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Horvath’s Spezereyen Kontor: Enjoying goodness

Horvath’s Spezereyen Kontor und Lebensmittelproduktion GmbH is an Austrian family business based in Deutsch-Wagram, north-east of Vienna. Its extensive range boasts over 300 different products, such as spirits, food and culinary gifts both for export to third countries (USA, China) and for the European market. In Austria, the company is known especially for classic and creative liqueur specialities. The secret is the combination of fruit juice with milk and cream, resulting in especially creamy and fruity liqueurs. Classics include the Gänserndorf egg cream liqueur, hazelnut cream liqueur or marzipan liqueur, while special creations are also on offer, from strawberry-vanilla to peppermint cream. The selection of spirits includes fruit and cream liqueurs, brandies and schnapps, bitters and absinthe. Vodka made from potatoes (Vodka Kartoff, Vodka Monopolowa) is exported to the USA, Poland (J.A. Baczewski Vodka), Italy, France and Ukraine. Liqueur specialities go to Shanghai, among other places.
70% is destined for export, and Horvath’s is appreciated worldwide for its quality and good value for money. In addition to the retail trade, the company also supplies the restaurant and catering industry and has established itself as a solid partner in the beverage sector.

The World Class Distillery 2025 & Distillery of the Year 2025 – Gold & World Spirits Award (Bitters & Liqueurs) received Double Gold for Wiener Brise Peppermint Liqueur and Gänserndorfer Limoncello Cream Liqueur (Spirit of the Year 2025), Gold for Gänserndorfer Hazelnut Cream Liqueur and Gänserndorfer Egg Cream Liqueur, and Bronze for Horvath’s Zirberl (arolla pine).

Brennerei Vallendar: The highest distilling standard for over 30 years

Manufacturing theory is put into practice here. No product gets into a bottle without the involvement of Hubertus Vallendar. He is devoted to what he distils – his creations are more than spiritualised nature, they are spiritual naturalness. He is a perfectionist when it comes to distillery. His distilling method is his own highly modern concept. Hubertus Vallendar stands for innovation and excellent products. He devises new recipes with imagination and dedication. This is a task that poses new challenges for each natural product.

The careful selection of raw materials focuses particularly on the local region. The red Saturn peach grows right on their doorstep in the idyllic Moselle valley, as well as Riesling grapes for the best pomace and yeast brandies. In addition, fine fruits are purchased from the best growers in Europe, and exotic products are imported from around the world: tea and coffee, juniper and mango, ginger and bananas. They value sustainability and personal contact with producers. The variety is the broad basis for a remarkable palette of fine brandies, spirits, gourmet sprays, liqueurs, gins and whiskies, which are regularly the focal point of exclusive degustations.

Summary of the World Spirits Award: World Class Distillery 2026 OBB, World Class Distillery 2026 OBS, Master Class Distillery 2026 BILI and World Spirits Award 2026 for 2 x World Class, 1 x Master Class and Lifetime Achievement. There was Double Gold for Orangengeist (orange), Kakaogeist (cocoa), Riesling Hefebrand (yeast brandy, cold-fermented) and Waldhimbeerbrand (wild raspberry), Gold for Haselnuss Piemont (hazelnut), Zitronenmyrte Geist (lemon myrtle), Marc de Moselle (Riesling pomace brandy), Kirschbrand Barrique (cherry), TONI Boonekamp bitters, Zitronengeist (lemon) and Berto’s ROSSO bitter liqueur, and Silver for Anisgeist (aniseed, 100% star anise), Bananenbrand (banana), Sauerkirschlikör (sour cherry) and Amaro Waldkräuter herb liqueur.

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’.