Prova Spirits Brings a Taste of Italian Aperitivo Culture to Louisville

New small bites program pairs local Kentucky ingredients with Italian and Mediterranean traditions

LOUISVILLE, KY — Prova Spirits is expanding its approach to aperitivo culture with the introduction of a new small bites program at its Louisville tasting room, pairing cocktails, wine and spritzes with a rotating menu inspired by Italy and the Mediterranean.

The addition has been part of the plan for Prova since before the distillery had a name. The idea for Prova first began taking shape at a sherry bar in Madrid, where barrels of house-made sherry were stacked behind the bar, and was refined further during the founders’ travels through Italy. Moving between cafes, wine bars and vermoutherias, the hospitality and setting became just as important as what was in the glass.

Small bites are rooted in aperitivo culture. In Venice, there are cicchetti; in Spain, pintxos; in Sicily, rosticceria. Every region enjoys its own version.

“We’ve talked about doing this since we first started planning Prova,” said founder Giuseppe Paoulos. “Aperitivo culture is about so much more than an Aperol Spritz. Prova was always about bringing what we loved about Italian aperitivo culture back to Louisville, and small, unique pairings alongside delicious beverages are an important piece of that.”

The new menu will feature individual bites generally priced between $2 and $5, designed to be ordered as a quick snack with a cocktail or combined into a larger spread. The selections will rotate, giving the team room to work with seasonal ingredients and change the menu as new ideas develop.

Early selections include bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with local goat cheese from Sirocco Ridge Farms and Bottarga e Burro, made with house-made cultured butter that is spread over bread and finished with grated Sardinian bottarga. A rotating whipped tofu “ricotta” will provide a vegan option, and a selection of imported Italian nonalcoholic beverages will round out the new offerings.

Prova plans to source as much of the menu locally as possible, an approach the team sees as particularly well suited to Italian cooking, which places a heavy emphasis on seasonality and high-quality ingredients, both core principles of Italy’s Slow Food movement.

While Italy provides the foundation, the menu will also pull from Spanish, Portuguese and other Mediterranean traditions. Prova’s connection to Italy is through Sicily, an island whose cuisine reflects the many different cultures that have shaped it over centuries.

“For us, Prova has always been about bringing a little bit of Sicily to Kentucky,” Paoulos said. “Using great ingredients from Kentucky and applying some of the traditions and flavors we love from Sicily and the Mediterranean feels like a very natural extension of what we’re already doing behind the bar.”

The small bites program is also an extension of Prova’s hospitality-driven approach to spirits. The Louisville nano-distillery produces amari, vermouths, gin and other spirits on site, but has always built its tasting room around cocktails and the way those spirits are enjoyed rather than the production process alone.

Now, the team is adding another piece of the experience that inspired Prova in the first place: a good drink, a small bite and a little more time at the table.

For more information visit provaspirits.com

About Prova Spirits

Prova Spirits is a cocktail-driven nano distillery in Louisville, Kentucky, founded by Giuseppe Paoulos and Saniya Sami. Created in 2024 and opened to the public in August 2025, Prova Spirits produces vermouths, amari, liqueurs, and other spirits designed to shine in cocktails, with many ingredients made and distilled in-house. Prova Spirits pairs small-scale distillation with a hospitality-first cocktail experience, offering guests a distinctive destination in the heart of America’s bourbon country.