Craft spirits completely “made in Friuli”. In 2016 Federico Cremasco, a long-time barman with a passion for natural herbs, founded the spirits brand Fred Jerbis (“Fred's herbs” in Friulian dialect) starting from his own herbal laboratory in his native Travesio, a mountain town in the Pordenone area. In just five years he succeeded to bring the production up to 40,000 bottles per year, placing his products in fifteen countries around the world.
Now the business aims to redefine and refine its productive process, so Cremasco recently launched the crowdfunding campaign “Jerbis Ventûr” (“tomorrow's herbs”) to achieve a few main goals: the making of a distillery and a botanical garden in Polcenigo, one of Friuli's most beautiful historical hamlets (where Cremasco already runs the pub “Hamingway”), an increase of the cultivated area in Polcenigo and Travesio and a larger product-placement plan on major EU countries' markets. The campaign already raised over 182,000 euros, more than double the amount requested.
The need is for the process to be even more artisanal and natural as possible, while expanding the production. All ingredients are already “km zero”, with some herbs being organically grown by Cremasco himself in Travesio and other ones provided by local farmers based near Pordenone – with juniper berries and citrus fruits coming from Italy.
The final purpose is to broaden the growing area in the Friulian Prealps, far from pollution, in order to have even more herbs close at hand, as an ultimate guarantee of the very source of Fred Jerbis spirits' natural essences, and of their quality.
Now the business aims to redefine and refine its productive process, so Cremasco recently launched the crowdfunding campaign “Jerbis Ventûr” (“tomorrow's herbs”) to achieve a few main goals: the making of a distillery and a botanical garden in Polcenigo, one of Friuli's most beautiful historical hamlets (where Cremasco already runs the pub “Hamingway”), an increase of the cultivated area in Polcenigo and Travesio and a larger product-placement plan on major EU countries' markets. The campaign already raised over 182,000 euros, more than double the amount requested.
The need is for the process to be even more artisanal and natural as possible, while expanding the production. All ingredients are already “km zero”, with some herbs being organically grown by Cremasco himself in Travesio and other ones provided by local farmers based near Pordenone – with juniper berries and citrus fruits coming from Italy.
The final purpose is to broaden the growing area in the Friulian Prealps, far from pollution, in order to have even more herbs close at hand, as an ultimate guarantee of the very source of Fred Jerbis spirits' natural essences, and of their quality.
It all began with a gin
«Everything comes from my passion for plants and botanicals-based products – says Federico Cremasco – so I focused on gin, considering the very first juniper infusions were experimented in Italy. In the medical manual “Compendium Salerni” by the medical school in Salerno, they talked about the benefits deriving from juniper back in 1055 a.C. So I thought it possible to make a juniper-based spirit that would represent Friuli and Italy». Thus was born GIN43, a distilled gin with 43 different botanicals extracted through five methods.
Cremasco has a thing for experimentation, trying to combine new flavours and ancient recipes (he also got some inspiration from a 1946 spirits' recipe book), thanks to his deep herbal knowledge which also allows him to grow herbs and plants on his own. That's how he created all Fred Jerbis' products, like FERNET 25 SINGLE BARREL, a bitter with 25 botanicals and aged in chestnut tree-barrels, or VERMUT 16 SINGLE BARREL with 16 local botanicals. And every year, they choose a local herb for a limited edition line, as the camomile gin back in 2017. The task is clear: «Making craft spirits in limited quantities, only relying on first class ingredients». And a distillery of their own in Polcenigo would grant Fred Jerbis a thorough supervision of all the productive process, thus keeping a high standard quality while looking forward to new markets.
«Everything comes from my passion for plants and botanicals-based products – says Federico Cremasco – so I focused on gin, considering the very first juniper infusions were experimented in Italy. In the medical manual “Compendium Salerni” by the medical school in Salerno, they talked about the benefits deriving from juniper back in 1055 a.C. So I thought it possible to make a juniper-based spirit that would represent Friuli and Italy». Thus was born GIN43, a distilled gin with 43 different botanicals extracted through five methods.
Cremasco has a thing for experimentation, trying to combine new flavours and ancient recipes (he also got some inspiration from a 1946 spirits' recipe book), thanks to his deep herbal knowledge which also allows him to grow herbs and plants on his own. That's how he created all Fred Jerbis' products, like FERNET 25 SINGLE BARREL, a bitter with 25 botanicals and aged in chestnut tree-barrels, or VERMUT 16 SINGLE BARREL with 16 local botanicals. And every year, they choose a local herb for a limited edition line, as the camomile gin back in 2017. The task is clear: «Making craft spirits in limited quantities, only relying on first class ingredients». And a distillery of their own in Polcenigo would grant Fred Jerbis a thorough supervision of all the productive process, thus keeping a high standard quality while looking forward to new markets.
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