World-Spirits Online Guide Abo – order now

Lovely Rita Spirits – With a clear concept for the future

The company Lovely Rita Spirits, based in Arizona, was founded by Ray Rita, Michael Meinerz and Bob Derks. All three have a soft spot for Latin American culture and lifestyle, run a website for the Latino community, and organise fashion shows with South American designers. So it is understandable that their focus is on the fashionable spirit, tequila. To support their activities, they have created a special brand, aimed at a predominantly progressive female audience.

The soft, balanced tequila is produced according to traditional methods in a distillery in Mexico, which has been there for 90 years. Flavoured with a touch of agave, the six times distilled vodka with a corn basis is produced and bottled in Arizona. Using the successful concept, more products will follow, such as tequila varieties with peach and orange.

In order to be able to concentrate on the further development of the brand products, they cooperate with one of the largest distributors in the USA, the Breakthru Beverage Group. In addition, the spirits are available at www.oldtowntequila.com. Brand Ambassador is the Armanetti Group – Frank Armanetti’s family was once the largest spirits dealer in Chicago.

“We as founders and our investors are convinced that, thanks to the quality of the product and the right sales channels, we have two of the three things we need. The rest is a bit of luck and a high enough turnover”, say Michael Meinerz and Bob Derks.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Lovely Rita Vodka, and silver for Lovely Rita Tequila.

Ruedi Käser - Triumph of the lord of the castle

"We produce 12 different whiskeys including special varieties - some even for Hapag-Lloyd which are served on the cruise ships MS Europa, MS Hanseatic and MS Bremen. We are also very active in Switzerland, for example as a trend producer for Betty Bossi, a cooking show and marketing range of the Coop company. In September, we are opening our first flagship store in Zurich and our products are already present at the "House of Switzerland" in Peking.

Ruedi Käser and his "Whisky Castle" always cause a stir. From the outside, the building makes a very traditional impression, in the style of an American farm distillery, but the interior is surprising: The distillery on the ground floor resembles an art gallery. The production line consists of the fruit distilling system of the distillery, the pre-stage, and the copper pot still as the core element of whisky production. What follows on after a visit there is the theatre-cum-bistro with terrace. From the top floor, a wonderful view of the vineyards opens up, but visitors can also direct their eyes to the attractive round bar where they can choose the "noble brew" they would like to taste.
A rich diversity in pleasures and a variety of settings - that's the motto that Ruedi and Franziska Käser follow in all their activities on the idyllic farm estate in the Aargau Fricktal valley that invites adventurous visitors to enjoy highly spiritual and culinary experiences. Nature, with its variety of ingredients, yields numerous inspirations. Vineyards, orchards and vegetable patches supply the basic ingredients for spirits, wines, seasonal dishes and delicatessen.
Ruedi Käser's single variety spirits give sensual pleasure, impressions of fragrance and taste with unmistakable aromas. Trial and error was and is the motto here, and the imaginative distiller will certainly not run out of ideas soon.

This year's successes at the World-Spirits Award included a 10th place ranking and title of Master-Class Distillery with gold for the blackthorn and Williams pear and silver for the two cherry brandies and a beer distillate.

Ehrenwert GmbH: One recipe – two families

One recipe – two families. Each family has its own carefully guarded secret recipe, and with the Lücke family this remained in the hands of grandfather Heinz and later his son Dieter for many decades. Long enough, thought sons Thomas and Christian. In any case, it is the ‘Felsenfeuer’ herb liqueur that once made the Lücke Distillery one of the most important in Münsterland. After the war they continued the success story which first began in the 18th century, with this herb liqueur, using the recipe that Heinz Lücke worked out. In the 1950s everyone was talking about it, but in the 1960s the era of the distillery and the herb liqueur ended. But not for good – 60 years later it celebrated its resurrection with the ‘Freudenfeuer’.

Whilst searching for a distillery, Thomas and Christian kept to family tradition, as their grandmother was a Sasse, and the Sasses’ fine distillery in Schöppingen is still well known today. Following a traditional recipe from 1947 the new liqueur is distilled in small batches and is bottled by hand after a ten-day rest period. Ready to enjoy: neat and ice cold like in the time of our grandfathers, or smoother, on ice with lightly pressed orange zest, or as a basis for a long drink with tonic water or ginger ale. To old times and new friends!

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Freudenfeuer.

Georg Hemmeter – XUXU, Escorial, SILLA EL FUERTE

Georg Hemmeter – strawberry drinks with exceptional flavour guaranteed

The name Georg Hemmeter – a company of the Underberg Group – stands for innovative spirits, in particular the XUXU range. The fresh and fruity strawberry drink contains 66 percent fruit plus crystal-clear vodka, rounded off with a dash of lime. The harmony between the sweetness of the fruit and just 15% alcohol by volume is created using a special production method. XUXU Ten, the little luxury in a 250 ml aluminium bottle with only 10% alcohol by volume, is dressed to party – it is still relatively new to the market, yet is already at home in all the world’s top party venues.
XUXU can be served in so many different ways: chilled, neat, on crushed ice, as a dessert topping, with sparkling wine or with other mixers – XUXU tastes heavenly and offers fresh and fruity pleasure. Welcome to Berrydise!

Initially the absolute top star in Greece, XUXU is now also number 1 in Russia, and extremely popular in Turkey and Italy too.


XUXU Strawberry & Vodka Drink and XUXU Ten won Gold at the World Spirits Award 2014.