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Vesterhavsmost: Danish specialities made of apple cider

The TONOW Distillery is part of the family-run Vesterhavsmost & Laubjergs Planteskole in western Denmark, near the North Sea. This is where the family started with the cultivation of various berries and apples at the beginning of the 1980s, later they added plums, elderflower and walnuts. The distillery was first registered as a wine producer to be able to work with the raw material. All the fruits are processed into juices and spirits, from the fruit to the finished bottle, all at the same site.

Vesterhavsmost is much more than an apple plantation for juice production. The company focuses on monovarietal juices, from classics to new, intensive varieties, to preserve the characteristic taste and to emphasise the typical aromas. The apples are picked by hand and processed within two days. The dried pressed residue is used for bread, muesli and so on. Their own orchard allows full control of perfect quality. The marine climate ensures a long ripening time and plenty of natural acidity. The centrepiece of the production is a product range comprising Eau de Vie, barrel-matured brandies and liqueurs. TONOW® Eau de Vie is the result of distilling apple cider. They work with a Müller Aroma® distiller, which is perfectly suited to extracting the aroma profile. The raw spirit with 83 volume percent matures in steel tanks and is later reduced to 42 volume percent – with water from their own site with protected groundwater.

At the World Spirits Award, there was silver for TONOW® Eau de Vie Cox Holstein and Apple Liqueur (Pommeau).

Salm Bräu: Brewing and distilling in Vienna

One of the most beautiful brewery inns in the country can be found in a tract in the over 450-year-old baroque Salesian monastery next to the Lower Belvedere Palace. The company also has its own distillery and an inn that serves traditional dishes.

Company founder Walter Welledits discovered the property in 1993, revitalised the historical building, had a brewery built and matched the furnishings of the restaurant to the style of the building with solid dark wood and copper lamps. Beer of the best quality is brewed following century-old recipes, from bottom-fermented, typical Viennese beers to top-fermented wheat beers – making Salm Bräu the most easterly wheat beer brewery in Europe. Also following old recipes, two to three times a week, specialities are distilled from the best beer in the on-site distillery next to the brewhouse. Anyone who wants to know how beer brandies are made can make an appointment with the master brewer.

The beer is decarbonised and distilled in a two-hour process, whereby about two litres of distillate are obtained from 50 litres of beer. The addition of specially prepared water brings this to a drinking strength of about 40 percent alcohol by volume. During the subsequent long storage period, the spirit loses its edge, and becomes mild and aromatic with a pleasantly rounded finish.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Salm Bräu Bierschnaps and Salm Bräu Whisky.

Luding Group: Vodka Tchaikovsky as a high-spirited homage to the famous composer

At the beginning of the 1990s, the modern distillery ‘Fortuna’ was launched in a green field in the south of Russia – in the Krasnodar region, a strip of land with spa resorts and health centres. The distillery has specialised in unusual products, in a region with a particularly green fingerprint. The vodka created in honour of the great Russian composer Tchaikovsky is special. The concept for this exceptional product is comparable with one of his musical scores: the work ‘Swan Lake’ served as an inspiration. Art enthusiasts can thus immerse themselves in the history of Russian estate life in the 19th century. The traditional white and blue colours underline the purity of this vodka.

The technical particularities span a wide quality-orientated spectrum: from the selected wheat, their own well water and the special treatment of the distillate with skimmed milk powder to the crystal-clear filtration with active birch coal. With so much perfectionism and monitoring of the individual production steps, the result is an especially gentle, animating and very typical vodka based on wheat. After the diluting of alcohol and pure distillate, the production process is continued with maturation in steel tanks. The aim is to ‘wed’ both ‘waters’, resulting in an especially harmonious vodka.

At the World Spirits Award 2022, Vodka Tchaikovsky was awarded double gold and honoured as the best vodka with the title ‘Spirit of the Year’.

Bimmerle: Know-how meets regionality and trend awareness

At the production site in the Black Forest town of Sasbach, which was opened in 2015, this family business sets innovative standards in technology, sustainability and environmental protection. For the last five decades, Bimmerle has strived for the highest quality, with focussed know-how, modern high-tech and the traditional art of distilling. This is the first distillery in Germany where all the heating requirements and power generation are covered by the burning of fruit stones combined with woodchips from the region.

In Germany and on the European market, Bimmerle is a leader in the fruit brandies sector with the Lörch brand. In order to make the ‘playground’ more interesting, the brand identity was modernised in 2024 and will be extended in 2025 by a fruit brandy range matured in wooden casks. Needle Black Forest Gin is among the top 5 most widely sold gins in Germany. The portfolio has been expanded since 2018 with WOOD STORK Spiced Rum and the EVERMANN Black Forest whiskies Theo & Wilhelm introduced in 2022. The Black Forest distillery has enriched the liqueur and aperitif market with as many as five exciting creations under the DON PASQUALE brand.

The World Class Distillery 2025 & Distillery of the Year 2025 – Bronze (Bitters & Liqueurs) received Gold for Don Pasquale Limoncello Liqueur, Zünftler Waldhimbeergeist (wild raspberry spirit), Wood Stork Spiced Rum, Lörch Waldhimbeergeist (wild raspberry spirit), Lörch Vanillekipferl Sahnelikör (vanilla cream liqueur), Needle Gin Green, Don Pasquale Aperitif Bitter Liqueur, Don Pasquale Espresso Martini Liqueur, Don Pasquale Hazelnut Liqueur and Lörch Linzertorte Sahnelikör (Linzer tart cream liqueur). Silver was awarded to Kronenhof Alter Williams Christ Birnenbrand (pear brandy), Lörch Alte Williams Christ Birne (pear brandy), Zinselhof Alter Williams Christ Birnenbrand (pear brandy), Lörch Altes Schwarzwälder Zwetschgenwasser (damson spirit), Needle Blackforest Distilled Dry Gin, Needle Gin Rosé, Don Pasquale Pistachio Cream Liqueur, Lörch Bratapfel Sahnelikör (baked apple cream liqueur), Zünftler Alte Williams Christ Birne (pear brandy), Lörch Williams Spirituose im Holzfass gelagert (pear spirit aged in a wooden cask) and Lörch Marille Spirituose im Holzfass gelagert (apricot spirit aged in a wooden cask), and Bronze to Lörch Obst Spirituose im Holzfass gelagert (fruit spirit aged in a wooden cask).