Long lunches, lively dinners, good food, wine and plenty of opinions have long been part of life for the Scanga and Adamo families. It was there that EPOCA began to take shape, eventually becoming a collection rooted in heritage, hospitality and family stories.
The idea emerged during the pandemic, when Domenic Scanga and Frank Adamo, longtime business partners behind Ottawa food importer and distributor ItalFoods, began exploring opportunities beyond the company they had spent decades building. Their shared interest in wine, spirits and cocktails provided the direction.
“We love learning how different spirits complement each other in a cocktail, and how the seasons play a role in how you use them,” says Dom, co-founder of EPOCA. “Our goal for EPOCA was to create an experience that included more than merely sipping a cocktail.”
For Dom, many of those memories go back to his Italian Canadian upbringing. “My parents were immigrants who came to Canada for a new life, but they never changed the artisanal way they did things,” he recalls. His father made wine every autumn entirely by hand, even filtering it according to the cycle of the moon. “Some years, it literally tasted like moonshine,” he jokes. “These are epic memories that many like me have. They need to be shared and celebrated.”
EPOCA carries those memories forward through small-batch spirits made with an emphasis on traditional methods and authentic flavours. Its collection currently includes four spirits and one ready-to-drink offering, with its most personal releases forming what the family calls its Legacy Spirits.
Ariana Amaro was the beginning. Named for Scanga’s daughter Ariana, who is also involved in the family businesses, the herbal Italian bitter reflects her love of amaro, hospitality and a well-made craft cocktail. Alyssa Amaretto followed, named for Adamo’s daughter Alyssa and inspired by both her love of the almond liqueur and the romantic Italian legend behind its origins.
Above: Ariana Scanga, part of EPOCA’s next generation, holds a bottle of Ariana Amaro, the Legacy Spirit named for her. Below: EPOCA co-founders Domenic Scanga and Frank Adamo, longtime business partners who also own and operate Ottawa-based food importer and distributor ItalFoods.
Musicman Irish Whiskey carries an especially personal story. It was created in memory of Adamo’s son Tony, a young musician who enjoyed Irish whiskey and passed away too soon. More than another addition to the collection, the whiskey was created as a way of preserving his memory. “It evokes an emotion that touches the heart,” the family says. “It needs to be shared.”
Arancella captures a different kind of memory: summer in Italy. Inspired by the warmth, sea and citrus of their travels, the orange liqueur was later joined by Arancella Spritz, EPOCA’s ready-to-drink expression.
Each spirit begins much as EPOCA itself did. “Every spirit is born from a long family lunch, a lively dinner and so it goes. There is always wine involved,” the family says. From there come months of recipe development, ingredient sourcing, logistics, regulatory work, bottle selection and label design.
Their experience with ItalFoods has also proven invaluable. Decades of sourcing products internationally have given Dom and Frank relationships with producers and suppliers across Italy and beyond, as well as the experience to know when something is worth pursuing. That search has taken the family from Italian producers to Irish distilleries in pursuit of the right products and partners.
Closer to home, EPOCA works with Ottawa-area Dunrobin Distilleries, which handles bottling, labelling, sales and distribution after the EPOCA team develops its recipes and branding. The partnership has helped turn ideas conceived around the family table into bottles ready for the market.
Above: Arancella alongside EPOCA’s three Legacy Spirits: Musicman Irish Whiskey, Ariana Amaro and Alyssa Amaretto, each inspired by a member of the Scanga and Adamo families
Those bottles are already earning international recognition. At the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Arancella and Alyssa Amaretto have earned silver medals, Ariana Amaro a bronze, and most recently, Arancella Spritz another silver.
The next generation is increasingly part of that growth. Ariana has helped shape EPOCA’s branding and presence, while her brother Julian Scanga has joined her in representing the collection at tastings, events and other activations in Ottawa and beyond. Their involvement has made EPOCA a distinctly multigenerational undertaking, rather than simply another extension of the family’s established business.
Julian Scanga pours Musicman Irish Whiskey.
“This is not something that was purchased or acquired, but created from a family place,” the family explains. “We could never put a price on what we’ve invested into EPOCA, the same way you cannot put a price on a good story. It comes from the heart.”
Now, one final Legacy Spirit is preparing to join the table. Prosecco by J, created in tribute to Julian, is coming soon.
It’s a fitting next chapter for a collection that has always been about more than what is inside the bottle. For EPOCA, every spirit begins with a person, a memory or a place, and ultimately finds its way back to where the story started: around the table.
