stefano Nincevich (Ninja), Paride Vitale and Luca Gargano. I decided to definitely start only when they said:” It’s an absolute bombshell, go for it!” When I think about it, these were the people who were closest to me on the launch path of Engine.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Engine is a new 100% organic gin made in Italy that with its disruptive aesthetics celebrates the imaginary connected with the world of motors and the cult myths of the 1980’s. The idea to develop Engine Gin stems from a union of my two great passions, the world of motors and spirits, a market I have worked in for over ten years. For some time, I had in mind a beverage project and one day, while I was working on my bike in the garage in Barbaresco (Langhe shire, Italy) drinking a cup of the traditional Langhe digestive with hot water, lemon peel and sage leaves, I thought it would be interesting to reproduce those very flavours in an alcoholic version and taste it in a long drink. Once the formula was defined with the help of expert hands and good palettes, I started imagining what the aesthetics of the project could be and, considering that it all took shape in my garage, I thought it would be suitable for Engine Gin to have an identity that went in another direction with respect to the transparency that spirits look for today, something dirtier, unexpected, capable of completely distorting the concept of a bottle. Engine Gin is, in fact, the first gin in a tin container, and with its strong, decisive spirit, it radically contrasts with a gin aesthetic which instead is becoming increasingly limpid, pure and clean.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I suggest an itinerary from northeast to northwest Italy. It starts from Venice. An unforgettable experience is drinking a Bellini at Harry’s Bar, just a few steps from Piazza San Marco, or enjoying a Dry Martini around the pool at Hotel Cipriani. Then getting lost for dinner in one of the many typical restaurants (bacari) such as Alla Madonna and Banco Giro in Rialto, or Alla Vedova, eating polpette di sarde in saor, baccalà or séperoste (grilled cuttlefishes) accompanied by the house’s mini ombrette. Also mandatory stops in Venice are art venues such as the Biennale or the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. From Venice by train to Verona, where you can see the romantic terrace of Romeo and Juliet and the Arena (Roman amphitheater built in 30 AD). In Verona I suggest dining at Bottega del Vino, an osteria with more than 500 years of history. From Verona, again by train, you can reach Milan in a short time. In the city of fashion, design and aperitif, you will visit stunning sights such as the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the Duomo, the Triennale and the Quadrilatero della moda. From Milan move west to Turin, the first capital of Italy. Here, in addition to the Cinema Museum in the Mole Antonelliana and the Egyptian Museum, you can have lunch at the Del Cambio restaurant, which serves typical Italian cuisine, or at Condividere, a new dining concept thought up by celebrity chef Ferran Adrià for the Nuvola Lavazza space. Starting from Turin, with a rental car, in an hour you can reach the beautiful vineyards area of the Langhe (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) with its breathtaking views and prestigious wineries. A visit to Monforte, Barolo and Barbaresco is a must here. In Barbaresco you can have an aperitif on the medieval tower from the 1300s with a view of all the hills and Monviso, the Alpine mountain (3,841 meters) that apparently also inspired the logo of Paramount Pictures. The gastronomic offers here are among the best. In the restaurants you can eat typical vitel tonné and tajarin (handmade Piedmontese pasta), and from September 21 until Christmas, you can also taste the famous truffle. Antica Torre, Campamac are the restaurants I recommend. Also in the area we find La Ciau del Tornavento, which, with its incredible winery, is recognized as one of the best restaurants in Italy. Among the most interesting wineries to visit I suggest Pio Cesare in Alba and Contratto in Canelli. The latter, protected as a UNESCO heritage site, produces a great Italian sparkling wine and one of the best vermouth cuvee.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The first person who deserves a recognition is my wife. She was the one who spurred me on, “Go for it, do it, change your life. Don’t be afraid, you’ll look back in two years anyway and you will say, oh gee, I didn’t have the courage to do that and look at where I’ve come”. My wife has always urged me to keep going even in difficult times. It might sounds like a cliché, but really your true self comes out in hard times, when you think you’ve hit rock bottom and then you’re at the bottom and you say, “Gee, if I’ve come this far, I can only go back up.” And if I think about Engine, the project has had a lot of bad luck. First there was the can rusting problem and then there was the leaky cap problem. Then we were late on production and missed the summer of 2019. Moving on, when we finally launched the product, the pandemic came. Not the least of which were legal issues. The fact, for example, that the legislation of the spirits world is not the same all over the world. So when, like us, you make an organic product and use sage (one of the botanicals featured in the Engine Gin formula), you know you have to deal with different laws from country to country. And then there was the big problem of getting big fast. We had to go from small production to large volume in a very short time, without giving up our craftsmanship. By my side, however, there was always my wife who supported me, gave me a lot of courage, left room for my vision, supported me by also managing the children, the family, in addition to her work, and leaving me the space to express myself as I wanted.

Website: https://www.engine.land/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginengine/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gin-engine/

Image Credits
Antoni Tudisco, Stefano Pellegrini, Alberto Blasetti