DANNY DEVITO (l) and Richard DeCicco, president and CEO of Harbrew Imports, toast to the launch of their new limoncello.

Today, DeVito, an actor, producer and director, isn’t serving up lemonade anymore. He’s branded his own limoncello—Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello—and, yes, it’s also the best you’ve ever tasted, he attests.
At the Friar’s Club in New York City this past September, DeVito, along with Richard DeCicco, CEO and president of Harbrew Imports, Ltd., not to mention a special guest or two for the cast of FX’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” which DeVito stars in, announced the launch of the premium limoncello.

“This entire proposition is very different and unique in many ways,” says DeCicco who approached DeVito about producing a limoncello bearing his name. Some differentiating points: Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello is all-natural, made from the zest of organic Sorrento, Italy oval lemons—revered worldwide for their aroma, essential oils, juice and acid content—sugar, water and the highest-quality Italian spirit.

The 60-proof liqueur has an IGP designation, a geographical certification given by the Italian government assuring that only Sorrento lemons were used to make the product—lemons for Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello come from 280 estates, all part of the Solagri Coop of the Sorrento Peninsula, notes the company.

But apart from what’s inside the bottle, the bottle itself also is noteworthy. Co-designed by Italian designer Lorenzo Damiano, DeCicco, who’s background is in packaging development in the liquor industry, and DeVito, the bottle is tall, black and curvaceous—a departure from the more common frosted or clear limoncello bottles.

“Besides the celebrity endorsement of Danny DeVito, you need something that is going to make you stick out amongst the rest on the shelf,” says DeCicco. “And if you look at our bottle we’ve accomplished that.” Not to mention the “scratch-and-sniff” label that was designed to match the smell of the Sorrento lemon.

In the limoncello category, notes DeCicco, there are those consumers that know limoncello as the liqueur their grandparents and parents consumed or a complimentary beverage after a meal in an Italian restaurant. Then there are others that don’t even know what limoncello is. The latter being quite large, which Harbrew considers a major opportunity. “In the branding business it’s our…mission to educate people about what the product is and how to consume the product,” he says. “It’s not only about consumption as far as being a beverage, it’s also about using it and utilizing it in cooking.”

In fact, at dannyslimoncello.com, the company has posted recipes—beverage and food—that can be made with Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello, and encourages consumers to share their favorite recipes as well.
Harbrew Imports, based in Freeport, N.Y., USA, a federally licensed importer and distributor of beverage spirit products in the US, is planning a national rollout of Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello in on- and off-premise markets this fall at a suggested retail price of US$23.99 for the 750ml bottle.

“The liquid itself is very premium, but the price is not,” says DeCicco, adding that it falls at just the right price point compared to other products on the market—it’s no 5 cents, but it is priced so that anyone up for a lemony beverage can afford to indulge. “You know what my motto is in this business? You don’t have to pay premium prices to have a premium product. And that’s a fact.”